Guatemala’s largest electronic and alternative music event, the Empire Music Festival attracted more than 15,000 festival-goers to its four-stages set-up at Finca El Jocotillo. Over two days, they saw acts ranging from Incubus, Zedd, and Café Tacuba to Skrillex and Paul Van Dyk.
Guatemala sound company Blessure, with Alan Mejia at the helm, was called in to handle the sound for the festival, choosing systems from sound reinfocement specialist DAS Audio. DAS Audio Systems Engineer Vicent Olucha made the trip from Spain and was also on hand to help the Blessure team set up and adjust the small army of systems deployed for the event.
The hard-hitting performances that took to the EMF’s main stage required an equally powerful sound system, and after studying the stage’s particular requirements the sound technicians designed a solution based on DAS Aero Series 2 line array systems. A total of 16 Aero 40A Alas (Advanced Line Array Systems). These high-performance line arrays were combined with 16 DAS UX-221A powered subwoofers, groundstacked in front of the stage to ensure excellent low-frequency support.
This was rounded out with eight DAS Aero 12A line arrays as front fill, brought in to provide even sound coverage for the down-in-front fans. Two lateral sets of three Aero 40A systems, which were stacked on a LX-218CA subwoofer, handled side fill. This system was controlled by the DASnet remote management and monitoring system.
DAS Aero 20A powered line arrays and LX-218CA powered subwoofers were rigged at a second stage dedicated to DJ sessions and showcasing some of the world’s top artists. The Blessure sound team also rolled out a combination of DAS Convert 15A and LX-218CA subwoofers on this stage to take care of side fill.
The Empire Music Festival is quickly becoming one of Latin America’s highest profile music festivals, following similar multi-genre events that have grown in popularity in the US and Europe and incorporating their recipe for success – simultaneous stages on massive concert grounds, offering a variety of music and entertainment.
