Mad Decent Block Party attracted major crowds, some as large as 16,000, to more than twenty different outdoor concerts across the US and Canada this summer. According to the popular website dancingastronaut, “Mad Decent Block Party has become a quintessential music event for fans across the continent. By incorporating a wide variety of artists that reach outside the bounds of the typical Mad Decent roster, the Block Party gives many major US festivals a run for their money.”
At every event, PK Sound was there to demonstrate Trinity’s power, durability and flexibility.
The MDBP tour was a feast of live music, with over 60 acts including top headliners like Die Antwoord and Skrillex. The variation in performers from one show to next meant that each day was a new day on tour for the front of house engineers. Not only new performers, but also different genres, demanded the quality and live concert flexibility that Trinity provides.
“The tour had the most diverse lineup of any tour I’ve worked on,” says Rory Stewart, production manager. “We featured a variety of genres including EDM, drum & bass DJ’s, and trap, along with live vocalists.”
To ensure each artist was able to deliver their very best performance, PK Sound configured a Trinity line array of 10 per side, 36 PK CX800 Dual 18-inch subwoofers, two PK VX12 line arrays for front fill, and ten PK VX10 for alternate line arrays. All of the equipment had to withstand the inevitable rainy days, but that wasn’t a concern for Stewart and the crew, or Trinity’s weather-resistant amplifier plate and IP43 cables and connectors
The limited time for set-up and tear-down wasn’t a concern either, nor was the challenge of having to make quick adjustments to optimize the quality of the various performances.
“The line array could be quickly deployed and removed, plus we could control the throw once it had been flown,” says Stewart.
“With a conventional line array, the speakers must be taken down in order to adjust any of the vertical dispersion angles, which can be time and labor intensive, and ultimately cause you to compromise on audio quality because you don’t have the time to re-adjust. With Trinity, you could adjust the dispersion even when the show was running.”
Precise control of the sound field is achieved through electrically actuated systems inside each module, which allow continuous horizontal adjustment between 60-120° degrees with 10° resolution and continuous adjustment from 0-6° with 0.1° resolution. Because Trinity’s 3D Wavefront Control lets you focus the sound, you can reduce the spill into adjacent zones and direct sound away from reflective surfaces. If even coverage over long distances is the challenge, Trinity’s patent-pending Coherent Midrange Integrator (CMI) has the unique ability to focus high frequency energy.
PK’s system also won kudos from guest engineers who were working directly with the major acts like Jack U, Major Lazer, Skrillex and Odesza.
“Their feedback was extremely positive,” says Stewart. “We had lots of compliments on how loud and clear the audio was, and they said how impressed they were with the ability to cover large audiences of up to 16,000 people.” The long throw capability of Trinity’s patent-pending Coherent Midrange Integrator wave guide has the unique ability to focus high frequency energy; this ensures even coverage over long distances.
Stewart also noted that West Coast EDM performer TJR was particularly impressed with the ability of the PK system to reproduce for a live concert the sound he was able to achieve in the studio. This level of quality, for him, created a connection to the audience at Mad Decent Block Party.
MDBP was a major tour and a major success. For PK Sound, it was an ideal showcase for their system’s performance and flexibility – no matter who the artist, no matter what the weather, regardless of the size of crowd or challenges of the venue.
PK Sound is an owner-operated audio manufacturing and production company headquartered in Calgary, AB, Canada, with offices in San Francisco, CA, USA and Victoria, BC, Canada. The PK brand of audio system is well known for its full bodied and intelligible sound; a result of implementing high efficiency components, new technologies and focusing on the current demands of artists and fans.
