ISP Technologies at Chene Park Amphitheatre, Detroit

Chene Park, a 6,000-seat amphitheater located at the banks of the Detroit River in downtown, recently wrapped up a full season of concerts that featured a complete loudspeaker system from Waterford, Michigan-based ISP Technologies. The artist line up was heavy on R&B, jazz, and hip-hop and featured appearances by a diverse group including Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, the O'Jays, and others.

The system consisted of 20 HDL 4212 Line Arrays, four HDL 4210 line arrays, 18 XMAX 212 subwoofers and a 140-piece ProWedge 212 monitor system. The 4212s were hung ten per side with 2 4210s per side added as downfill. All of the subs were ground-stacked. Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Stage Works oversaw the installation and operational aspects of the rig. Acting as both Chene Park's system engineer and Stage Works head audio engineer, Johnny Winkler played a key role in pushing through the ISP rig to visiting sound mixers. "The ISP boxes are not familiar to a lot of FOH mixers but nobody can argue with the results. Once they have mixed on it, nine out of 10 guys have been absolutely blown away."

There were several challenges to the Chene Park concert series -- along with the "captured" seating, there was a bobbing and boisterous group of fans who anchored their boats in the river and listened to the performances. Also adding to the challenge is the Chene's urban setting which required the sound to be contained while still providing the needed punch and low end that the performers required. This was taken into consideration when determining the system design. ISP's Jon Waller worked closely with Winkler using a proprietary in-house prediction system to best determine array configurations.

Buck Waller, president of ISP Technologies, commented, "We are a Michigan-based company and love to work with local large scale events in the state. That being said, we knew that some great FOH engineers from all over the country would use this rig and they would insist on a high level of performance regardless of the local connection. We received nothing but praise from them this season."