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Meyer Mighty at Montreux Jazz Festival: Smokin' on the Water
Pro Sound News - November 1996
by Joseph Spiegel
Outgrowing the rebuilt Montreux Casino in 1993 (of course you remember the original burnt down in 1971, made famous by the classic Deep Purple song, "Smoke on the Water"), the Festival virtually overflows out of the Congress Center with music along the lakeside and at a number of smaller venues nearby. The musical program starts shortly after noon and can run until 7 or 8 in the morning of the next day as an all-night jam session winds down at the Montreux Jazz Cafe in the basement. Actually, the name "Jazz Festival" is somewhat outmoded, as the musical styles range from rap to rock to funk to blues to African, Portuguese, Brazilian, Bahian—you name it. International would be a better descriptor.
Inside, there are two main venues and then there are the multitude of sound sources emanating from just about every space available. From a sheer logistic standpoint, providing sound to all areas is a gargantuan task. Although there is a 1,000-member team of technicians, employees and volunteers from a variety of companies, there is one common denominator in the audio realm - Meyer Sound. The Berkeley, CA-based company has been tightly connected to the MJF for eight years, and is now an official sponsor. The company takes great pride in being involved with such a prestigious event, especially one with such a high level of expectation from its highly sophisticated audience.
"It started out many years ago as a labor of love, at least for [Meyer Sound founders] John and Helen Meyer," said Meyer's Mark Johnson. "They wanted to be involved with the festival for a long time because they spent a lot of time in Montreux and have had a long relationship with the Festival's founder, Claude Nobs. You could say the birth of Meyer Sound as we know it was formulated here. So it's something that we want to do, not to mention the prestige. It's a premier festival not only throughout Europe but worldwide. The other attraction is that Nobs is very much into technology, and believes in using whatever high-tech tools are available."
One of the greatest advantages of being involved is the ability to use the Festival as "a final beta test site for our new products," said Johnson. "We've got lots of new products here this year, and the management of the festival is very concerned about audio quality. So we have lots of things to take advantage of, in terms of establishing a good profile and maintaining relationships. We use this place as a showcase. We invite customers and dealers to see what we're doing."
Masterminding the entire event is its vivacious director Claude Nobs, who founded the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1967. Nobs, who is perpetually in motion at the event-from schmoozing artists every day at his lavish chalet up the mountain in Caux to contributing his skills to the program as an accomplished harmonica player-is also the chief of Warner Music Switzerland. Pausing for a few moments from the wild cocktail party going on in his backstage suite, Pro Sound News managed to pin him down. "We are breaking all records with attendance and musical success," said Nobs, "and so far I haven't seen a bad review. Overall, the free concerts, the beautiful weather, the lakeside activities, the mountains... it makes a melting pot of beauty and music that people seem to enjoy."
Audio is the number one priority at the Festival, he said. "It's number one for the audience and for the recordings. I'd rather have a bad camera shot than a bad microphone setup." The new Meyer self-amplified speakers were very well received, said Nobs. "They worked incredibly well (I took two for my chalet). And I must say that part of the success of the festival is because of John [Meyer's] sound, because if the people don't enjoy the sound they won't enjoy the festival."
The systems design of the Stravinsky has evolved over the last three years, explained Meyer's Jamie Anderson, who has been involved with system design as well as operating SIM. The original design was done communally, and all of the audio team contributes to improvements. "Each year we improve and try to get a little bit more elegant, a little bit better design," remarked Anderson. "It's an ongoing process and SIM has been instrumental in gauging our progress."
U.K.-based Chris Ridgway had the role of systems engineer in the Stravinsky for the majority of the festival. Another engineer, Chris Lindop (with Garwood Communications) filled in for the first few days. "The Festival covers such a wide diversity of acts," said Ridgway, "and the system has to deal with African musicians right through to full-on rock to screaming electronic jazz. The system has to be dynamic and sensitive enough to reinforce that kind of program. I think this one deals with it exceptionally well."
For amplified music, the Stravinsky is an acoustic nightmare-with a six-second reverb time. Various degrees of acoustic treatment have been implemented in recent years. "It's an orchestral room and is designed accordingly," said Ridgway. "It's not designed for rock 'n' roll or amplified music whatsoever, and you have to start from that perspective and add as much acoustic treatment as appropriate."
A very exuberant stage manager for the Stravinsky, who goes by the name of "Ted," was quite happy to report that he had just heard feedback that the audience "is really enjoying the sound. It's really round, really smooth and really dynamic." Ted, a 14-year MJF veteran, was quite direct about Montreux's mission to be the best festival it can be. "If you are serious about producing something with high production values, as this operation is," he said, "you will go to any lengths to get this as perfect as you possibly can. It's a combination of the aesthetic understanding of music, actual ears, plus the wonderful technology of John Meyer's system. Second best is not good enough."
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