A technical upgrade of the Elspe Festival in Germany, finds a Martin Audio MLA Mini loudspeaker system and DiGiCo SD9 mixing system at home in the Wild West. One of the largest and most visited show and festival parks in Europe, the site is located in the Sauerland Elspe, in Olpe, South Westphalia, where characters from Western novels by the German fiction writer Karl May come to life in Germany’s largest outdoor theatre.
Last year, renewal of the audio system was high on the agenda, and sound consultant Ulrich Schmitz knew it had to cast its spell on the 200,000 people who attend each year. In addition to being responsible for the audio systems in Elspe, Schmitz works at EP:Nöker, the company entrusted with the planning and installation: ‘Elspe Festival’s claim is to invest in stable, long-lasting and future-proofed products,’ he says. ‘We searched for a solution, which was technologically state of the art and which fit our requirement 100 per cent.’
Some of the criteria had to do with speech intelligibility as well as provide smooth coverage of the whole auditorium and a better monitor situation on stage. In addition it had to be able to withstand the hard weather conditions.
Several suppliers were considered, but United Brands won through: ‘We knew United Brands could deliver the complete audio hardware package required in view of their extensive portfolio,’ Schmitz says.
For the outdoor Nature area, 16 MLA Mini elements were used (four each for the left and right hangs, with a cluster of eight in the centre) as well as six S15+ subwoofers and six DD6 speakers as close fills. Monitoring was handled by eight weatherproof AM10s and two AM12s, which were non-visible.
In addition to the 4,000-seater Nature stage, the all-season Festivalhalle stage was also re-equipped. This was achieved with a PA comprising three stacks each of W8LM Mini Line Array elements (with a single W8LM and two W8LMD in LCR configuration) and three S218+ subs. Stage monitoring is from a centre stack with a single W8LM and two W8LMD Downfills (plus a W8VDQ on each flank for side monitors).
Both installations are controlled by XTA devices, and powered by amplifiers from MC2 Audio, while the mixing console in the Festivalhalle was upgraded to a DiGiCo SD9.
Jochen Bludau – MD of the Elspe Festival – has given the installations a thumbs-up: ‘From the first day of planning, the staff from EP:Nöker and United Brands worked hand-in-hand to create an excellent result. The response by visitors and actors has been consistently positive,’ he says.
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