Soundcheck with Audio Technik
We think we throw some pretty impressive large scale events and with that comes guidance from our friends at Audio Technik.
As Audio Technik are one of the companies that help get us audibly over the line each year, we wanted to know some of their biggest event highlights! General Manager Sebastian Marks let us in the (audio) loop;
Telethon
Having looked after the audio for Telethon for the past 5 years, Sebastian said this particular event takes a lot of time and a big team, but clearly, is worth every second.
“It takes a huge amount of equipment – with some of it being out of the ordinary, plus 10 staff working 24 hours doing shifts,” he said.
The Telethon Weekend live 26 hour appeal has been a staple of the childhood of generations of West Australians, where through their generosity, a major impact has been made into research towards curing brain cancer and leukaemia – life threatening diseases that have a substantial impact on children.
RNB Fridays Live
Janet Jackson, anyone? Or maybe Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent or Fatman Scoop?
Dubbed an all-day block party and with the announcement of the 2019 line-up for this year’s RnB Fridays Live Perth event, Sebastian said he and the team are ready for it to be bigger and better than ever.
Sebastian said the team had been involved with the event for 3 years, with coordination being a huge part of how this event is pulled together.
“Every act at RNB Fridays wants their own package – in ear system, microphone, consoles,” he said.
Wary of feedback issues, with more than 300,000 people flocking to the events across Australia since 2016, Sebastian said to make sure the whole crowd is happy (and can hear every verse), speaker placement and system design are the key elements to success.
Fairbridge Festival
Western Australia’s most popular family camping festival, Fairbridge Festival is also a favourite of the Audio Technik team.
“It’s a huge festival for us with eight stages,” Sebastian said,
“We’re always really excited to do that, we get out there and come together as a group to deliver something amazing.”
The team joins the masses attending the celebration of blues, roots and folk tunes, camping out for the 3 days while running the audio for the event, with Sebastian saying that delivering entertainment all day has its perks as you watch the festival unfold.
Southbound Fire Fundraiser
Southbound was an arts, camping and music festival that saw an annual January pilgrimage of Perth folk to witness Australian and international musicians take to the stage in the surrounds of Busselton in the south-west.
Audio Technik looked after Southbound each year, however, the one that stood out for the team was the year it didn’t proceed at all.
The 2016 Southbound Music Festival was cancelled due to bushfires that cut off access to the venue. It was partly revived as a bush-fire benefit concert held at HBF Stadium, featuring Bloc Party, San Cisco, Birds of Tokyo, Disclosure, Django Django and more.
Despite all their equipment being down south for the Festival, Sebastian said he got the call from his team, saying “we can make it happen”.
“We were still able to deliver within 24 hours’ notice at HBF Stadium, even though all our equipment was down south,” Sebastian said,
“From all reports, it was a great success.”
WASO Symphony In The City
Held at Langley Park, WASO’s annual spectacular free event is one of the highlights of the summer calendar for thousands of concert-goers in Perth.
“It’s a huge set up for us,” Sebastian said.
He said that due to the incredible turn out each year for the event, in 2018 more speakers were introduced than ever before, to extend the sound range from the stage from 40 to 200 metres.
A couple of standout moments for Sebastian from last year’s event were the phenomenal range of the opera singers, and of course, the grand finale.
“The fireworks that went off at the end was a highlight,” he said.
Find out more about what the team at Audio Technik get up to here, and of course, keep an eye out for the magic they will help us to create in the 2020 Festival!