Held in Bayfront Park in downtown Miami from March 27 to 29 — and not-too-coincidentally taking place during spring break and the 2015 Winter Music Conference (the leading industry gathering of EDM and dance music artists and producers) — this year’s Ultra Music Festival continued its 17-year history of success.
In fact, the event has been so popular that the franchise has expanded globally, with full-scale festivals and single-stage “Road to Ultra” events staged in or planned for Europe (Croatia, Ibiza/Spain), South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia), Africa (South Africa) and Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand).
Not that anything comes easy. The 2015 Miami UMF began under the pall of the unexpected death of festival co-founder Alex Omes, who passed away two months prior to the event. And, due to perimeter control and security issues following the 2014 festival — where a security guard suffered a brain hemorrhage after being trampled by a mob of gate crashers who broke through a chain link fence — the future of the 2015 event was in jeopardy.
Fortunately, organizers worked with the Miami Police Department on solutions, and by implementing steps such as improved fencing, enforcing a strict “no drugs” policy and transforming the festival into an “over-18” event, local officials gave a green light to future UMF’s.
With that behind them, the 17th annual Ultra Music Festival, with three days of music featuring dozens of top electro music performers, bands and DJ’s from around the world, all converging on Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, a site that has hosted the event since 2012.
While the festival provides eight stages of non-stop entertainment, the focus was on the two major performance areas with a huge lineup of headliners.
The Main Stage featured acts such as Skrillex, Axwell-Ingrosso, David Guetta, Afrojack, Avillcii, Tiesto, Nicky Romero, Hardwell, Steve Akoi, Avicii, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren and more than a dozen other top names.
Keeping with its name, the Live Stage featured a mix of both performing bands and DJ’s including acts such as Krewella, Clean Bandit, Gorgon City, Big Gigantic, Kiesza, Breathe Carolina, Afrobeta, Chromeo, Bakermat and Röyksopp.
The 2015 UMF also included a few surprises, with unannounced guest vocalists CL, Kiesza, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and Justin Bieber dropping by to close the show, sharing the stage with Skrillex and Diplo.
Bring on the Sound!
But not since the festival debuted in 1999 has the sound been this good. “We’ve been doing the Ultra festival for a long time and have become very familiar with what a system needs to be able to do this kind of show right,” observes Andre Serafini, founder and president of Beachsound, the Miami Gardens-based sound reinforcement provider for the Ultra Music Festival over the past decade.
This year, Beachsound also had the opportunity to try out its new L-Acoustics K2 line array rig on the Live Stage. “Bayfront Park can be a challenging venue for this kind of music, but the L-Acoustics systems handled it without a problem, and even overcame some of the venue’s special challenges.”
Those challenges included keeping the sound for each stage contained within its area and avoiding overspill into nearby stages. For the Live Stage with its focus on bands rather than DJ’s, Beachsound assembled a K2 sound system whose main array consisted of 24 K2 enclosures flown 12 per side.
“The K2 has very precise, incredibly accurate off-axis performance, which enabled us to keep the sound on the crowd and away from any of the other nearby stages,” Serafini explains, noting that they used L-Acoustics’ Soundvision 3D acoustical simulation software to precisely map out the sound field. “That kind of predictability is critical for a loud outdoor show like this.”
Atop each main array were four K1-SB high power subwoofers per side. “Flown subwoofers were the key to being able to overcome the unique bass null that was created by this sort of concrete moat area in front of the stage,” he says. “It was an architectural challenge that we were able to overcome with the right speakers.”
Along with a total of 32 SB28 stacked subs, the Live Stage had all the low end it needed and then some. In addition, two ARCS II constant curvature line source loudspeakers were used as side fills under two SB28 subs per side; six ARCS Wide enclosures were deployed as front fills; and, finally, 24 Kara enclosures were used for outfills. The consoles — both FOH and monitors — were Avid Profiles, with an additional Midas PRO2 available in monitorland.
Onstage, a dozen 115XT HiQ active monitors joined several Kara enclosures to provide wedge monitoring. “L-Acoustics speakers — especially Kara — have become ‘the standard’ for EDM stage monitoring and were specifically requested by the artists for the DJ sets,” Serafini notes.
L-Acoustics speakers, such as the SB18 subs, were found as part of systems on all of the stages at Ultra, but it was the K2’s first star turn as the Live Stage P.A., and Serafini says its performance was magnificent. “It had the power we needed, but it was also a beautiful-sounding PA system,” he says. “It’s a sound you never get tired of hearing.”
Aboard the Main Stage
On the equally large but more DJ-oriented Main Stage, Beachsound’s head of audio Neil Rosenstock selected a system based around d&b audiotechnik J8 and J12 line array cabinets in left/right hangs, augmented by flown d&b J Sub subwoofers with additional J Subs and J Infra Subs on the ground. d&b audiotechnik V8 and V12 handled outfill duties, with J12’s employed as front fills and d&b T10’s adding coverage to the VIP seating area located to the far stage left side of the stage. The T10’s are low-profile, horizontal 2-way systems housing two 6.5-inch drivers flanking a 1.4-inch compression driver and can be utilized as either a line array or as a high directivity point source loudspeaker.
Boards handling mix duties for the Main Stage included a DiGiCo SD10 (and an SD11 production console) at FOH, with a second DiGiCo SD10 in the monitor position.
The Bottom Line
Of course, any EDM/DJ/dance-themed event is all about low-end. And on the main stage, as with other stages at the Ultra Music Festival, Waves Maxx-BCL outboard processors were employed to pump up the bass sound — without adding bass frequencies — to deliver a overall bigger bottom end. The unit’s psychoacoustic processing can extend the perceived frequency response of a system by as much as two octaves below its physical limitation. With that kind of pedigree, the Maxx-BCL seems like just the ticket for EDM shows.
Rosenstock also chose d&b audiotechnik rigs for two of the intermediate-sized stages, with the Mid Park Stage using a combination of J8 and J12 boxes combined with J Sub and J Infra subwoofers, C7 out-fills and Q10 near fills — all powered by d&b audiotechnik D12 amps over the d&b remote network and driven by Avid Profile consoles.
The P.A. at the Radio Stage consisted of d&b V Series V8 and V12 line array enclosures with Q10 near fills and B2 subs, with a D12 amp package and DiGiCo SD9 consoles at FOH and monitors.
All in all, the Ultra Music Festival continues to be in good hands with more than just a little help from the Beachsound crew, who — given the enthusiastic response from fans and artists alike about the sound at the 2015 event — are sure to make a repeat performance at UMF 2016.
Ultra Music Festival, Bayfront Park, Miami FL, March 27-29, 2015
- Sound Company: Beachsound & Lighting, Inc.
- Audio Systems Designer: Neil Rosenstock
- Lighting Designer: Scott O’Connor
Live Stage (Bayfront Stage)
Crew
- FOH: Stan George
- Mon: Mark Niewiarowski
- Stage Techs: Tom Levouf, Mike McConatha
- Patch Tech: Raffi Adkins
FOH System
- FOH Console: Avid Profile
- FOH Processing: Lake LM-44 (system), Waves Maxx BCL (bass enhancement)
- Main System: 24 L-Acoustics K2 (12/side)
- Fills: L-Acoustics Kara (outfills), L-Acoustics ARCS Wide (near fills)
- Subwoofers: L-Acoustics K1-SB’s (flown) with SB28’s (ground)
- Amplification: L-Acoustics LA-RAKs with LA8 amplifier controllers using LA-Network Manager
Monitor System
- Monitor Consoles: Avid Profile and Midas PRO2
- Monitors: L-Acoustics 115XT Hi Q; L-Acoustics Arcs II with SB28 subs (side fills); Kara and SB18 (DJ foldback)
- Mics: Shure, Sennheiser, AKG, Neumann
- IEM Systems: Shure PSM 1000 and PSM 900
- Wireless Mics: Shure UR4
Main Stage
Crew
- FOH Engineer: Lorin White
- Monitor Engineer: Troy Arabia
- Stage Tech: Andrew Pardo
FOH System
- FOH Consoles: DiGiCo SD10, DiGiCo SD11 (production console)
- FOH Processing: Lake LM 44’s (FOH drive), Waves Maxx BCL (bass enhancement)
- Main System: d&b audiotechnik J8 and J12 line arrays
- Subwoofers: d&b audiotechnik J Subs (flown); J Subs and J Infra Subs (ground)
- Fills: d&b audiotechnik V8 and V12 (outfill), J12’s (front fills)
- VIP Areas: d&b audiotechnik T10’s
- Amplification: d&b audiotechnik D80 controlled via d&b remote network
Monitor System
- Monitor Console: DiGiCo SD10 with Lake LM44
- Stage Monitors: d&b audiotechnik M2’s; d&b V8’s with B2 (side fills); L-Acoustics Kara with SB-18 (DJ fills)
- Wireless Mics: Shure and Sennheiser
- IEM Systems: Shure PSM 1000, Sennheiser G3
Mid Park Stage
Crew
- FOH Engineer: Rodrigo Herrera
- Monitor Engineer: Mark Moulton
FOH System
- FOH Console: Avid Profile
- FOH Processing: Lake LM-44
- Mains System: d&b audiotechnik J8/J12
- Subwoofers: d&b audiotechnik J Sub and J Infra
- Fills: d&b audiotechnik C7 (out fills); d&b Q10 (near fills)
- Amplification: d&b audiotechnik D12 controlled via d&b remote network
Monitor System
- Monitor Console: Avid Profile with Lake LM-44 processing
- Monitors: d&b audiotechnik Q1 with Q-subs (DJ foldback)
- Wireless Mics: Shure UR
- IEM’s: Shure PSM 900s
Radio Stage
Crew
- FOH Engineer: Bill Blackstone
- Stage Tech: Charles Winkler
FOH System
- FOH Console: DiGiCo SD9 with Waves Maxx BCL, Lake Contour
- Main PA: d&b audiotechnik V Series V8/V12 line arrays
- Fills: d&b audiotechnik Q10 (near fill)
- Subwoofers: d&b audiotechnik B2’s
- Amplification: d&b D12 controlled via d&b remote network
Monitor System
- Monitor Console: DiGiCo SD9
- Monitors d&b audiotechnik Q1 with Q Subs, d&b Max 15’s
- IEMs & Wireless Mics: Sennheiser
For gear and crew supporting the 2015 Ultra Music Festival’s Resistance stage, see FOH Showtime item, May 2015
