Waves Open Air Festival 2022 in the water park of Wedemark near Hannover celebrated the start of the festival season with the support of Alcons pro-ribbon sound systems to treat the large audience of over 3,000 visitors to a unique sound experience.
As before in 2021, when the event took place in a smaller setting, Toto Eikemeier of Eikemeier Eventsystem was again commissioned for the organisation of the complete technical implementation of the Main Stage and the Deep Forest Stage.
The House and Techno Festival hosted Top DJs like Ben Klock, RØDHÅD, VRIL, Nene H, and Arman John at the Main Stage and Township Rebellion, Konstantin Sibold, and Pauke Schaumburg at the Deep Forest Stage. Eikemeier brought Alcons The Ribbon Network partner Uwe Biesgen of Creativsound on board for array calculations, system tuning and measurements. Uwe has been working with Alcons pro-ribbon systems since 2004 and has supported a very wide range of Alcons applications with his know-how.
The main PA system for this year’s event comprised 20 double 12” LR24 mid-size line arrays for the Main Stage. In order to ensure the required throw and SPL with more than sufficient headroom, Biesgen chose a setup of eight LR24/90 and two LR24/120 per side. For the bass foundation, a bass array consisting of 12 BC543 triple 18″ cardioid carbon subwoofers was calculated for even distribution. All systems were powered by 12 Alcons Sentinel 10 amplified loudspeaker controllers.
“Last year, I heard about the system for the first time and it was more than I expected,” said Philip Sterrenberg (FOH). “It is great to work with. The sound is just clean and crispy, the rearward attenuation is just great. I know the system to be absolutely stunning, especially the cardioid construction type. It is perfect to play at techno events, because there are no problems with the turntables. Normally, it is hard to make sure the needle is not bouncing, but with the Alcons system it is no problem at all! Also the village right behind the festival had no problem at all with the sound. The rearward attenuation worked perfectly as always with Alcons.”
The DJ’s especially liked the sound, according to Sterrenberg because at the stage the vibrations of the monitor are just sensible. No bleeding from the main PA and even the monitor system consisting of 2x VR12 12” mid-size versatile pro-ribbon monitor with 2x BF151mkII 15” compact subwoofers impressed the DJ’s.
Sterrenberg concluded: “Some gave me the feedback that the sound was really good even as they turned the volume up as far as they wanted. They really enjoyed playing on a good system. Their references are clubs and other festivals around Hannover, where they played. At the festival last year we had the same system, just smaller – and without a line-array. That was fine for 700 visitors max. But this year I was very happy we had a line-array, because the number of visitors was around 3000. The sound was absolutely clear and brilliant even around 80 meters away from the stage.”