Cohesion In The Mix for TikTok in Phoenix
- Details
Presented at Sloan Park in the Phoenix suburbs, In the Mix featured an impressive line-up. The team from ATK Audiotek, a Clair Global brand, deployed a Cohesion system to optimise every performance, even as the elaborate design of the production presented intriguing challenges.
Enabling the audience to focus on the 360° stage at the centre of the stadium required no flown visual obstructions. The audio design also needed to manage clearance for video towers and a freewheeling Spidercam meant to capture dynamic live footage for the TikTok livestream. In short, BAFTA Award-winning director Hamish Hamilton and event producers Done+Dusted in collaboration with Yellow Studios required that nothing tall be constructed at or near the main stage.
“They didn’t want to see it, but it had to sound good,” said ATK Audiotek account executive Andres Arango, describing the ultimate mission for the system. The ATK design deployed a hybrid system of flown and ground stacked line arrays. Eight clusters of 10 CO12 loudspeakers were flown from four towers, sufficiently equidistant from centre stage to ensure clear sightlines for all in-person and remote spectators.
The flown system was supplemented by eight strategically placed ground stacks of two CO12 loudspeakers and an additional eight ground stacks of four CO10 loudspeakers to ensure that all in attendance were consistently immersed in the festival spectacle.
“Considering the design limitations, the coverage we ended up with was outstanding,” said Jeff Peterson, FOH production mixer. “Every audience area had crystal-clear, high-fidelity audio without impeding audience or camera sightlines.”
The main Cohesion system was augmented by 48 CP218 II+ self-powered subwoofers, in an arrangement of 12 stacks of four, to provide impressive low-end output, impact, and control. Twenty self-powered CP6+ point source loudspeakers were used as complementary front fill to complete the system.
“What’s critical is how much energy comes off products in directions we don’t want,” said Peterson. “What we found of Cohesion is it’s very controlled and very helpful. There’s not a lot of unwanted energy off the back and sides.”
Artists at In the Mix included Charlie Puth, Anitta, Niall Horan, Peso Pluma, Offset, and Cardi B. DJs entertained the crowd between sets, and ‘influencers’ roamed the stadium throughout the day to provide live interviews.
