Imagine yourself at one of the most scenic natural outdoor venues in the world, dancing to your favorite music, surrounded by twenty-five thousand of your closest friends. This is Paradiso Music Festival. The two-day event held at the Gorge Amphitheater overlooking the Gorge River Valley in Washington State is one of USC Event’s most popular festivals. To say the location is beautiful would be an understatement, an experience only enhanced by the captivating music. The festival had three stages, including the Wreckage Stage, which PK Sound powered with Trinity.

The Wreckage stage was packed over both days of the festival. The day one line up included Datsik, Terravita, Dirtyphonics and Cookie Monsta. Day two had an equally impressive artist roster including Bro Safari and 12th Planet, with Caspa & Rusko finishing off the weekend. “We have worked with Caspa & Rusko before and as solo artists they are both amazing, but together they create something magical” noted Austin Perkins, Audio Engineer with PK Sound. “Their set was definitely the highlight of my weekend, amplified by Trinity, which delivered the sound smoothly.”

Trinity Powers Paradiso
With its stunning beauty, the outdoor venue comes with technical challenges. The Wreckage Stage dance floor and surrounding area slopes down a hill causing sound to dissipate after a short distance. To meet this acoustic challenge Austin and the PK Sound team utilized Trinity’s companion software, Kontrol, to precisely define vertical dispersion of the array from front of house. “From a laptop running Kontrol we were able to aim Trinity downwards, focusing the sound with precision and consistency onto the audience area. It was right on top of everyone—all the way to the very back” says Austin.

The weather also added some interesting challenges. Fluctuating winds, temperature and humidity variations required constant monitoring and system adjustments. “As soon as the sun went down, the properties of the audio dispersion were affected and we were able to stay right on top of it. With Trinity’s Kontrol software we made on the fly adjustments to the directivity remarkably easy, and everyone was very happy with the sound quality,” Austin recalls.

Trinity Powers Paradiso
The Wreckage stage was powered with 16 Trinity modules (8 per side), 32 CX800 high powered subwoofers and 2 VX12 front fills. 4 VX-10 compact line array cabinets (2 per side) and 2 CX800 subs were deployed as booth monitors with 4 Klarity 12’s for stage monitors. This system allowed front of house to smoothly transition between the different genres and musical styles.

“When we work regularly with these artists there is less need for constant equalization and tuning. I can keep the sound consistent and loud; while still protecting the audience’s hearing, and the speakers themselves” says Austin.

PK Sound was born out of the marriage of acoustic engineering and human emotion, and this was mirrored at Paradiso Music Festival. The event allowed PK to merge past and present by paying homage to its roots while bringing the best possible sound system and musical experience to one of the most beautiful venues on the planet.