Portugal’s ever-popular Porto Drum Show recently relocated to the impressive Alfândega do Porto for its fourth edition.
Having successfully supported the event previously, Martin Audio’s Portuguese distributor, Sons Do Marques were back in action, featuring a state-of-the-art Wavefront Precision (WPS) PA for the main demonstration space.
The event brings together a collection of world class drummers for one evening, including Dave Weckl (Chick Corea, Mike Stern, Dave Weckl Band), Gergő Borlai (Al di Meola, Frank Gambale, Bob Mintzer), Derrick Mackenzie (Jamiroquai), Miguel Lamas (Dany Martin, Carlos Rivera) and Mike Terrana (Axel Rudie Pell, Tony Macalpine, Ywngie Malmsteen). All featured in the drum clinic on the demo stage throughout the course of the evening.
The show itself is split across three spaces of equal size: one for demonstrating drum brands, one for artist drummers’ shows, and one exclusively for Portuguese artists.
The main stage was equipped with six WPS PA elements on each side of the stage, run in the optimum 1-box resolution by Martin Audio iKON iK42 amplifiers, complemented by a pair of SXH218 subwoofers. The drummers were able to monitor their sound through a pair of Martin Audio’s flagship, high-output XE500 stage wedges.
Martin Audio had been specified by promoter and show director, Hugo Danin, and after last year’s success with Martin Audio’s WPM he had no hesitation in returning to Sons Do Marques, who this year supplied the larger system. Stated company owner, Rogério Lopes, “We saw this as the perfect opportunity to promote the new Wavefront line arrays. We chose WPS this year due to the dimensions of the room.” In another space, Martin Audio’s TORUS T1215 constant curvature system, in conjunction with an SCX118, provided coverage.
The sound system design was in the capable hands of the team from Sons Do Marques, assisted by their tech partner Gustavo Rodrigues, in order to balance the system. This was because due to the odd dimensions of the room, the hard surfaces and the nature of the content there was a good deal of reverberation to contend with.
The event was also supported by experienced sound engineer, Nuno Coelho, who unreservedly endorsed the sound system. “Previously I had the opportunity to use the smaller WPM system, with very satisfactory results. The new WPS has proved to be a very compact and lightweight solution—suited to a wide range of applications. In the challenging environment in which the Porto Drum Show was held, the system was not only able to reveal its power, but above all the ability to reproduce with definition and clarity instruments recorded and played in live mode.”
“We like to present this event in some really strange places, and have a particular passion for warehouses and old factories,” added Hugo Danin. “Therefore, we know we will experience poor acoustic conditions in buildings with lots of reverberation.
“However, we have always been able to place so much trust in Martin Audio equipment, that we have remained really relaxed about that. In other words, they have always saved us from our own decisions by bringing out the best solutions for our needs.
“This is the third time that we have had the pleasure of using a Martin Audio sound system for this event. Both they, and Sons Do Marques, are a really important part of our team—and we will be happy to work with these guys forever!”
