Rigging Mla; Safety First; Manpower; Wiring And Rigging - Martin Audio MLA User Manual

MLA System
USER GUIDE

Rigging MLA

MLA is designed to be a practical touring system and as such features rigging that is intend to be quick, easy and above all safe
to deploy. Anyone who has rigged a Martin Audio line array system will be instantly familiar with the MLA rigging. Whilst not a
line array the system is deployed in exactly the same way mechanically so the rigging is an improved version of the system
employed on existing products. This has proved to be popular and efficient in the past and MLA has already developed a
reputation for flying very quickly and easily.

Safety First

As with any flown system, the most important issue is safety. Hanging several tonnes of equipment up in the air, possibly above
people's heads should not be undertaken by anyone without proper training and qualification. Rigging points must be approved
positions in the venue. Mobile towers must be deployed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions and must be rated
to support a weight greater than that of the array. Points must be installed by a qualified rigger and all hoists used must have
passed regular safety checks. All local safety regulations must be followed to the letter, particularly with regard to fitting
secondary safety tethers. On no account use any rigging equipment; hoists, motors, shackles, flying grids et cetera which show
signs of damage or have not had regular safety checks and re-certification carried out.

Manpower

It is perfectly easy to fly MLA or MLA Compact systems with two people however if more crew are available it will obviously
speed up the process. In an ideal world one experienced and trained MLA M-Tech can supervise the crew and wire the cabinets
as the array is flown. Two crew would be used to attach the cabinets to the grid and array. Another would line up the next cabinet
and remove wheel boards and finally a fourth would operate the hoists under command of the M-Tech.

Wiring and rigging

MLA and MLA Compact differ from a passive system in that it is possible to do a very basic test for power and network connection
as the array is flown. For this reason we recommend feeding power to the control rack and connecting the array to power and
network feeds as it is rigged. You can see instantly if the cabinets power-up ok and the U-Net LEDs show you that you have a
good network connection. Note that the high voltage Mains Distro has a 32A three phase mains inlet which unfortunately is the
same power feed required for some of the most common motor control systems so it is not unusual to find that power is not
available for the arrays until you have finished hoisting them into position which is far from ideal. If you have any authority to
dictate the power being supplied for your event, make sure that you specify a three phase 32A supply for every rack you are
using for EXCLUSIVE use of the audio system.

Rigging the system- standard flown system

First you will need to get all of the components required together ready to rig. You will obviously need all the cabinets plus the
flying frame, one of the cable trunks with all necessary cables and finally the control rack, Master or Slave as required;-
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