Summer is here! and Meyer is again proudly sponsoring the Montreux Jazz Festival, July 2-17, 1999 in Montreux, Switzerland. This year is particularly exciting for us because it is our twelfth year as a Festival partner, and our 20th anniversary as a company. The evening of Wednesday, July 14 marks the highlight of the festivities: Meyer Sound Night in the Stravinski Auditorium, featuring music by the George Duke Band and Fourplay, a quartet of Larry Carlton, Nathan East, Bob James, and Harvey Mason, and more than a few other surprises.

In case you can't travel personally to the Festival this year, we are posting daily coverage of events so that you can join us and share the Montreux Jazz experience "virtually." Full of pictures and interviews, you will want to check back often!

The Sound of Music...and Meyer
Official sponsorship means that Meyer equipment is the exclusive brand used for loudspeaker systems in all venues. No matter where audiences are listening to music, we ensure that they have the very best listening experience possible. Meyer has been an integral part of the Festival ever since 1987, building on a trusted relationship with founder and managing director Claude Nobs.

There are literally hundreds of Meyer Sound powered products throughout the Festival. A complement of MSL-6, MSL-4, PSW-6 and CQ's make up the Stravinski system. The configuration in Miles Davis Hall is based on MSL-4s, with self-powered UPA-Ps for downfill. All of the stage monitors are UM-1Ps, UM-100Ps, and PSM-2Ps. RMS^™ is used at the FOH and monitor positions in Stravinski and Miles Davis as well as a station in the Meyer production office.

New at Montreux this year is the DS-4P mid-bass cabinet being used at the Festival Off Stage and the Montreux Jazz Café, the perfect club environment to hear the loudspeaker's mid-bass punch... and dance until the wee hours (5 a.m.!) of the morning! Also making its Montreux debut is the UPM-1P, the "small but mighty" box used as frontfill in Miles Davis and as fill and background systems in selected bars. So wherever music can be heard at the 33rd Montreux Jazz Festival, attendees can rest assured that Meyer Sound has made the commitment to providing the highest quality sound available.

More Extensive than You Might Think
Without visiting Montreux (and we hope someday you do!), it is difficult to explain how extensive the Festival really is. The production revolves around two, large venues- Stravinski Auditorium (SRO capacity: 3,400) and Miles Davis Hall (SRO capacity 3,000)- and stretches out to include several small club environments including the Jazz Café and a multitude of off-site stages scattered along the lake and main road.

One of the things that makes the Festival unique is that it incorporates extensive video and audio production facilities present at the Festival. The majority of the concerts presented in the Stravinski and Miles Davis Halls are preserved on videotape by virtue of multiple camera (6) systems directed in two separate video trucks and two remote audio trucks. They mix the shows to 2 track and make multi-track recordings of their performances available to the artists.

A Diverse Line Up
Although it is labeled a jazz festival, audiences have come to appreciate the eclectic mix of music sprinkled throughout the program. The program represents a wide range of musical styles from old to new, blues to be-bop, hip-hop to rock, jazz to world beat. You name it- the Festival has it all. Over the course of the 15 day event, there is something for every preference, be it Jeff Healy and Robben Ford jamming on guitar, Milton Nascimento soulfully singing some of the best Brazilian poetry around, The Afro Celt Sound System delivering a unique blend of Irish sounds and African percussion or Herbie Hancock's straight ahead jazz. Whatever music reaches your soul and moves your limbs, the Festival has something for you.