Chicago, IL (November 5, 2019)—Chicago’s perennially popular Riot Fest marked its 15 anniversary this year, fielding acts ranging from Slayer to The Village People. Tackling sound duties at four stages throughout Douglas Park was audio provider Technotrix.
Riot Fest offered some particular challenges in terms of controlled coverage on site and noise mitigation off site. As Technotrix audio lead Brent Bernhardt points out, “As always, there’s a commitment to keeping off site noise to an absolute minimum. We’re still avoiding the same two hospitals behind and alongside Stages 1 and 2 along with neighborhoods around the festival.”
Adding to the issues was the wind around the park, which hit 30 MPH at points: “On site coverage for Stages 1 and 2 is always a challenge as they fire into the rear of 4 and 5, especially this year because of gusty wind conditions on the first day of the festival.”
Richard Schroeder, FOH for Stage 4, concurred noting, “Stage 1 and 2 fire toward the back of our stage and we were firing toward the outside of the venue, so the biggest thing was covering the audience area successfully as well as avoiding as much as bleed outside the festival as possible, especially with the low frequencies.”
Technotrix fielded Martin Audio line arrays on the various stages, with Stages 1 and 2 based largely around MLA hangs with MLDs, W8LCs as front fill and MLX subs. Stage 4 was based around WPL hangs and SXH218 subs, and Stage 5 was covered primarily by WPCs and iK42s.
Technotrix • http://technotrix.net
Martin Audio • www.martin-audio.com
