Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China – July 2010… Running for a staggering ten days from May 28th through June 6th, the 2010 West Lake (Xihu) Music Festival treated Hangzhou residents to performances from an international artist roster that gave new meaning to modern music. Featuring top international performers, including Angie Hart (Australia), Antaraxia (Italy), Pitchtuner (Germany), Aloha Hula Calles (Japan), and These New Puritons (UK), the 10-day music extravaganza was a mix of rock, folk, electronic, and pop. Local and Chinese national acts also participated. Music performances took place at several venues throughout the city and concluded with a 2-day outdoor concert series at the West Lake Tiandi, where the stage setup included an impressive sound reinforcement (SR) system comprised of loudspeakers from the Aero Series 2 catalog of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio.
Hangzhou Sound Culture Communication Co. Ltd., the sound services company contracted to provide the SR system for the main stage at this year's music festival, assembled a formidable loudspeaker setup that included D.A.S. Audio's Aero 50 3-way, large format line array elements, Aero 12A 2-way, mid-high line array elements, and LX-218 high performance subwoofers. Mr. Wang Tiequn, owner of Hangzhou Sound Culture Communication Co. Ltd., discussed his decision to deploy the D.A.S. Audio sound system for the main stage.
“The slogan ‘Making Music All Over the City' set the tone for this year's event,” Mr. Tiequn explained. “The first Xihu Music Festival, held two years ago, was sponsored by the city government to enrich the scene of this ancient city, which is known for traditional culture. The goal of this 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 capabilities 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 D.A.S. Audio system was the perfect match.”
The D.A.S. sound system Mr. Tiequn deployed was impressive. The two main left-right loudspeaker clusters—flown at the forward extremes of the stage area—each consisted of eight D.A.S. Audio Aero 50 line array enclosures. Low frequency support was provided by twelve D.A.S. Audio LX-218 subwoofers that were ground stacked four units across and three units high. Both loudspeaker systems were driven by Lab Gruppen FP 10000Q power amplifiers. These two systems were augmented by a centrally positioned loudspeaker cluster consisting of six D.A.S. Audio Aero 12A self-powered line array modules—flown over the stage area and serving as front fills. D.A.S. Audio's DSP-4080 4-input / 8-output audio processor handled loudspeaker management chores.
Quality technical support is critical in the professional audio industry and, here too, D.A.S. Audio came through with flying colors. “I've been very impressed with D.A.S. Audio's customer support services,” said Mr. Tiequn. “Ron Koh, Technical Support Representative for D.A.S. Audio Asia was on-site, working to ensure the success of this event. He assisted in the setup and fine-tuning of the system and really helped us optimize the setup. I am most appreciative of his assistance.”
Reflecting of the recent events, Mr. Tiequn reports that the 2010 West Lake (Xihu) Music 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 said. “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 D.A.S. 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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