The three-day Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival held 16-18 April in Indio, California near Palm Springs used the W-DMX system to achieve otherwise impossible cabling for an event of this size.
The production company for the site lighting at Coachella was Visions Lighting of Placentia California run by Todd Roberts. The system consisted of a single W-DMX BlackBox S-1 transmitter and 20 receivers controlling 20 7kW Falcon moving lights from A&0. The lights were mounted on 30ft towers, surrounding the festival area. An 8dBi omni antenna was at the transmitter, and each receiver had a 24dBi grid antenna. The longest distance was 2033ft.
Roberts comments, "The W-DMX system worked perfectly, this was our third year using it since it's proven itself at this festival before. But it was a bit more complex this year as AT&T set up a wi-fi grid of 70 antennas around the site which caused interference at first but we were able to work with them so both of us could play along. It was truly outstanding."
(Jim Evans)
