Staged by C3 Presents, the annual Lollapalooza Festival dates back to 1991 and showcased more than 170 bands from around the world to an audience of around 400,000 at Chicago’s Grant Park. Martin Audio PA rigs dominated three of the eight stages that made up this year’s four-day event. Martin Audio partner Technotrix, which has been supporting the event with barely a break for 25 years, provided Martin Audio systems for Tito’s, the BMI Stage and Bonus Tracks Stage (which this year replaced the former Kidzapalooza).

Technotrix holds an extensive inventory of Martin Audio PA front-line systems stretching back several generations. For the BMI stage this year, Audio Department Manager Brent Bernhardt and BMI stage FOH crew chief Joe Mion, opted for an MLA Compact rig (six elements a side) on this small portable stage. These were supported by four blocks of two MLX subwoofers in a broadside array across the front as up-and-coming acts including Migrant Motel, Mothica, phem, and Riz La Vie took the stage.

Assisting them was a selection of XE300 monitors and an SX218 drum sub, while a pair of Martin Audio CDD8 provided close-field support for the audience at the front.

‘About half of the bands brought their own sound engineer, with one using my festival file and the others bringing their own show file, and we received nothing but positive comments,’ Mion says. ‘Being a festival, it’s a headphone soundcheck rather than a live one, and that makes sound engineers nervous. But the PA put them at ease, and particularly the subs, which received most comments – because of the sheer output from just eight boxes. Sound techs observed how fast and clean they were, and particularly their great throw.’

According to Bernhardt, who has been involved with the event for the past 12 years, the real triumph was Tito’s, where Hard Avoid in Martin Audio’s Display control software came into its own, helping to mitigate some of the rear reflections caused by the odd shape of the venue. ‘Having that tool in the box helped us avoid hitting the roof.’

Tito’s presented the broadest and most eclectic of mixes, ranging from indie to hip-hop and EDM, country music singer-songwriters to singer/guitarist Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes. For this stage Technotrix upgraded the PA rig to 12 full MLA modules, with a single MLD Downfill at the base and seven blocks of two MLX, again in a broadside array. Providing front fill were four MLA Compact elements, while all non-active speakers, such as the floor monitors and SX218 drum fill was powered by Martin Audio iKon amplifiers (some of which also appeared on the Lake Shore stage).

‘It was the first year we had been involved with Tito and it went extremely well,’ Bernhardt says. ‘The throw of the PA had been a vast improvement on what I was led to believe had been the experience in the past.’

Much of this was down to Technotrix’s system tech for that stage, Dan Steinman.

The service company was also in action on the smaller Bonus Tracks, which was used for artists interviews and a broad range of performance ‘designed to get more outreach to a larger community than the previous kids’ stage’, according to Mion. This included the popular Best of Chicago Drag. Sound from this stage was provided by Martin Audio’s workhorse W8LC Compact Line Array, which has had a consistent presence Lollapalooza over the years, and two pairs of WSX subs, stacked left and right. Supervising this stage for Technotrix was Aaron Adamczyk.

The event was supported by Martin Audio’s Joe Lima, who assisted with system optimisation and tuning, and whom the Technotrix team credit for excellent backup. ‘We know them all personally at Martin Audio, and couldn’t ask for better support,’ they say.

Lima’s thoughts on the performance of the PA echo those of Bernhardt and Mion: ‘This event proved that MLA is easily the most flexible large-scale festival sound system out there. ‘We were able to generate different presets for different coverage needs, under variable atmospheric conditions and the response was always identical, which is critical for an engineer that soundchecks a band at 10am with 90 per cent humidity and then starts the show at 7pm with 50 per cent humidity and 10° hotter. That kind of consistency is what our optimised systems (MLA and WP) deliver every day, and knowing exactly how the rig is going to respond on the first chord of the show is priceless.’

He was reassured by the favourable comments received from visiting techs. ‘The FOH engineers for Black Pistol Fire and All Time Low, in particular, achieved some of the punchiest, most well-balanced mixes I’ve heard. They were ecstatic with the MLA rig at Tito’s.’

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