Milkshake Festival brought its annual celebration of diversity, inclusivity and freedom to Amsterdam’s Westerpark recently, with JUR delivering a powerful music experience while minimising disturbance to the surrounding neighbourhood.
With eight outdoor stages and one indoor area in a densely populated part of the city, JUR has supported Milkshake Festival throughout its history, supplying lighting and video and taking responsibility for the event’s audio production for the past decade. For this edition, the company fielded an Alcons Audio system across the festival site.
‘Our goal is to create the best possible music experience within the limits established for the event,’ says Niels Koomen, Head of Audio at JUR. ‘At Milkshake, that means delivering the energy and physical impact expected from a major dance festival, while maintaining precise control over where the sound is directed.’
The Westerpark location places strict demands on system design. Residential areas surround the site, while the Haarlemmerweg runs directly alongside the festival grounds. Low-frequency control was therefore a priority. JUR used 44 Alcons BC543 cardioid bass systems in purpose-designed directional subwoofer arrays at selected areas. These configurations focused low-frequency energy towards the audiences while reducing rearward radiation towards the site perimeter and nearby residential areas.
The effectiveness of the approach was reflected in the response from the surrounding community. Across the Saturday and Sunday of the festival, only four unique noise complaints were registered with the municipality, a notably low number for a large-scale, multi-area dance event in central Amsterdam.
The main systems incorporated Alcons’ LR15 ultra-compact, LR18 compact, LR24 mid-sized and LR28 large-format pro-ribbon systems, supported by RR12 point-source arrays and VR-series loudspeakers. Low-frequency reinforcement was provided by LR18B, BF181, BF362, BC543 cardioid and BQ211 single 21-inch systems.
The complete deployment comprised six LR15/90, 54 LR18/90, 32 LR24/80, 44 LR28/80 and four LR28/110 line-array modules, together with 22 LR18B, ten RR12, four VR8, eight VR12 and four WR20 systems. Bass reinforcement included two BF181, six BF362, 44 BC543 and six BQ211 systems.
The system was driven by a total of 344 channels of Alcons ALC amplified loudspeaker controllers. To support the scale of the production, additional Alcons inventory was sourced through The Ribbon Network, Alcons’ dry-hire support network, from fellow members Almaro Sound + Vision and TTM Event Facilities.
For the second consecutive year, JUR also deployed Alcons WR20 high-output double 10-inch pro-ribbon stage monitors with LR18B line array bass systems for DJs in two areas.
‘The WR20 and LR18B combination is extremely powerful, but at the same time it can genuinely be described as hi-fi,’ says Koomen. ‘It gives the DJs the impact they need without losing definition or musical detail, even at very high levels.’
Event Acoustics carried out the environmental sound measurements, while US Productions coordinated between the production, hosting partners, Event Acoustics and JUR. The Good Guys was responsible for overall festival production.
‘The organisers were very satisfied with the result,’ Koomen concludes. ‘Success is about creating the strongest possible experience for visitors while respecting the limits and the festival’s surroundings. The audience enjoyed powerful, high-quality sound across the site, while the very low number of complaints shows how well the complete approach worked.’
More: www.alconsaudio.com