Powersoft X8 boosts top DJ’s in Rimini
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The two-day event also saw, for the first time, the appearance of the new Loud Professional Formula F221 subwoofer. Based on Loud Pro Push Loop Technology: this double 21in system combines three different technologies: Push Pull, Double Reflex Band Pass, and Horn Loading system.
The winning combination of these two leading Italian manufacturers was selected by Amandla Productions, who had taken over the Festival’s technical production - as they immediately recognised Loud Professional’s expertise in delivering large scale festival sound (and particularly EDM events).
“The synchronization with Powersoft was excellent and we already have plans for to develop further projects together,” said Loud Professional’s event production director, Francesco ‘Scody’ Scotti. “As for the new sub, we were delighted with the excellent results achieved.”
And so, it seems, was the all-star line-up of DJs appearing over the two days, including headliners The Martinez Brothers, Paul Kalkbrenner, Sven Vath, Chris Liebing, Loco Dice, Len Faki, Ilario Alicante and Sam Paganini.
In order to satisfy the requirements of some of the world’s leading EDM exponents, Scody confirmed that extensive testing had first taken place to establish optimum performance. “This necessitated creating a library of dedicated presets,” he explained. “The huge potential of Armonía [Powersoft’s digital signal monitoring and processing software], with its powerful DSP, has enabled us to fully optimize our system capabilities.
“The Powersoft/Loud Pro combination guarantees exceptional performances along with the powerful and easy system management.”
As for the speaker configuration at Rimini Loud Professional were across all three stages, with Michele Azzimonti responsible for the sound design on each. Particularly pertinent was the Green stage where Paul Kalkbrenner and Sven Vath provided a real tour de force into the early hours of the morning.
This stage was composed of two clusters of 12 Loud Professional VH Layer 212H, equipped with two 12in. woofers in a hybrid configuration, horn loaded and tuned in a bass-reflex volume, along with two 6.5in. horn loaded twin midranges and three 1in. drivers in combination with a planar wave guide - all driven by Powersoft X8 amplification.
Particular attention was devoted to minimizing the room's reflections from the opposite wall to the stage with an accurate pointing of the systems, and with gain shading.
The subwoofers for this stage comprised 32 of the VH Sub 121H, equipped, in hybrid configuration (Horn & Reflex loaded), with a single 21in transducer and latest generation 4.5in. voice coil. The subwoofers were arranged in eight blocks of four loudspeakers arranged in a line along the stage front.
Also used as front-fills were 10 VH SM15 speakers, equipped with a 15” coaxial woofer, to reinforce the front stage area not covered by the main clusters.
Over at the Blue stage Powersoft X8 drove 24 Loud Professional VH Layer112H+EMD (Three Way Line Array Elements), 24 Loud Professional VH Sub218R (Sub/Bass Enclosure) and 10 Loud Professional VH SM12H (front-fill). As with the Green Stage, careful attention was taken in pointing and setup, given the room acoustics and the reflections of the wall opposite the stage.
The smaller Red stage provided the greatest acoustical challenge because the bottleneck of the side walls, just few meters from the stage front, created a tunnel 20m wide, 50m long and 7m high.
Loud Professional VH Layer 112H were used in 2-way configuration — six cabinets per side as the main clusters. Two further systems, stacked over the subwoofers, served as front-fills.
(Jim Evans)
