At the end of June, the sixth “Rock im Allerpark” abandoned its usual venue - the plaza of the eponymous theme park – in favour of the city hall square in Wolfsburg. The reason for this relocation was the city’s 80th anniversary. Headlining the festival was the rock band Guano Apes who, together with four support acts, fired up around 7,000 music fans who attended on the first evening.
Wolfsburg-based event technology company BELI – Der Ton | Das Licht was responsible for the technical realization of this show and the concerts on the following two days. In previous years, the company had used Fohhn’s classic Perform PT-9 line arrays at “Rock im Allerpark”. This year, however, they would use Fohhn’s new Focus Venue system as the main PA for the first time. BELI had already had some experience with the new “straight line array” at the May Day rally. Focus Venue is always flown or stacked and the system’s special feature is that its beam dispersion can be electronically controlled, in real time, using a PC and software. Fohhn Sound Expert Christian Bollinger was on site and supervised the system design.
On each side of the stage, a quadruple stack of FV-200 low-mid modules and a triple stack of FV-100 high frequency modules were flown side by side on account of space. The high frequency modules were centrally aligned with the low-mid modules in order to achieve the same acoustic centre. They were also used in two-beam mode: one beam covering the first 25 metres of audience space and the other covering the remaining 45 metres.
In the city hall square, Focus Venue once again proved why it is an ideal system for town festivals. Its beam dispersion can be adjusted in real time and directly adapted to changing PA requirements (e.g. fewer visitors in a smaller area). For example, the beam dispersion range can be changed at the click of a mouse, or the FV-200 modules switched from bass reflex to cardioid mode. This results in fewer unwanted sound emissions and less noise pollution for local residents.
In the low frequency range, Focus Venue was supplemented by a total of 12 new Perform PS-850, double 18” subwoofers, built as two stacks of six in front of the stage. Driving these subs were the powerful, DSP-controlled, CLASS D amplifiers belonging to Fohhn’s brand new DI-Series. One PS-9 active subwoofer was also used on each side of the stage.
In addition, an XT-4 full-range system was used as a nearfill speaker on each side of the stage, positioned below the Focus Venue arrays and hidden behind banners.
On the stage itself, further Fohhn systems were used including four Fohhn wedges for monitoring and a double 18” subwoofer / PT-70 plug and play speaker combination on each side.
Congratulations to BELI on successfully implementing this festival sound reinforcement.
