Best known for its mineral water and legendary Formula One circuit, Belgium’s city of Spa welcomes almost 200,000 visitors each July for the annual Francofolies Festival.
Promoting contemporary music, the programming and artists of this internationally recognised event reflect the values upheld by the festival: multiculturalism and advocacy for a modern and innovative vision of culture. Headline performers for 2024 included French singers Christophe Maé and Patrick Bruel, Congolese singer and rapper Gims, as well as French folk-rock band Louise Attaque.
Sound for the main stage was provided by Belgian production technology specialists Arto, who deployed a NEXO STM system to deliver directional, high impact audio, whilst maintaining highly controlled low end- essential for a festival located in the heart of the city.
Designed by Christophe Loncour, a long-time partner and sound engineer of Arto, the system was comprised of left and right hangs of 12 x STM M46 main and B112 bass extension modules, with a single M28 down-fill, and two flown lines of STM S118 subs. Seven stacks of 4 x S118 subs were deployed side by side in cardioid mode and a total of 14 x M28s were used for front-fills, lip-fills and out-fills. Arrays of 6 x M46 + B112 with a single M28 down-fill were deployed for delays with two stacks of 4 x S118 subs in cardiod mode, back-to-back.
Amplification and processing for the complete system came from a mighty 33 x NEXO NXAMP4X4 Powered TD Controllers.
“The reason for the asymmetric set-up was imposed by the geographical location of the stage” continues David. “We were right in the centre of the city and operating in a very tight space. The cardioid set-up for the subs and the controlled directivity enabled us to control perfectly the sound – important as we also had to deal with the sound of the other stages nearby,” explains Arto Chief System Tech David Huyvaert.
One of the first rental companies to invest in NEXO’s modular line array system, Arto added 36 sets of STM to its inventory at the end of 2012 and has deployed small, medium and large configurations over the years, ranging from large format festivals to civic and corporate events.
“The STM system worked perfectly, and we got lots of compliments from engineers mixing various artists throughout the festival.”
