Tomorrowland 2018 revealed the brand-new Atmosphere Stage, a futuristic tent where L-Acoustics L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound delivered deeply vibrant beats as festival goers bathed in stunning visuals for a completely unprecedented musical experience.
L-Acoustics has a rich history with Tomorrowland and has collaborated with the festival alongside Noizboyz, designers of Tomorrowland audio systems, since 2011. This year was no different, with over 600 L-Acoustics cabinets supplied by Phlippo Productions deployed on six stages, including the massive 115m wide Story of Planaxis Main Stage, across the vast festival site.
“When discussions began about creating an L-ISA area at Tomorrowland,” said Noizboyz Pieter Doms, “we were instantly excited to explore this cutting-edge technology with them, to learn new techniques and new ways of experiencing music.”
Described by EDM.com, as ‘breath-taking and perfectly made for Techno’, Atmosphere was housed in a huge, 32-metre high tent suspended from a gigantic, custom-built crane. With an all-star line-up, a ceiling glittering with thousands of lights, a 2km long video net containing 120,000 LEDs stretched around its circumference, and a mammoth 20.1L-Acoustics L-ISA design, Tomorrowland was about to deliver a full-on, mind-blowing, 360-degree dance experience.
To accommodate the production team’s wish for the LED wall to be the visual focal point of the Atmosphere Stage, the L-Acoustics L-ISA configuration comprised 18 arrays of 4 L-Acoustics Kara each, stacked on a truss above the screen and filling 270 degrees of a carefully configured circle. An additional flown system of 8 L-Acoustics K1 per side, plus 24 L-Acoustics KS28 subs completed the 360° panorama and provided the full on, low-end kick that is the hallmark of EDM.
This highly flexible and modular configuration allowed for delivery of both conventional stereo and immersive content. The L-Acoustics K1 system provided left/right delivery with L-Acoustics L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound adding extra detail, dynamics and effects to the mix. Multichannel content was specifically created for the L-Acoustics L-ISA system by Jelle Neijs and Bart Revier of 3AM Media for Dutch company Q-Dance, who have hosted stages at Tomorrowland since 2005.
“This content took full advantage of the L-ISA 20.1 surround system,” explained Sherif El Barbari, Director of L-ISA Labs. “Further effects were achieved in real time by Thomas van Hoepen from Noizboyz, using Q-LAB OSC capabilities to fire cues from the built-in L-ISA Snapshot engine for automated dynamic positioning and panning.”
“L-ISA works incredibly well with the selection of music curated for The Atmosphere Stage and it was great to be able to play around with the technology during instrumental sections,” added Joost Machiels, Business Development Manager for Phlippo Productions. “At Phlippo, we are convinced that L-ISA gives added value and, as more specific content is prepared for it, it will continue to gain traction. I think there is a lot more to discover and that’s really exciting.”
“The L-ISA system was a huge success,” Doms concluded. “The smiles on the faces of the festival’s organisers said everything. Mission accomplished!”