Orange, CA-based MixOne Sound delivered sound reinforcement at the recent Live Nation FivePoint Amphitheater event in Irvine, CA with a main system headed by dBTechnologies ViO Series, including multiple ViO L212 line arrays and ViO C12s for mid-fill, to support performances by Dirty Heads, Lovelytheband, Eddie Zuko, and Bikini Trill.
The FivePoint Amphitheater presented unique challenges, with strict sound level limits, significant venue elevation, and other acoustic considerations. “We chose the dBTechnologies ViO Series for this event for a variety of reasons, but primarily because it’s reliable, rider-ready, easy to deploy, and sounds great,” states William Catlin of MixOne Sound. “The ViO system is incredibly user-friendly, from setup to rigging. The intuitive nature of the system ensures we can deploy it efficiently.
“FivePoint Amphitheater has a strict 100 dB limit at front of house, and the venue has a significant rake, with about 35 feet of elevation up to the back seats,” he continues. “To meet these specifications, we went all in with the VIO System for this event, but we needed to make sure it was carefully configured. We deployed 28 L212 speakers for the mains, with 14 on each side, along with 24 318 subs, two triple stacks per side, and six double stacks in the middle, ensuring ample coverage. It’s worth noting that the outfills also presented a challenge, as they weren’t as closely spaced as we’d prefer. To compensate, we used an array of L212s, six on each side, six ViO L210 front fills, along with some ViO C12s on the deck for outfills ensuring we didn’t have any sonic dark spots.”
“I did the configuration work in Composer, and that worked really well. We loaded in and after pulling up the scene for the event, I only needed to do a minimal amount of EQing to get the tuning dialed in. The per-box processing and networking capabilities are a game-changer and allowed us to fine-tune every aspect of the system. It even offers features like sub arc time alignment, where all I have to do is drag my subwoofers into the arc setting, letting it know how many boxes I have stacked and then it makes the timeline sub arc for me complete with symmetrical or asymmetrical changes depending on how the stage is set.”
Joseph Olea, front of house engineer for Lovelytheband, adds, “During soundcheck there was one song that starts with just guitar. Right as the vocals came in, I was floored by the dBTechnologies ViO system,” added Joseph Olea, FOH engineer for Lovelytheband. ‘I thought ‘Holy cow, this loudspeaker array sounds plain and clear and I don’t think there’s anything I need to do to improve this.’ I was really impressed with the crossover between the mid and the high frequency elements and William did a great job with the sub deployment. There was no lack of punchy low end at all. I was very happy.”
“I wasn’t surprised at the response. I told the front of house guys that the ViO system, when tuned correctly is flat and transparent like a studio monitor,” Catlin concludes. “And it allows you to mix the way you want to mix.”
