Daze Between New Orleans returned to Faubourg Brewery on April 30–May 1, bridging the consecutive weekends of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with two days of live music, local cuisine, craft beer, and good times. Now in its third year, the festival showcased two stages, both powered by Official Sound Partner Meyer Sound. From jam to jazz, funk to rock, the lineup showcased beloved acts from the Big Easy and beyond, including Galactic, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and headliners Lettuce and Gov’t Mule — delivering vibrant, star-studded performances brought to life with premium sound.
Meyer Sound systems were provided by Upscale Productions of Lake Charles, Louisiana. PANTHER™ large-format linear line array loudspeakers returned to the main Daze Between stage, paired with the 2100-LFC™ low-frequency control element. The Jerry Garcia Wellness Stage centered around LEOPARD® compact linear array loudspeakers, supplemented by 700-HP™ and 900-LFC™ low-frequency control elements. Both stages featured MJF-210™ high-power stage monitors; systems were managed by Galileo® GALAXY 816 and 408 processors.
Daze Between production manager Sami Slovy notes that both artists and fans at Daze Between have high expectations for sound. “Our genre is mostly jam bands, with some rock, and there are a lot of audiophiles in the fan base,” she explains. “They’re looking for it to sound good and clear.”
Here, Slovy points to PANTHER’s sonic performance and ease of deployment. “It has so much to offer,” she says. “The clarity and weight aspect are things that are really attractive as an event producer. When we send our specs out to touring engineers, they’re so excited to use the rig.”
“Meyer really knocked it out of the park with their new designs, and I really think PANTHER is an exceptionally beautiful festival box,” says Chris Hebert, who mixed FOH for Galactic and the Krasno/Moore project. “It eliminates amp racks on stage, and now you can have that in a smaller, lighter frame box that can perform the way it does. That’s really a game changer.”
Hebert has gotten to know PANTHER through festival gigs with Galactic, and recently had an opportunity to mix the band on the new PANTHER system at The Fillmore in San Francisco. “It was great — a game changer for that room.”
Chris Bargy mixes FOH for Gov’t Mule, who, true to form, showcased an epic lineup of guests including John Scofield, Chuck Leavell, Ivan Neville, Karl Denson, and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. With so much to manage, Bargy appreciated the ease of dialing in the PANTHER system at Daze Between. “I didn’t get to tune the PA like I usually do, but I said, it’s a PANTHER. I know what it sounds like. Let me listen to the instruments really quick and we’ll be good to go. I was able to focus on mixing rather than diagnosing the PA. As front-of-house engineers, it definitely takes a lot off our plate when we don’t have to worry about the system.”
“That’s the best part about PANTHER: You can expect nothing unexpected,” adds Hebert. “You just open the PA up and it’s consistent the way you would expect your mix to be. It’s like mixing on studio monitors.”
Production teams appreciated the power and performance of the 2100-LFC low-frequency control element, especially paired with PANTHER. “They really pack a punch, and they’re so compact,” says Slovy. “They’re great to work with; they’re way easier on load-in and load-out.”
“It really is a musical sub,” adds Hebert. “It’s warm and welcoming instead of just blasting you in the face, and it blends perfectly with the top boxes.”
Environmental conditions at outdoor events can present sonic challenges. The weather at Daze Between brought wind, dramatic temperature fluctuations, and New Orleans’ notorious humidity into the mix — literally — but both PANTHER and LEOPARD performed flawlessly. “When the humidity changed after the second set, everything still sounded great,” says Bargy. “With a lot of boxes, as the sun goes down and temperatures change, the sound will change,” adds Herbert. “But the Meyer Sound systems stayed very consistent.”
As Daze Between New Orleans continues building on its successes, Meyer Sound plays a vital role in solidifying it as a must-attend event on the festival calendar. “People know that they’re going to get exceptional quality,” says Slovy. “And that helps elevate the event all the way around.”
About Daze Between New Orleans
Daze Between New Orleans is a two-day event held during the “Daze Between” New Orleans Jazz Fest weekends, Tuesday April 30 -Wednesday May 1, 2024, at the Faubourg Brewery in New Orleans. The event put on by industry vets, GMP LIve, Live For Live Music, Purple Hat Productions, Dayglo Presents and Relix Media Group, brought together some of the finest musicians from the Big Easy and beyond on 2 full stages, tapping into the worlds of jazz, funk, jam, folk, and more to create a musical gumbo reflective of the collaborative spirit that makes this city unlike anywhere else. In addition to music, fans may enjoy all that Faubourg has to offer, from a top-notch beer selection to fantastic traditional Louisiana cuisine. A portion of the proceeds benefited the Rex Foundation and will be distributed to charities in the New Orleans area.
About Meyer Sound
Founded by John and Helen Meyer in 1979, Meyer Sound is a global leader in providing integrated solutions for sound reinforcement, spatial sound, acoustic systems, studio monitoring and high-end residential systems. Recognized as an audio technology pioneer, Meyer Sound was the first to introduce dedicated loudspeaker processors, source independent measurement, large-scale self-powered loudspeakers, and cardioid subwoofers, among other innovations. The premium professional brand maintains rigorous quality control in its design and manufacturing of sustainable solutions for concert touring and festivals, houses of worship, cinema, education, corporate offices and residential. Scientific research and innovative product development have earned more than 100 US and international patents along with numerous industry awards. Headquartered in Berkeley, California with operations globally, Meyer Sound is a company where employees are innovators and diversity, equity and inclusion are embraced in the workplace and the community.