Among Asia’s largest multi-genre music festivals, the annual Clockenflap Music & Arts Festival takes place in Hong Kong, offering an extensive programme of music, art, film and other activities.
Now ten years old, the 2018 festival line-up of artists included Erykah Badu, David Byrne, Khalid, Roni Size, Interpol, Caribou, Anpu and The Vaccines. The festival also offers a platform to local talent, helping them reach a wider audience. The main Harbourflap stage and second stage were managed by Alto Stage Management, who called in Davide Linzi of Mister X Service as audio system designer for both and FOH engineer for the main stage (assisting productions with their own sound engineer).
‘I decided to take Outline’s Newton loudspeaker processor to Clockenflap because I needed a fast versatile unit that enabled me to create a matrix of inputs and outputs that was fast and effective to manage and control,’ Linzi explains. ‘My workflow required ten independent inputs connected to the LR-sub-front fill of the main Avid S6L console, LR-sub-front fill of the guest console, LR of a production mixer handling walk-in music, publicity audio and emergency and MC mics. The outputs, on the other hand, involved independent control of LR-sub-front fill-LR uutfill, LR delay, a stereo feed for streaming, a reference signal for Smaart and a pair of Dante signals for LR recording if requested. The major EQ settings carried out during PA tuning were done on Newton, as were any modifications request by artists’ sound engineers.’
Newton wasn’t a casual choice: being the core of such a complicated system and having two independent redundant power supplies was a safety factor that reassured the festival’s producers of the system’s stability. Another consideration was the flexibility of the matrix, and the ease with which numerous I/O can be controlled without clocking issues, as the unit takes care of ASRC automatically.
‘In the past, I frequently had problems – not so much with finding user-friendly systems able to handle such a large amount of signals, but finding users able to provide me a laptop ready to run and the equipment configured,’ Linzi says. ‘Previously, I always used another brand, which I consider a top grade unit, but one is often limited by the routing and the amount of signal transport required to interconnect several units: having the possibility of processing 16 inputs and 16 outputs simultaneously in a single rack unit, which I configured in less than five minutes once Dashboard [Outline’s control software] was connected greatly streamlined by work.
‘Nowadays, it’s quite common to tour using in-house PAs, with a freestanding EQ or PA management system, to be completely independent when tuning a system. Newton is an extremely versatile unit, rapid and easy to use, and it’s versatility that wins in the long run.
‘With the same computer connected via Cat5 for control, I can do quick LR recordings for artists directly via Dante Virtual Soundcard, without the settings made to the PA on the output,’ he continues. ‘Then thanks to the EQ on the inputs, it is possible to carry out individual EQ settings for each engineer, without changing the basic tuning on the outputs.’
‘Newton is definitely an excellent investment for whoever is looking for a product that is versatile, easy to use, technically advanced and ready to open up to hundreds of software upgrades that can only make it even more interesting. Newton has all it takes to redefine users’ workflow limits: nowadays, for an event, a festival or a show, what’s needed is the same concept of sharing as the social web world – the greater the number of connective channels that can be set up in a network the more the message will be useable, and simplicity is the right way to do this.’
More: www.newton.outline.it
