Funktion-One partner, Moto Rental, has supplied a large system for Roskilde's Apollo stage - its platform for electronic music. After experiencing issues while using a different system in 2013, the festival's organisers were keen to raise the audio quality for the audience, while minimising the impact on the surrounding environment - including nearby residents.
Apollo hosts a range of musical styles that fall beneath its broad electronic music banner and sees a mixture of playback, live and varying combinations of both. Naturally, bass frequencies have a prominent role to play, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity when it comes to sound reinforcement.
"Apollo is all about being progressive - the music, the light show and the sound," explains Roskilde's technical manager, Paul Jensen. "We want to make as much impact as possible, without interfering with the other stages or disturbing homes that are situated close to the site. While it's easier to control the mid and high frequencies, bass frequencies are much trickier. Last year we experienced some issues, so it was our priority to get it right this year."
Launched in 1971, Roskilde has grown to become one of northern Europe's largest music festivals. It is run by a non-profit organisation and relies on an army of 30,000 volunteers. This year's event, which ran from 29 June to 6 July, sold all of its 102,000 tickets and set a new attendance record.
While planning this year's festival, Jensen contacted Moto Rental's Bj°rn Winnem and asked him what he could do about the "bass spread". Despite not knowing the exact details of the project, Winnem was confident in suggesting that Funktion-One is "very good for directing sound where you want it to go." The conversation continued from there and resulted in Moto supplying Apollo's sound.
The system comprised 24 Funktion-One Resolution 5 Touring speakers, configured in left and right clusters of 12. The all-important bass reinforcement came from 12 Funktion-One F221 and eight F218 enclosures.
The result was impacting for all the right reasons, says Winnem: "This stage is considered to be for about 5,000 people, but some shows attracted as many as 15,000. With the Funktion-One sound system, we were able to give the audience what they wanted, while containing the bass. Neighbouring stages were happy to discover that the bass from our stage didn't affect them. Our stage manager was equally happy to discover that, because of the clarity and lack of distortion, the crew could actually speak to each other without using the intercom."
Crucially, Jensen was happy with the results too: "It was extremely successful. Moto Rental's Funktion-One sound system delivered a new level of performance, which raised the audience experience and satisfied all of our noise considerations. I'm very happy that this collaboration happened and look forward to working together again in the future."
(Jim Evans)
