GSL system wraps Electric Daisy revelers in ‘blanket of sound’.
Each year, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway is transformed into an electronic dance music village made up of multiple live music stages, food and retail vendors, and more than one hundred thousand resident revelers per day, all there to celebrate a multitude of electronic music genres during the three-day Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC).
For the eleventh year in a row, Las Vegas based 3G Productions was on site to manage audio production for three of the largest stages in the Speedway: Cosmic Meadow, Kinetic Field, and Circuit Ground. Julio Valdez, senior systems engineer for 3G Productions, specified d&b audiotechnik sound reinforcement for each stage of the EDC flagship festival.
“We used more than seven hundred and fifty d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers, including the new GSL System, for this event,” explained Valdez. “Each stage requires a throw of at least five hundred feet, which is not an easy task given the desert weather. When humidity drops to five percent or lower, it is very challenging to get high frequencies that distance. You must be very aware of the capability of the products you are using. Our experience with d&b loudspeakers has been exceptional. We use delays to further the blanket of sound.”
Valdez deployed the SL-Series GSL System for the Cosmic Meadow stage, the first stage visitors see when arriving through the main entrance. This was the largest gathering of the new loudspeakers in the world to date.
“Because the GSL System utilizes the d&b software suite, which provides planning, modelling and control, it was easier for us to accommodate for the lack of humidity,” explains Valdez. “As a result, we gained just enough extra throw to place the delay towers at 200 feet, just missing placement on the grass, which was strictly forbidden. It was a real lifesaver.”
The set of two towers utilized individual flown arrays of ten GSL10 and two GSL8 loudspeakers, plus two ground stacked SL-SUBs to provide even coverage of the five hundred feet deep by six hundred feet wide listening area.
For Kinetic Field, Valdez specified a tried and true J-Series system. “Similar to Cosmic Meadow, we had to cover a listening area that was five hundred feet deep but this time seven hundred feet wide. In addition to the main PA we used four arrays in the first row of delays… and V arrays in the four arrays in the second row of delays. We used a similar system last year with the same great results. No matter where you were, it sounded great.”
Valdez extended the low end throughout the area with stacks of B22-SUBs under each delay tower. d&b D80 amplifiers drove the entire system with Valdez noting, “Even in the heat the D80 amps can be driven full tilt with no issues at all. They are incredible workhorses.
“This is a very large event that requires serious sound quality and coverage,” concluded Valdez. “We consistently rely on our d&b system because we are confident it will exceed our clients expectations – and it does. We had used a different system for Cosmic Meadows last year and I have to say, the new GSL System didn’t fail to impress. Everyone in the organization was extremely pleased with the end result.”
