AMSTERDAM DANCE EVENT

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AMSTERDAM DANCE EVENT

Think! AV and Funktion-One put the ‘dance’ into ADE.

Doubling as both a music conference and festival, Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is widely recognised as the global meeting point for the electronic music community. Featuring more than 1,000 events in almost 200 locations, the five-day programme shapes the malleable DNA of the city into a beating metropolis of dance education and culture.

At the event’s heart were a whole host of Funktion-One sound systems. Funktion-One rental partner, Think! AV, cleared out its stock and sub-hired extra systems from the European rental network to supply omore than 560 loudspeakers to Dockyard and Mystic Garden Festival, Into the Woods, DGTL, Strafwerk & Elrow Festival, and Beatport, as well as several smaller systems in clubs.

Think! AV’s Remco van der Werff explained what makes ADE so special: “It’s total madness,” he began. “All the record labels and promoters are in Amsterdam to network, party and do pop-up events and festivals. For the lovers of electronic music, it’s almost a full week of high-quality events with very good artists.”

When asked about the increasing demand for Funktion-One and Think! AV’s services, he commented: “A couple of our regular customers organised their own outdoor festivals – all at the same time.

“Furthermore, there were a lot of small events throughout Amsterdam, which were run by promoters who wanted to work with us. The clubs opened all their rooms, so some of them needed extra systems, monitor

systems and DJ-backline gear, which we supplied in large amounts throughout the city.”

Dockyard and Mystic Garden joined forces to present a one-day event with over 50 artists at Havenpark – an expansive events space located 20 minutes from the city centre. Think! AV supplied all eight stages with a range of Funktion-One systems: Machine (eight Evo 7EHs with six F215 Mk2s and 24 F124s), Figure (16 Res 5s with 21 F221s), Mindshake (Evo 7 Touring with 24 F221s), Once Upon A Time (Evo Touring with 24 F124s), Treehouse (eight Res 4 Tourings with 24 F218 Mk1s), GEM (16 Res 5s with 28 F121s and seven F221s), Unpaved (Dance Stack system) and Tijdmasjien (six Res 4s). A range of monitor systems were deployed, including the PSM318.

While van der Werff was pleased with the overall set-up, he was especially happy with one particular system: “The large stacked Evo 7T/ F221 system at Mindshake sounded very nice and the sub-control was very good as well. With some infills and delays, the whole dancefloor had a very impactful and even coverage.”

Tania Davidson from organiser Faul Productions added: “Our event at ADE was amazing – our best ADE to date. The combination of creativity and music came across really well to our audience. The excitement of the crowd was really tangible at some points. That was really cool.”

Davidson continued to highlight the importance of high-quality sound. “Sound is a really important element of the events that we do because, without the sound – without being able to feel the music through your entire body to the point where it moves you to dance – the music does not truly impact the audience. Our music is not meant to be listened to passively. It is meant to carry our guests physically and emotionally into another place where all that matters is the music and how it makes you feel. Without the proper sound installation, this is just not possible.”

She continued: “We believe that the clarity of the Funktion-One system is unmatched. The depth of the sound and the layers really come through without being overpowered by the bass. The balance of the sound with a Funktion-One system that is properly tuned is, for us, the best experience that we can give our audience.” Davidson added that working with Think! AV is always a pleasure: “They are always really helpful and professional. They understand the system so well and they understand our needs.”

Into the Woods took place over two days, on the Friday and Saturday of ADE, at NDSM – a converted dockyard on the outskirts of Amsterdam. The festival warmed up on the first day with three stages before exploding into life on the Saturday with six stages, all supplied by Think! AV. Vakwerk was home to a Res 4 and F218Mk1 system, Kathedraal had an Evo 7 Touring and F221 combo, Barn featured a Res 5 with F218Mk1 bass, Treehouse also used an Evo 7 Touring with F221 plus F215Mk2, a Res 4 and F221 system was deployed at Circus, while Koperen Hond used Res 2s with BR speakers.

Into the Woods organiser, Timo Spruitenburg, commented: “Every music lover wants good sound quality – without good sound, one of the most important elements of a party is missing. The NDSM wharf is located

close to the inhabited part of the city and very close to many apartments. Every year, it is a challenge to create as much sound pressure on the dancefloor as possible and as little as possible in the neighbourhood. With Funktion-One, we are very successful in achieving this.”

DGTL presented five events over four days at NDSM. Richie Hawtin joined Modeselektor (Live) on Wednesday. Two events on Thursday were headlined by Rüfüs Du Sol and Marcel Dettmann. Oribital (Live) and Floating Points (Live) topped the bill on Friday, while Bonobo and The Black Madonna closed the series of parties on Saturday evening.

Think! AV deployed its Vero vertically arrayed system in the main Scheepsbouwloods arena. It comprised left and right hangs of three Vero V60s (60° dispersion), two V90s (90° dispersion) and three V315 mid-bass, with low-end reinforcement from 20 V221s double-21in bass enclosures. Infill and delays were covered by various models from the Evo Series, while PSM318s handled DJ monitoring.

“For DGTL, we supplied a sound system to the Scheepsbouwloods at the NDSM site for the first time,” van der Werff commented. “Here we used a Vero system with Evo 7 and Evo 6 delays and fills. The acoustics were challenging, as its mostly concrete with a number of thick concrete pillars, plus the room is very long with a low ceiling.

“Vero’s flexibility – with different performance attributes in the same size enclosure – meant we could design a system that worked very well. We used more narrow-dispersion V60 cabinets than V90s because of the throw we needed. Due to the low ceiling, we ground-stacked a few extra V315s onto the V221 subs next to the Evo 6 infills. We were really happy with the result and received some very positive feedback about the sound from the promoter and partygoers”.

The system in the second area at DGTL featured six Evo 6EH speakers with four F215 Mk2s and eight F218 Mk1 bass units, and two F1201s for infill. The monitor system comprised two PSM12s with a pair of BR118 bass reflex speakers. A Vero system was also deployed at Strafwerk & Elrow Festival – two V60s, two V90s and three V315s (flown) with 10 ground-stacked V221 bass enclosures. Res 2SHs and Res 2s handled infill, outfill and delays, while four F1201s covered the VIP deck. PSM318s were chosen for monitoring.

Beatport teamed up with David Guetta performing as Jack Back for a party in A’DAM Tower, mixing world-class DJ talent with the stunning backdrop of the Amsterdam’s cityscape. The system featured two stacks of two Evo 7Es and two F221s, with PSM318 DJ monitors.

Beatport’s Ed Hill said: “Funktion-One transformed the venue we used for our event with David Guetta, and everyone was blown away by the sound. The artists and fans were treated to such an awesome aural experience – it really helped elevate the night from great to very special.” FFA amplification and NST Audio processing were used across all events

and a range of analogue and digital desks from Midas, Allen & Heath and DiGiCo were used. Think! AV also supplied additional equipment to venues like De School and Shelter, which have installed Funktion-One systems.

The company’s System Designer Ted Beets said: “We used all available Funktion-One systems – cabinets from the F-Series, all our Resolution top cabinets, all Evo 6 and Evo 7 systems, two Vero systems and almost 300 subs. We designed a specific system for each stage to make it sound as good as possible, taking into account the dimensions of the space in question – wide or narrow, a flown set-up, a stacked one with or without delays, and so on.

“Amsterdam has very strict regulations about noise, so we used cardioid sub-lines on all stages to make sure the sub-pressure was on the dancefloor with minimal spill into the surrounding environments. This worked out very well with all types of Funktion-One subs.”

TPi

Photos: Funktion-One

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