Rock Bands Rockaway in the rain

Rock Bands Rockaway in the rain

Bukit Jalil, Malaysia – With heavy rain forecast throughout the week, dark grey clouds filled the skies as what was a hot weather turned damp and moist. Nonetheless the weather did not dampen the hearts of die hard rock fans as they marched towards Bukit Jalil Extreme Park, Kuala Lumpur. As a continuation from their previous concert “Rockaway Malaysia MotoGP Weekend” held in Sepang International Circuit on 29th October 2016, Rockaway: The Saga Continues kicks off on 19th November 2016 with acts from legendary rock bands such as Butterfingers who made a comeback after more than 10 years. Bands such as Third Eye Blind, Alleycats, Deja Voodoo Spells, One Buck Short, Zainal Abidin, Get Up Kids, Pop Shuvit, The Changcuters, Hujan and many more took the stage pouring their energy towards the fans who did not mind the rain pouring on their heads.

Known as one of Malaysia’s event powerhouses, Livescape has yet again managed to pull a successful eventful rock festival. “We took at least a week in setting up the venue,” commented Darren Waide, Livescape Event Production Managing Director. “We started on Saturday that would be the 12 of November. A whole week setup process involving heavy duty work around the clock. Our crew worked in shifts throughout the process. Since it gets really hot in the day, we tend to do our work during the nights as well. You would be able to see people up and about at the site 24 hours a day,” continued Darren. “The roof and our truss system were the first to be installed at the venue which took us two days. The stages and scaffolding were next to be installed. The third day was the time when most of our equipments begin to be mounted and installed throughout the venue. Our audio and visual equipments were installed periodically. When all equipments were installed, that’s where our Front of House came in. By Thursday, we were ready for our first sound check,” commented Darren on their venue set up process.

“One of the main challenges we faced was definitely the mud in this area. As the ground was recently cleared, the ground was loose and soft. Unfortunately for us, the weather was not on our side as the rain kept pouring down. At first we decided to cover the ground with 8 ton gravel, however in the end we used a total of 42 tons of gravel,” commented Darren. “It was definitely a huge challenge for us, however, we were able to work around with it. Snakes were the initial issue as the place was just recently cleared, we had to use Sulphur around the premises,” continued Darren, which caused us a burst of laughter in the hot afternoon weather. “Not to miss out, the venue was also prone to lightning strikes as it is a levitated wide open space compared to the surrounding, we needed to install extra lightning rods,” mention Darren.

An event as big as this, it is mandatory to be equipped with some of the best equipments, among them were Sennheiser microphones which were able to capture the frequencies produced by the musical equipment and vocal from the singers. We spoke to one of the main sound engineer for the event, Mr. Andrew from EHQ Projects Sdn Bhd on the venue setup and their usage of Sennheiser microphones. “We have been handling a total of 4 rockaway festival over the years with every festival, there is always something exciting in store for us. With a total of 3 stages, we used a 2 front of house and 2 monitor sound console to operate and configure the 2 main stages. It will be a back to back event, therefore we needed to coordinate the consoles to act precisely when one stage goes on air and the other prepares for the next act. There were a total of 96 channels connected and divided into 48 channels per monitor,” mentioned Andrew with enthusiasm. “They were amazing and we love them,” commented Andrew on the Sennheiser microphone that were used for the event. “Our drums sets are all hooked up with Sennheiser instrumental microphone such as the E906, E904 and E902. During the sound check they were capable of bringing out the frequency of the instruments just as we wanted them to be,” commented Andrew. Andrew also mentioned that the Sennheiser work along well with the guitars on set and how the reproduction of sound harmonized with the speakers that they used. “Throughout the sound check, the microphone perform as expected and there was no fault or issue,” acclaimed Andrew. Aside from Sennheiser G3 IEMs, the Sennheiser E945, E935 and E845s were some of the vocal microphones used in the event. Additionally, musical equipment microphones such as E606, E914, E905, E901 and E604 were also used.

Throughout the event, it was clear that Rockaway Festival 2016 was a huge success as the audio visual equipment were able to punch through and perform well under the rain. “Definitely would like to give my thanks to Sennheiser Asia and Acoustic & Lighting System for the wonderful support they provided for the event. It is great to have them to support our local events and our company is always open to these support,” mentioned Andrew as we ended our interview with him.

http://www.livescapegroup.com/
http://ehqprojects.com.my/
http://www.acousticlighting.com/