Sound For 91 Live Acts At The Second Annual Outside Lands Festival

Over at the Polo Field at the Lands End Stage, Derek Featherstone, Director of the Tour Sound & Event Division for Pro Media/UltraSound, geared up to support some of the festival headliners, including Incubus and Pearl Jam on Friday, Jason Mraz, Black Eyed Peas and Dave Mathews Band on Saturday, and M.I.A and Tenacious D on Sunday.

This was Pro Media/UltraSound’s second stint with Outside Lands as well. The Lands End stage sported a Meyer Sound Milo rig with combination of M3D and 650 R2 subs. MSL-4s were used to fill the extreme left and right sides of the stage.

Meyer Sound Mica line arrays were used for the delay towers. Featherstone deployed both Rational Acoustics Smaart and Meyer Sound SIM III to analyze, align, and tune the 23-zone system.

Digidesign Venue digital consoles (both the D-Show and the Profile) were utilized at Front of House, with a Midas Heritage 3000 available for those preferring analog.

The Presidio Stage, where Meyer Sound line arrays are concealed by scrims. (Click to enlarge)

“This year we put a slightly smaller side PA in order to contain the sound with in the park and away from the neighboring houses,” notes Featherstone. “We also used more downward aiming on the mains and the delay towers.

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“The noise restrictions are a bit undefined at the moment. I believe the plan this year was to gather data on volume at the mix position compared to that in the surrounding neighborhoods, and from there a limit would be determined for the next time.”

Given the crowded spectrum wireless systems were eschewed if at all possible. “We only use wireless if we have to these days. The headliners were more likely to come in with wireless systems and we just had to make sure that our six IEM units and six handheld mics did not interfere with artist frequencies,” Featherstone says.

While the festival environment certainly provides its challenges, Featherstone noted, “Festivals are a bit tricky as it is sometimes a challenge to satisfy the numerous different engineers’ idea of volume and tonality. On the other hand it is enjoyable to catch up with and learn from all the different engineers that come through.”

When queried about what he felt was the highlight of the festival, Featherstone replies, “The end.” And when asked about the lowlight of the festival, he replies, “The end.”

Mark Johnson has been involved with audio and video in one way or another for over 35 years, including production, manufacturing and covering the industries for various publications.