Ear Candy

Rather than blast the audience with bass, Port Fairy 2013 took a more subtle approach to festival sound. Alice Gustafson finds out more

With over 100 acts, 586 artists and 508 programmed events, this year’s Port Fairy Folk Festival (PFFF) promised to be its biggest yet. Starting small in 1977, the independent music festival held in Victoria’s picturesque Port Fairy village has since grown to accommodate a line up boasting a wealth of major international and national folk artists, bringing with them a multitude of musical genres.

However, in keeping with its peaceful coastal location, the four-day festival is not brash, and it is not loud. This was a fact not lost on Monitor City, which assumed the role of production managing company for four of the festival’s main stages. Having been approached by festival production manager Brian Cavagnino two years earlier, Monitor City knew what was required, and promptly teamed up with distributor Group Technologies to provide the perfect solution.

‘We did the festival last year using a combination of our previous Nexo S12 PA system and various subcontractors,’ notes Monitor City’s Ade Barnard, zone one technical production manager. ‘Once we had seen it, this helped with our decision towards the STM purchase. We have been working on it with the production team for the festival for four to five months as the site has altered slightly and the specification of the venues has changed.’

Port Fairy 2013 happened to coincide with Victoria's longest-ever heat wave, but nonetheless still attracted some 50,000 music lovers. Monitor City was tasked with managing production for Stages One, Two, the Guinness Stage (also known as the Shabeen Bar) and Stage Five.

Covering Stage One were five Nexo STM M46 main modules with five B112 bass units per side, which covered the 65m distance to the back of the tent without the need for side-fills or delays. Twelve Nexo 45N12 wedges were also deployed throughout Stage One with two Nexo PS15 speakers as side-fills, whilst a DiGiCo SD8 served as FOH console with another on monitoring duties.

Stage Two featured a more creative setup comprising four M46 cabinets per side – flown as close to the edge of the stage as possible due to height restrictions – with eight B112s stacked in a two-high, four-wide block in the centre in front of the stage. Twelve PS15s took care of monitoring, with another DiGiCo SD8 for FOH and a SD9 on monitors.

Over on Stage Five, four pairs of Nexo S1230 cabinets were spaced symmetrically around a semi-circular truss surrounding the stage with one S118 sub per side. Eight 45N12s provided further support, whilst two DiGiCo SD11s served again at FOH and for monitors.

The smallest of the setups was found at the Guinness Tent, comprised of just three M46s and three B112 cabinets per side. An Avid Venue Profile handled FOH, whilst 12 PS15s and a DiGiCo D1 console covered monitoring.

‘This equipment was selected as originally we were looking for a modular solution for our PA purchase,’ Mr Barnard reflects. ‘We had to have a system we could use in a pub and then scale up to use in an arena with the same rigging and infrastructure. This worked extremely well for Port Fairy as we split the system across four stages in various configurations, and yet our basic infrastructure covered all the options.’

With the exception of Stage Five, eagle-eyed audiophiles will have noticed a distinct absence of subwoofers in the set up. But it was all for good reason, as Mr Barnard explains: ‘The challenges with the project were mainly to do with working in long, low hoecker structures. We only had about 6m to 8m clearance for the PA, and some of the rooms were 70m long. We had to make sure the coverage reached the back and, in some cases, out of the back when the venue walls were opened.

‘The other issue was with keeping the audio contained in each venue, as some of the stages were only 10m apart,’ he adds. ‘However this was solved with lots of software mapping and planning in the pre-production stages. We also spoke with staging to get as many extra inches as we could! Containing the audio was part of this process as well, and was made considerably easier by dropping the subs from the festival. But this was not an issue, as the STM goes down to 63hz quite comfortably.’

Conveniently, not using subwoofers suited the festival’s gentle style perfectly, and what Monitor City lacked in subs, it made up for in staff. ‘It’s an ear candy event,’ Mr Barnard elaborates. ‘There is no real volume. The audience are whisper-quiet – it’s all about the music. We are very lucky to have been in a situation where we could rotate engineers every two bands to ensure that there was always a fresh set of ears. It meant that we were effectively employing a double crew, but it’s all about the audio, and the results speak for themselves. Some of the performances were breath-taking and the audio had to reflect that.’

So impressed was festival management that Monitor City has a three-year contract with PFFF. ‘They are extremely happy,’ smiles Mr Barnard. ‘It’s been great to work so closely with Brian and his team to realise their vision as to what the festival should be.

‘We are proud to be part of it. Not only is it Australia’s premier folk festival, but it’s also run by a lovely group of people that focus on the music rather than it being a completely commercial enterprise. The festival allows us to provide the best practice audio-wise, rotate our engineers, and it's the closest I’ve ever got to it sounding absolutely perfect.’

www.grouptechnologies.com.au
www.monitorcity.com.au
www.nexo-sa.com