Held high in the Rhodope Mountains that line Bulgaria’s border with Greece, Meadows in the Mountains (MITM) is an annual festival that provides an experience both musically and geographically outside the mainstream.
Located outside the small town of Polkovnik Serafimovo, the festival recently staged a four-day, non-stop party, powered by a Funktion-One sound system.
The spectacularly remote location that makes MITM such a special festival meant this was far from a regular set-up. The system, supplied and installed by UK-based Audio Feed, undertook quite a journey to site. The truck carrying all the necessary kit from the UK was only able to travel half way up the mountainside – with the remainder of the trip made on a combination of smaller flatbed truck and horse-drawn cart.
The festival comprised six areas, each featuring a Funktion-One system, supported by XTA and MC2 to achieve the best quality audio in the low-pressure mountain air.
‘MITM is our favourite festival,’ states Audio Feed’s Oz Jefferies. ‘Nestled up in the Bulgaria mountains above the clouds with no noise restrictions, the festival organisers give us free rein to create the best possible audio experience. Funktion One on every stage allows us to do this – it’s not about volume, it’s about clarity. Together with XTA and MC2 with have all the best tools to do this.’
On the Main Stage, four Evolution 6Es were combined with eight F121s and two F101s. Two XTA APA-4E8D and two MC2 Delta 80s provided amplification. Over on the Sunrise stage a similar set up of four Evolution 6Es, eight F121s and two F101s was used – along with two BR132 bass reflex speakers and an F81 for fill. Amplification was provided by two XTA APA-4E8D, an XTA DP-448 and an MC2 E60.
The Yoga area featured two Funktion-One F101 and BR-118, with MC2 Delta 80 amplification, while the Far Far East space used two Resolution 2, two BR-118s and two F101s, with XTA DP-448, MC2 E4-75 and MC2 E-100 amplification. Elsewhere, the M’Laddins Stage used two F101s and a BR118.
Despite daily thunderstorms, all systems delivered – perhaps none more impressively than the one used on the Lower Pines Stage. Its system ran 24 hours a day for the full duration of the festival without any breaks. Two Funktion-One Resolution 4TS, six F118 Mk2s and two Resolution 1s were used with an XTA DP-448, MC2 E60 and MC2 E-90. ‘Its amazing that we can install a system midday Thursday and it didn’t stop being used until 9.30am on Monday morning,’ Jefferies says. ‘Those amps really delivered.’
For FOH engineer Russell Kearney, the Funktion-One system provided a clarity that perfectly matched the festival’s spectacular surroundings and mixed musical styles: ‘I always look forward to mixing on Funktion-One at Meadows in the Mountains, it has an incredible realism and transparency that is superb for any kind of music, which is essential for this festival with its wide range of genres. Funktion-One is the closest I can get in live sound to mixing in a high-end recording studio.’
