Boonville, CA - - With Sacramento Production Services providing audio and staging for the three-day Sierra Nevada World Music Fest 2010 featured records crowds and a wide variety of artists in the sylvan Northern California setting of the Mendocino County Fairgrounds.
19 artists from Jamaica, the U.S., Australia and Brazil included Baaba Mal; Playing for Change; Fat Freddy’s Drop; Gregory Isaacs; Barrington Levy; Tony Allen; Dubtonic Kru; Ooklah the Moc; Soul Syndicate; Ken Booth; Alborosie; Don Carlos; Toubab Krewe; Marcia Griffiths; Jimmy Riley; Queen Omega; Rootz Underground, and Sambada.
The crew from SACPS, which had to deal with rapid fire set changes under a variety of circumstances, was made of Production Manager/Monitor Engineer Keith Wackford, FOH Engineer/Rigger Dwaine Wise, and Monitor Engineer/Patch Master Rick Stansby.
As always, Martin Audio was the obvious choice for loudspeakers, in this case the compact W8LC line array enclosures because, as Keith Wackford points out, "One of the biggest bonuses of the W8LC is its power to weight ratio. We can hang many more cabinets, which is critical when flying on roof structures outdoors where weight is always a concern in terms of safety and cost. W8LCs really fit the bill when you need the kind of SPL for Reggae and are limited to 2000lbs per side."
The actual rig consisted of 24 W8LC main speakers and 14 W8LS dual 18" subwoofers in "a new layout of two stacks of W8LS and two stacks of three W8LS subs ground stacked and spaced a wavelength apart, which provided very even sub coverage side to side with plenty of bottom at the back of the house some 200ft back," Keith relates.
Martin Audio monitors included 12 LE1500s and eight LE12Js, along with W8Cs for front and side fills, and WS2A for drum fill subs. A Soundcraft MH4 was used as FOH console, along with outboard gear by TC Electronics, Yamaha and Drawmer, speaker processing by XTA and amplification by QSC. In terms of microphones, Shure UHFR Wireless Beta 58as were teamed with wired mics from AKG, CAD, Shure and Sennheiser.
Asked about working with Martin Audio, Wackford enthused, "It’s always great to go out and show people what Martin Audio speakers can do and it always gives us a chance to brag about the support that we get from Rob Hofkamp and Martin Audio.
When the MC asked the audience if they liked the sound that was provided by Sacramento Production Services," Keith concludes, "the crowd roared with applause and cheers that was all the thanks necessary for all the hard work that goes into a festival of this size."
