In its ten-day run, the 2010 West Lake (Xihu) Music Festival treated Hangzhou residents to performances from a wealth of international artists that included Australian pop singer Angie Hart, Italian neoclassical band Ataraxia, German electro outfit Pitchtuner, Japanese Hula band Aloha Hula Calles and art rock band These New Puritons from the UK. Accompanied by a selection of Chinese acts, the performances took place at several venues throughout the city concluding with a two outdoor concerts at the West Lake Tiandi, where the sound reinforcement system was based around DAS Audio Aero Series 2 loudspeakers.
Sound services company Hangzhou Sound Culture Communication provided the system, using DAS Aero 50 large-format line array elements, Aero 12A mid-high elements and LX-218 subwoofers.
‘The slogan Making Music All Over the City set the tone for this year’s event,’ says Wang Tiequn, owner of Hangzhou Sound Culture Communication ‘The first Xihu Music Festival, was held two years ago to enrich this ancient city, which is known for its traditional culture. The goal of the festival is to introduce people to livelier, trendier, more modern music. Roughly 2,000 tickets had been sold in advance of the final two days, so we knew there would be a sizeable audience for the closing concerts. As the two final days took place outdoors, we not only wanted to ensure the sound system had the ability to cover a crowd this large, it was equally important that it be capable of the sound pressure levels necessary to support rock music. Our DAS Audio system was the perfect match.’
The main flown left-right loudspeaker clusters each consisted of eight Aero 50 enclosures with low-frequency support from 12 LX-218 subwoofers stacked four units across and three high. Both loudspeaker systems were driven by Lab.gruppen FP 10000Q power amplifiers. These systems were augmented by a centrally positioned loudspeaker cluster consisting of six Aero 12A self-powered line array modules flown over the stage area and serving as front fill. DAS Audio’s DSP-4080 audio processor handled loudspeaker management.
‘I’ve been very impressed with DAS Audio’s customer support services,’ adds Mr Tiequn. ‘Ron Koh – the Technical Support Representative for DAS Audio Asia – was on site, working to ensure the success of this event. He assisted in the set-up and tuning of the system. I am most appreciative of his assistance.’
Mr.Tiequn reports that the festival was a success in many ways: ‘The aim of this festival is not only to appeal to music fans but also, and more importantly, to popularize rock, pop, jazz and other music genres and help young bands by giving them a platform,’ he says. ‘There was something for everyone during these ten days and the final concert on the grass at West Lake Lawn was particularly memorable. The music was loud, clear, and had plenty of presence no matter where you happened to be. The DAS Audio sound system was really impressive and the company’s support was above and beyond what I had ever imagined. I couldn’t be happier with the way everything turned out.’
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