The recent seventh annual Revelstoke Music Festival brought blues, rock, acoustic, Latin and World Music artists together in a sylvan outdoor setting on the Columbia River near the Selkirk Mountains and Glacier Pass in southeast British Columbia, with Northwest Global Entertainment (NWGE) of Kelowna, BC providing focused, high quality audio for the outdoor venue with a wide range Martin Audio system components.
The eclectic musical lineup including Donald Ray Johnson, Nuna’Y, Red-Eye Empire, Kyemara, Valdy, Rick Garvin, Blind Spot, Ghost Brothers, Lily Come Down and others performing at Revelstoke Centennial Park.
As NWGE’s Steve Williams explains, “We were tasked to step things up for the festival as their previous audio supplier had used conventional speaker systems that washed sound in areas, causing some noise bylaw issues. The Martin Audio W8LM line array system was perfect for this job, as it provided exceptional coverage and performance, while allowing us to focus and contain the sound where it was needed.”
With a crew consisting of Williams and Ian MacDonald (FOH engineers), Christopher Mayer & Perry MacDonald (Monitor engineers) and Jose Antunes, Greg Anderson, Julian Deacon and Jason Netherton (System technicians), NWGE designed a compact system with Martin Audio’s DISPLAY and Viewpoint software to keep the music focused on the audience.
NWGE used seven Martin Audio W8LM’s and one W8LMD (downfill) per side with eight WSX subs per side powered by MA2.8s and MA4.2s power amplifiers using DX1 digital loudspeaker management. The monitor system consisted of Martin Audio LE400C Monitors powered by Martin audio MA4.8Qs. The front of house console was a Midas Verona, with a Soundcraft console utilized for monitoring.
According to Williams, everyone at Revelstoke appreciated the audio quality achieved by the system. “The festival organizers were ecstatic with the sound this year,” he explains. “The artists consistently commented on the exceptional quality of the sound on stage and in the audience. Vendors and patrons of the festival enjoyed a significant improvement in the sound quality and coverage.
“Headliner Donald Ray Johnson said he’d never heard sound so good on a festival stage and was thrilled to perform there. And, most importantly, there were no noise bylaw complaints and the Revelstoke Music Festival directors were extremely pleased with the performance of the audio system. Everyone is looking forward to next year’s festival event.”
Concluding for the NWGE crew, Steve adds, “We were really pleased with the sound quality and coverage. The W8LM speakers are small and very punchy. The Marin Audio amps provided very warm sound and we had a great level of headroom left in the rack. Minimal EQ was needed to get a great mix platform. Martin Audio really rocks.”
