The official kick-off to Canada’s electronic music festival season had a new flair to it this year; PK Sound.
EverAfter Festival, located at Bingemans Fairgrounds in Kitchener, is Ontario’s only three-day electronic music event. In 2018, EverAfter attracted over 30,000 visitors per day from across North America and around the world.
After over 100 noise complaints during the 2017 version of the festival, EverAfter organizers were given guidelines from Kitchener City Council that included noise restrictions on readings taken from nearby neighbourhoods. With some of the biggest names in bass music including Illenium, Excision and Borgore, this is no easy task.
PK Sound partnered with Stoney Creek, Ontario-based Soundbox Productions for the festival, which had high praise for the Trinity line array in its case study about Ever After.
“Part of the appeal when using the PK Sound line array is the technology in the hardware/software combination and in the system itself. Each line array unit contains motorized speakers that, after the FOH engineer analyzes a space, he then can update the sound profile real time and remotely to the desired coverage. Our team was able to setup completely, make refinements and then adjust the projection of the sound further, all while the line array was hanging in place. This allowed us to quickly respond to the needs of the client and the city, even at a moment’s notice. The speed and scope of these changes would be nearly impossible with the industry standard system”
By the end of the three day festival, there were just six noise complaints from residents in nearby neighbourhoods, down 95% from the previous year.
With the entirety of the main stage being complimented by PK Sound, 18 Trinity arrays were set up at the stage, as well as 10 delays in total behind the front-of-house tent to further amplify the sound for festival-goers further back in the crowd. In addition, Gravity 218 and CX800 subwoofers were deployed at the front of the stage.
With keeping noise complaints as low as possible such a big priority for Ever After organizers, CEO Jeremy Bridge worked with City of Kitchener bylaw officers before the festival to determine problem-spots for noise complaints the year before. At the first three locations, no noise could be heard at all where complaints came from in 2017.
However, at the fourth location checked, sound could be heard from the festival grounds. It was discovered that the reasoning for the sound bleeding into the area was the nearby Grand River, which leads to the residential area of Breslau.
CEO Jeremy Bridge says KONTROL 2.1’s adaptability paired with the Trinity array helped with this curveball.
”We worked directly with the local by-law officers to contain the sound travelling down the river in Kitchener, specially we looked at the area that was impacted and repositioned the main arrays so that they would not travel as far.”
Each Trinity unit was specifically targeted to maximize sound in the crowd while avoiding projecting down the Grand River and sound leak into areas outside of the festival.
24 bass-filled sets later with just six noise complaints over the three days of the festival, PK sound accomplished the goal of festival organizers and their consideration for nearby residents. Dave Schneider, City of Kitchener Councillor, said that the city was very happy with how the weekend went from an outsider standpoint.