There are a lot of obvious uses for the space in front of a stage at an outdoor music festival. Band-watching and dancing jump to the top of the list, yet at the Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival, those two activities just round out the top five. There, that space is used for the earlymorning launch of hot air balloons.
While the situation might not provide a sonic challenge for the Murrieta, Calif.-based Star Way Productions, it does provide a dramatically colorful backdrop for the bands playing one of the two stages at the festival. The festival celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year, and Star Way handled all aspects of the sound, stage and lighting. The festival features two stages, explains Star Way CEO and production manager Alex Sukhov. The main stage featured Eddie Money, Starship with Mickey Thomas, John Waite and Lou Gramm this year, and local acts played the Wine Stage. "It's classic rock with good smooth stuff," he explains. "It's a good combo."
"The Wine Stage is still a huge area, maybe a 700-foot radius," Sukhov adds. "The stage is at one end, and all the wineries are on the outskirts of the radius." To cover that radius, Star Way relies on a Meyer MSL-3 rig with Acoustic 2X18 subwoofers, powered by Crown 3600s and 2400s. The FOH console was a Yamaha PM3000. Monitors–JBL wedges–were mixed through a Yamaha M3000 and powered by QSC 6.0 and 4.0 amps. Delay towers outfitted with another set of MSL-3s were flown via a pair of Genie ST25 towers.
Over at the main stage, the Star Way team set up a QSC Audio ISIS WideLine line array rig (16 per side, 32 total) that was powered by QSC 9.0 and 6.0 amps. Extra sub power came via eight Acoustic 2X18s, and side fill responsibilities fell to Sound Image G-5 cabinets. The FOH console was a Yamaha PM5D-RH, and the monitor board was a Midas H3000. Main stage monitors were Sound Image G2s, powered with QSC 6.0s and 4.0s. The standard cadre of outboard gear from Yamaha, Eventide and Lexicon was found at FOH and monitor for both stages.
The choice of a PM5D came in handy for Jeff Weirick, who has been mixing FOH for Eddie Money for almost a decade. "He had his whole mix already stored on disc and was real happy to hear that the 5D was there because he just brought his disc, popped it in and everything came up generally where it should be," Sukhov recalls. "All he had to do was tweak it for about ten minutes, and he had a mix like you wouldn't believe. He never went out there during sound check."
According to Sukhov, one of the most exciting aspects of this year's show was using the WideLines. "This was our outdoor debut of the WideLine boxes," he reports. "We've done several indoor shows with the cabinets over the past three months. It was quite a pleasant experience for us because it went above and beyond my expectations in an outdoor situation. The elements are very challenging at this event and this cabinet cut through like no other cabinet has."
The WideLine also solved another problem that Sukhov has faced in the past–adequate side coverage with a long-enough front throw. In the past, Star Way turned to either a JBL VerTec rig (Sukhov: "But it wasn't wide enough") or EAW 750s ("Those didn't throw far enough").
"It was getting the width okay, but it wasn't getting past that 200-, 300-foot mark with any kind of crunch," he says of the EAWs. "The WideLine has accomplished all that. There are no side delays, and no mid delays are needed. We were out 600 feet, and those things were crystal clear with very little dB lost."
Yet, not everyone was originally so excited to see them. "When we rolled them out, the promoter walked up and said, 'No. This is not the P.A., is it? Are these like the monitors?' I told him these were the mains, and here it was, one in the afternoon on Friday and the show is in five hours, so there was no turning back for anybody. The look on his face…" He pauses to chuckle. "He called the people over from the festival, and this was their attitude: 'If this thing works, we'll be amazed.' That's been the fun of these cabinets–people look at them and go, 'No way.' Then you fire it up and they go, 'Oh my God!'"
For the acts that didn't arrive with their own team of mixers, Star Way provided the talents of Gary Sanguinet for FOH and systems tech, and Owen "Doc" Thomas for monitors. There was also a pair of deck hands on the scene at all times.
While this year was a success, Sukhov can't wait for when the festival will kick off again next June. "Next year, they're looking to maybe do Journey as the main act for closing on Saturday night," he reports. "That's always been our path. We've had the Doobie Brothers in the past. We've had Brian Setzer. Their lineup is unique every year."
