Hire Frequencies Case Study: Meraki Festival

Case Study

Our d&b Audiotechnik V-Series Line Array in combination with our Chauvet Pro and Robe Lighting Rig ensured epic sound reinforcement and impressive visuals.

Introduction

This case study outlines the solutions we provided for the two stages at the Meraki Festival held in St Albans in 2019. It covers both sound and lighting design and the production elements required for the 3 day event boasting live acts from 11am to 11pm for three days for which Hire Frequencies provided all the tech, crew and stage management.

The Background

Meraki Festival is a fast-growing and well respected music and arts event held at the Hertfordshire County Showground. Hire Frequencies covered sound, lighting and video for both the main stage and a secondary stage. The 3 day event sees over 7,000 festival goers in attendance over the weekend. The festival hosted numerous well known acts such as The Shires, Judge Jules Live Band, and comedian Sean Lock.

Summary of build

The Main Stage consisted of a 10m x 6m platform with two d&b Audiotechnik V-Series line arrays, and two overhead trusses with a mixture of Robe and Chauvet Pro lighting fixtures. FOH & Monitor consoles used were MIDAS Pro 2 and DiGiCo SD12 respectively. A full complement of stage monitoring, IEMs, microphones, stage crew and technicians were all provided.

Our core range of services

Live – With more than a decades event production experience our team know how to deliver successful and inspirational live events.

Online – We can bring almost any event online and offer a wide range of virtual event solutions enabling us to cater for almost any event.

Installs – We offer expert advice and latest technology ensuring we provide you with the right solution at the right price.

Technical Crew

-Production Manager
-Sound Engineers
-Lighting Engineers
-Stage Manager
-Rigging Crew

The Main Stage

We deployed a d&b Audiotechnik V-series line array in two hangs with a V-SUB subwoofer array. In each hang we rigged 6 x V8 and 2 x V12 line array speakers flown from stage PA wings. The sub array consisted of 8 x 18” V-Subs allowing us to control the directionality of the low frequency content.

As with all large scale events we utilised Array Calc to determine the sound pressure levels (SPL) across the audience areas and help minimise sound spilling into the other areas of the festival site. Examples of the SPL mapping diagrams are shown below which take into account a number of key parameters which impact on the sound across the audience.

The sound system was powered by a rack of D80 amplifiers connected together with an DS10 Audio network bridge. This allows easy control of the amp rack remotely from a networked laptop.

Audio Kit List

d&b audiotechnik V Series PA:
– 12x d&b V8s
– 4x d&b V10s
– 8x d&b V-SUBs
– 3x d&b D80 amplifiers in tour rack
1x Midas Pro2 Console FOH
1x DiGiCo SD12 Console MONS
10x Sennheiser G3 IEM systems
10x Sennheiser G3 radio mics
10x Active stage monitors with sidefills
Full complement of microphones and DIs from Shure, Sennheiser, AKG and BSS

Our lighting rig consisted of two truss hangs and four tank traps plus a line of floor mounted fixtures. The front hang supported all of the front lighting and stage wash, as well as crowd lighting, strobes, blinders and beams dancing to the beat over the audience.

Behind the bands we had a comprehensive array of lighting to achieve a large variety of effects for visual impact. The rear lighting layout was designed so the tank traps and rear truss would act as a dynamic  background to backlight the bands and create a large variety of looks. The rear truss was hung low, narrowly clearing the tank traps. Together they formed four rows of lights creating a variety of moving ‘lightscapes’.

Due to the huge variety of acts, the Chamsys lighting desk was set up so that every effect could be called upon and ‘busked’ in time to the music by the engineer. This was achieved by designing a number of different scenes and reassigning as many buttons as possible of the lighting desk to be live triggers, so the operator’s fingers can dance along to the beat creating the live effects on stage.

Lighting kit list

Front Truss, Band lighting

4x Tungsten Fresnels for warm white stage wash.
4x Rogue R2 Wash lights for stage colour and effects.
4x LED Pars for additional colour combos.

Front Truss, Crowd lighting and Effects

6x Robe Pointes
3x Elumen8 LED blinders
3x 1500W Strobes

Rigging

10m x 6m stage
2 x Line array hangs flown from stage wings
2 x Hangs of Prolyte H30V truss
2m x 2m stage risers

Rear Truss and Tank Traps, Rear Lighting effects

4x Chauvet R1 FXB Dual Axis Rotating Batons
4x Chauvet Rogue R2 Spot Moving Heads
8x LED Par cans
4 Chauvet Hybrid Moving Heads
2x Chauvet Hurricane 1600 Foggers
2x Chauvet Hurricane 4D Hazers

The Second Stage

The Second Stage was situated in a big top tent with a wide variety of performances including DJ sets, stand-up routines, and film screenings. The audio set-up featured a smaller d&b Audiotechnik rig comprised of T-Series tops and B-Series subs. FOH/monitors were mixed on our Midas M32R.

There was an extensive lighting rig set-up to accommodate the wide range of performances. This was made up of LED PAR Cans, LED Battens, 2 x 1500W Strobes, 4x Robe Spot 250XT, 2x Chauvet Intimidator LED 350, 2x Laserworld CS-1000RGB MKII lasers, Par 56 short nose cans, Chauvet Hurricane 4D hazer, and was controlled by our Chamsys MagicQ PC Wing lighting desk.

In addition to this we provided Pioneer DJ equipment, Philips 65″ 4K Ultra HD LED Screens, a Roland V-60HD vision mixer, a 6m x 4m stage platform, and a ‘Goalpost’ truss structure for the lighting rig.

Summary

With over a decade’s experience in putting on impactful events with excellent results we have the experience, professionalism and dedication to deliver in all situations. Meraki Festival was no exception, and it certainly presented various challenges with its wide array of acts each requiring fast and complex stage changeovers for three days. We relished the opportunity with plenty of good will and smiles and the result was a great sounding and impressive looking festival we were all proud to be involved with.