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Martin Audio WPS arrays flown left and right at the Blue Ridge Timberwright Stage at this year’s Red Wing Roots Music Festival in Mt. Solon, VA.

Southard Deploys Martin Audio For Red Wing Roots Festival In Virginia

Shenandoah Mountain Stage, the largest at the annual bluegrass/roots music event in Mt. Solon, VA, equipped with main rig utilizing 16 WPL modules and six SXH218 subs in a cardioid configuration.

The Red Wing Roots Music Festival in Mt. Solon, VA’s picturesque Natural Chimneys Park, annually presents roots, bluegrass and string band music, and this year — as it has since the event began in 2013 — Martin Audio rental partner Southard Audio (based in Mount Crawford, VA) provided audio services for the five-stage event.

The festival, which is attended by about 4,500 people each year, is a collaboration between Black Bear Productions and The Steel Wheels, the latter a nationally touring band that performs throughout the U.S., with many of the members living nearby in the Shenandoah Valley. Southard Audio business partner Jason Misterka wanted to redeploy Wavefront Precision (WPL) line arrays for the main staged based on a successful outing last year. “When we originally purchased WPL, one of the most interesting uses for me was with acoustic music,” he sexplains. “We provide for many of the country’s premier folk and bluegrass festivals, and Martin Audio’s WP speakers give us another good tool for that job.

“While it is relatively easy to amplify a ‘typical’ pop or rock band with a few vocal mics and a lot of DI boxes, it’s much more difficult to amplify a band with all acoustic instruments and 12 or more open mics, and to bring that up to show volume for a large audience,” he adds. “If we use the system’s ‘Hard Avoid’ feature to limit sound from the main array bleeding onto the stage [as they did here] the artist’s monitor level often decreases and the mics sound cleaner, not to mention a major improvement in gain-before-feedback. It just makes life easier.”

At Red Wing, the two main stage audience areas overlap, with many at the back of one stage rotating their chair to watch the other stage. The presence of the actual chimneys in the park creates a visual center between the two main stage set-ups.

On the Shenandoah Mountain Stage, Southard Audio fielded 16 WPL modules (eight elements a side) on a Stageline SL320 stage, with six SXH218 subwoofers in a cardioid configuration. Four CDD-LIVE 15 provided front and out fill, while a single CDD-LIVE 12 provided VIP fill. The system was driven by two Martin Audio iK42 racks. Meanwhile, the Blue Ridge Timberwright Stage was served by 22 of smaller WPS modules (11 a side) mounted to Applied LA12-25 towers, with six SHX218 subs in cardioid configuration and a pair of further WPS for front fill.

The WPS system was added to Southard Audio’s inventory in 2020, “We are now able to utilize all the features of WPL at events that don’t need the same SPL, or do not have the infrastructure to support a system of that size,” Misterka notes. Chris Davis created the DISPLAY optimizations for both WP systems, doubling as the system tech and FOH on the Blue Ridge Timberwrights Stage, while Misterka took on FOH duties at the Shenandoah Mountain Stage.

Elsewhere, The Roots Stage was equipped with a pair of CDD-LIVE 15 with four SXC118 cardioid subs and The Hill Stage utilized a further pair of CDD-LIVE 15 with a pair of CSX118 providing low-frequency support. Finally, a mobile Yoga sound system was based around a pair of Martin Audio Blackline XP12 loudspeakers.

“Cardioid subwoofers at the Roots Stage were vitally important,” Misterka says, “as they would otherwise be heard during sets at the Shenandoah Mountain Stage. We have typically created a cardioid sub array there, however, this year we used the Martin SXC118 cardioid subs with excellent results. They complement the CDD-LIVE 15 perfectly as well.”

Trent Wagler of host band The Steel Wheels adds, “There has been consistent feedback from artists and fans that the sound quality at our festival is of the highest caliber every year. I attribute that, generally, to the expertise of Southard Audio in the real time audio engineering field, but it’s important to recognize that it all starts with choosing the right tools for the job.

“From talking to fellow performers, I’ve only heard comments such as, ‘everything sounds great.’ Much as artists can sometimes be given credit for the amazing job the sound tech is doing, so Southard deserve credit for some of the magic the Martin Audio system delivers in audio coverage.”

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