Liberacion, a very popular Mexican band that has been touring Mexico, the USA and South America for the past 25 years, is taking on a completely new image with the addition of younger musicians and two new front men. The makeover doesn’t stop with the band members however. With the recent acquisition of the biggest Mach sound system in Mexico, the group is preparing to tour for another 25 years.

Virgilio Canales, the band’s founder, commented, “Because Liberacion has been in business for the last 25 years the band needed a new image that appeals to younger fans. That’s why we made the decision that it was time for some of us to retire, including myself, and open the door for new people. At the same time we decided that not only did we need something fresh on the musical side, but our equipment and our entire show needed a reworking as well. For an entire year we researched what the best options were for us in terms of quality, service and value, and in the end the best choice was a Mach speaker system.”

The first concert in which Liberacion used their new Mach system was in the city of Monterrey in the northern part of Mexico. There the Mach SlingShot was really put to the test in front of a crowd of over 50,000 people with excellent results. The reviews and comments from both the sound engineers and from the band itself was very positive. Mach clearly demonstrated that the SlingShot system is not only top quality but highly competitive with other like systems in the professional market.

The Mach system consists of 60 boxes capable of handling nearly any outdoor concert in Mexico. All sound, stage and lighting equipment is hauled in five large trucks accompanied by a technical staff of 30 hard working people including two sound engineers (front of house and monitors).

The SlingShot system was designed according to Liberacion’s requirements as a 5-way system and consists of 24 MS1262 hornloaded 3-way mid-high cabinets, 12 MS15x2 Slingshot dual 15” low-mid units and 18 M182T dual 18” subwoofers. The system is typically flown in a 3-wide 6-deep configuration with the subs stacked 2-wide 4 high. This gives a 150-degree coverage and throw beyond 70 meters. 

Since the majority of Liberacion’s concerts are held outdoors, the band was specifically interested in the long throw capabilities of the system, and with the 5-way SlingShot system, excellent throw is achieved throughout the frequency range. Because the band wanted to fly the system, Liberacion made changes to their ground support system by adding P.A. wings. The system can also be divided into two smaller systems for use in smaller venues. 

The monitor systems consist of 8 Mach M1502Ts loaded with a 15” woofer and 2” compression driver.

Mach engineers Michael Holmbo and Soren Viinberg along with Mach Area Sales Manager Juan Alegria flew to Monterrey one week prior to the concert to help Liberacion with the set up. Michael Holmbo stated, “It was a great experience to come to Mexico to make sure that everything was okay with the system. We were actually surprised by the high level of knowledge of the entire Liberacion technical staff. That was, until we find out that they tour all year long playing at least 3 times a week. With so much time on the road, the experience that you gain is priceless.”

Virgilio Canales added, “We have done business with Martin Professional in the past as our entire lighting system is Martin and we have always received good support, but this time Martin went beyond what a normal manufacturer would do to support us. Since the very beginning Juan Alegria has been there for us, supporting us with everything we needed, plus the fact that they sent two of their main engineers all the way from Denmark is remarkable.”