For the first time since its inaugural train tour in 2012, Full Flex Express left the station for a re-launch of its cross-Canada, eight-city tour.
PK Sound and its Trinity system were on board for three key dates to deliver a sonic experience to thousands of fans.
Any music train tour of Canada will inevitably bring to mind one of the most renown tours of all – 40 years ago – when musicians Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, and The Grateful Dead toured Canada aboard the “Festival Train”, playing shows in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary.
The documentary “Festival Train” captured the spirit and the artistry of that event that was, at the time, at the cutting edge of music.
EDM (electronic dance music) is a genre that has evolved into a complex musical art form which places an even greater demand on sound systems to produce the clarity and dynamics of a concert experience.
The sound production standards call for systems that can achieve a wider spectrum of frequencies, especially bass, which fans want to experience, not just hear.
With those criteria in mind, Full Flex selected Trinity for Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary. The crowds at those concerts fully experienced Trinity’s wide range of dynamic sound, adjusted precisely to each of the venues. Jack U, along with A$AP Ferg, Zeds Dead, Tycho, Anna Lunoe and Mija, and Kiesza took to the stage, pushing the ample limits of Trinity to reach their desired artistic precision.
PK implemented a Trinity system for Full Flex that included ten of Trinity’s line array loudspeakers,19 VX10 compact loudspeakers, 38 dual 18-inch CX800 subwoofers and 8 SW215 low profile stage monitors. The result was pure satisfaction for fans, for musicians, and for the engineers. Ian Hicks, front of house, concluded that, “Trinity performed flawlessly, dispersing superbly transparent sound with ample headroom and a tight, punchy low end. Every note was not only heard, but felt – the audience was fully engaged.”
Creating that level of performance demands precise sound focusing across the entire venue. Trinity accomplishes that by using 3D Wavefront Control with PK’s patented Coherent Midrange Integrators (CMI). Linking with electrically actuated systems inside each module, audio engineers can remotely and instantly adjust the directivity of the line array in 3D. From the front to the back, every seat in the house enjoyed full performance clarity regardless of location.
Not only the crowd and the artists had high demands. So did the tour logistics. The PA had to be set up within two hours – a daunting timeframe that became quite manageable with Trinity.
“Trinity is by far the easiest array to fly,” says Hicks. “The boxes went up with power and signal, in groups of four, within minutes. In testing the horizontal and vertical dispersion, I found that my initial calculations were off, but from a laptop I could quickly focus the sound; however, with a few adjustments to the angle data, the actuators kicked in and the array adjusted itself. My job was complete.”
Chris Kerr, production manager for Full Flex, had the opportunity to observe the different sound systems during the tour. In his words, “Trinity truly is an impressively engineered system. I have not seen a concert touring line array system that hangs so quickly, then adjusts its angles on the fly once in the air. It’s great to actually watch the engineers focus the sound. As for quality, it’s an astoundingly great sounding system that has very impressive far throw capabilities.”
