Martin Audio MLA

Martin Audio's MLA systems deliver an unsurpassed sound coverage consistency across the audience with unprecedented control for hard cut off areas and suppression of unwanted noise pollution.

Award winning and Patent protected, MLA represents a step change in approach to acoustic control that is the new industry benchmark for touring, festivals and installations of all sizes.

With traditional line array, the aim is to produce coherent sound waves as they exit the speaker – giving the user little control over what actually arrives at the audience. MLA takes the opposite approach and puts the audience at the heart of its thinking.

The user specifies exactly what SPL and frequency response is required at various points throughout the venue and intelligent software automatically determines the array configuration and controls each of the individual cells in the array to produce that result. With independent control of every cell in the array, MLA is not constrained by the 3dB decrease in SPL with doubling of distance associated with conventional line arrays. Instead, the frequency response and SPL’s at the rear seats closely track the front rows. With every cell under computer control, ‘hard avoid’ areas ─ such as on stage and beyond the venue perimeter ─ can be programmed in, and vertical coverage can be fine-tuned electronically.

MLA banishes trial-and-error set-up forever — there is no more need for educated guesswork, MLA employs a precise science that guarantees greater control, consistency, and unparalleled acoustic sonic quality.

The Multi Cellular Revolution

Every so often a new technology emerges that overtakes previous technologies — and in time replaces them. Just as line array took over from point-source clusters over 20 years ago, Martin Audio’s revolutionary award-winning Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array [MLA] technology is reinventing the way loudspeaker arrays are configured and controlled.

With it has come an unsurpassed control of sound with pristine fidelity and huge output capability — bringing the FOH engineer and the audience together in a more powerful, involving experience.

Advanced Sound Control Technology, that’s easy to use

Some describe it as magic, but in its simplest terms each MLA Array has up to 144 individual acoustic elements [cells], each with its own onboard amplifier and DSP, which can be optimised by software to deliver the sound across the audience to meet the sonic goals required for any space.

It remains the only system on the market to allow multiple sonic goals to be prioritised and optimised accordingly. For example, not only can MLA generate an even sound field over the audience, it can contain it as well — significantly reducing the influence of the room.

Hard Avoid® areas ─ such as behind and below the array, ceilings, balcony edges and beyond the venue perimeter ─ can also be programmed in. Vertical coverage can even be fine-tuned electronically in-situ to cope with changing environmental conditions and last-minute changes in rigging height, without having to re-rig.

With incredibly easy-to-use and highly accurate predictive software [DISPLAY] doing all the grunt work with the system, the FOH engineer retains full artistic control and can enjoy mixing the show in the full knowledge that the sound created at the mix position will be heard everywhere throughout the audience.

Such is the confidence that MLA can bring, that significantly less time is spent setting up the system and even less time is spent walking the room.

Audio Perfection

MLA’s ultimate accolade is its audio perfection. Pristine fidelity, vocal clarity, sonic impact and huge output capability brings the FOH engineer and the audience together in a powerful, involving experience.

Put simply, MLA is an FOH engineer’s delight. It is incredibly clean and transparent and responsive to the smallest EQ changes. With no large-format compression drivers to harden the sound, it presents the engineer with a neutral canvas whatever the artist or music genre.

The Noise Pollution Solution

In reproducing sound for many venues and outdoor festivals, there is often a conundrum: how can audience sound levels be delivered at a sufficiently high level for an immersive and rewarding experience, while at the same time respecting surrounding areas and residents?

In the past, sound levels for the audience have often had to be held down in order to safeguard surrounding areas, but this can leave audiences and the FOH engineer unhappy and threaten the ongoing viability of such events.

MLA’s unique ability to control noise escape beyond the site perimeter, while maintaining pristine fidelity and high sound pressure levels for the audience, means that FOH engineers don’t have to constantly worry about sound levels. So they can focus on what they do best — mixing — translating to a better audience experience too.