Belgium - Spa is best known for its mineral water and legendary Formula One circuit, but each July the small Belgian city welcomes almost 200,000 visitors for the annual Francofolies Festival.
This internationally renowned festival promotes contemporary music, conceived and designed with respect for the environment and sustainable development. The programming and artists reflect the values upheld by the festival: multiculturalism, the dissemination of Francophilia worldwide, and advocacy for a modern and innovative vision of culture.
With headline performances from French singers Christophe Maé and Patrick Bruel, Congolese singer and rapper Gims and French folk-rock band Louise Attaque, this year’s festival took place from 18-21 July.
Sound for the Pierre Rapsat main stage was provided by Belgian production technology specialist Arto which deployed its Nexo STM system to deliver directional, high-impact sound and the controlled bass essential for a festival located in the heart of the city.
The system - designed by Christophe Loncour, a long-time partner and sound engineer of Arto - comprised left and right hangs of 12 STM M46 main and B112 bass extension modules with a single M28 down-fill, and two flown lines of STM S118 subs. Seven stacks of four S118 subs were deployed side by side in cardioid mode and a total of 14 M28s were used for front-fills, lip-fills and out-fills.
Arrays of six M46 + B112 with a single M28 down-fill were deployed for delays with two stacks of four S118 subs in cardio mode, back-to-back. Amplification and processing for the complete setup came from 33 Nexo NXAMP4X4 Powered TD Controllers.
“The whole setup was driven by a Newton processor from Outline Audio which allowed us to matrix all the guest mixing desks and play on our system through the Dante network,” comments Arto chief system tech David Huyvaert. “We had an analogue fallback just in case, but we didn’t have to use it: sunshine or the rain, the system was very reliable.”
He adds: “The reason for the asymmetric setup was imposed by the geographical location of the stage. We were right in the centre of the city and operating in a very tight space. The cardioid setup for the subs and the controlled directivity enabled us to perfectly control the sound – important as we also had to deal with the sound of the other stages nearby. The STM system worked perfectly, and we got lots of compliments from engineers mixing various artists throughout the festival.”
One of the first rental companies to invest in Nexo’s modular line array system, Arto added 36 sets of STM to its inventory at the end of 2012 and has deployed small, medium and large configurations, ranging from large-format festivals to civic and corporate events.
