What The Festival (WTF) returned to the Wolf Run Ranch in Oregon on 16-19 June 2017 for the sixth edition of the boutique festival, Funktion-One sound, including a Vero system for the main stage, was deployed across the festival, courtesy of Sound Investment and Fusebox Productions.
WTF was born in 2012, the same year that the festival’s co-founder, Glen Boyd, had Sound Investment install a Funktion-One sound system in his house. This year’s event welcomed 7,500 people. “It’s not about massive crowds and headliners, it’s about the whole experience, which includes interactive art, eight stages of electronic and live music, guest speakers and movement classes. We don’t do pass outs because we want our community to stay together and for the environment to be as immersive as possible,” Boyd explained.
The main stage, which hosted a range of DJ and live performances from the likes of ZHU, Cut Copy and Gramatik, featured 2 vertical arrays of 3 Vero V315 mid-bass enclosures, 2 Vero V90 90-degree dispersion mid-high enclosures and a single Vero V60 60-degree dispersion, long-throw mid-high enclosure at the top of each hang. Nine Vero V221 bass enclosures and four Vero V132 bass enclosures were used for the asymmetric bass/sub-bass set-up. Two F101 speakers were used for front-fill, while a Resolution 2 and F218 combination handled DJ monitoring.
Sound Investment’s Tom VanBeek took charge of FOH, as well overseeing the Funktion-One distributor’s other stages, Equinox and Effin, said: “The festival on a whole is focused on providing great audio throughout. We’ve been working with Vero for a couple of years; it’s a very positive step forward in terms of audio quality. The power and clarity we were getting on the main stage was unbelievable and it’s so easy to rig. It goes up quickly and setting angles is extremely easy. It’s very well thought out and put together. “The F132s bring a new level of definition to the sub-bass frequencies, which frees up the F221s to do exactly what they’re meant to do – the mid and upper bass frequencies. Everyone was blown away,” VanBeek added.
At Equinox, Sound Investment deployed a smaller Vero system featuring 4 V60s, 4 V315s and 5 F221s. A pair of F1201s was used for front-fill and a second pair combined with 2 MB212 bass enclosures for monitoring. Effin was also home to a Res 5 and F221 system and Funktion-One’s high-performance PSM318 DJ monitors.
Boyd concluded: “There is a percentage that are absolutely, without a doubt, tuned into what Funktion-One is and what it stands for. So much so that when we had Vero for the first time three years ago, some people took one look at it and wanted to know why we’d moved away from Funktion-One. We hadn’t, of course. Then there’s the other half of the audience who say how amazing the experience is but they don’t necessarily know why. Funktion-One sound is a key feature of What The Festival’s immersive experience.”
