L-Acoustics Triumphs at Trifesta posted: 12/12/2019
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts performing on the L-Acoustics K1/K2 system at Bourbon & Beyond's Oak Stage
Brown Note Productions and Danny Wimmer Presents deploy K Series rig for three back-to-back weekend festivals: Hometown Rising, Bourbon & Beyond, and Louder Than Life
Although Louisville residents have long associated the term Triple Crown with Kentucky Derby thoroughbred horse racing at their own Churchill Downs, this year's Trifesta may well pose a legitimate threat to that reigning royal trio title. Produced by Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP)-the concert promoter behind popular US music festivals like Sacramento's Aftershock, Columbus' Sonic Temple and Charlotte's Epicenter-a Trifesta pass served as the golden ticket to get into three large Louisville music festivals held on consecutive weekends during September, each of which utilized an L-Acoustics K Series loudspeaker system deployed by Brown Note Productions (BNP) of Thornton, Colorado.
Zac Brown Band on Bourbon & Beyond's Barrel Stage, sonically reinforced by Brown Note Productions' K1/K2 rig 3
Staged at the Kentucky Expo Center's Highland Festival Grounds, the inaugural Hometown Rising festival packed in more than 70,000 country music fans over September 14 and 15 to hear from headliners Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, and Keith Urban, among others. The following weekend, a crowd of more than 90,000 attended the eclectic, three-day Bourbon & Beyond festival featuring performances from a wide variety of artists, including Foo Fighters, Robert Plant, and Zac Brown Band. Anchoring the final weekend of the month was the three-day Louder Than Life, which brought out 128,000 hard rock and heavy metal enthusiasts to headbang along with Guns N' Roses, Slipknot, Disturbed, and many more.
According to BNP President Ryan Knutson, who, with the help of Soundvision, created the system design for Trifesta, each of the three weekend festivals featured two similar and adjacent stages. The primary left and right main arrays for each stage-so four in total-were comprised of six L-Acoustics K1-SB low-frequency extension enclosures flown over 12 K1 full-range elements, with six K2 hung below for downfill. Behind each of these 24-enclosure arrays was a hang of eight KS28 flown in a cardioid configuration to improve LF directivity. For added impact, two dozen more KS28 per stage were groundstacked down below, topped by 16 Kara for frontfill, while 12 additional K2 were used as far outfill arrays.
To further optimize coverage and control residential noise spill for the two larger festivals-Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life-Brown Note additionally deployed three delay towers, each flying eight K2. This brought the site's total L-Acoustics enclosure count from 232 up to 256, all of which were collectively powered and processed by 95 LA12X amplified controllers housed in custom Brown Note touring racks.
We designed the system based on the layouts that Les Targonski, DWP's Director of Production and Logistics, had provided us early on, Knutson recalls. Although the system for each of the three festivals was very similar, we still had to deal with slightly different layouts of stage thrusts, barricades, and so on. With a combination of the new Autosolver tools in Soundvision, the L-Acoustics P1 processor and M1 measurement platform, and our own workflow for system design and tuning, we felt like we were well equipped for dealing with the festivals' challenging layout and central mix position. The use of the P1, in particular, was probably the most notable change in our workflow. Having this as part of our toolbox to analyze the system was a great addition to our normal practice of using SMAARTs analytical software platform.
As an official L-Acoustics Certified Provider for rental (CPr) and install (CPi), and on the cusp of also being a new distributor (CPd), BNP keeps its K Series system busy throughout the year on festivals, national tours, cross-rentals to other rental network providers, and at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the company's back yard. And Knutson notes that his PA never fails to elicit smiles from engineers and audiences alike.
The K1 system, especially with the LA12X amplified controllers, delivers a quality, power, and transient response that is world renowned, he says. Most, if not all, top engineers have toured with or had great experiences mixing on K1 for festivals like this. With its system control, filtering, power, and tonality, it delivers a voice that is undeniable. Other manufacturers have great systems as well, but when you are in front of a K1/K2 system, the sound is clearly L-Acoustics and what many engineers, like us, have come to love.
DWP's Les Targonski points out that the combination of the right tools in the right hands has firmly established BNP as the promoter's production partner for all of its festivals since 2014. Over the course of the three Louisville festivals, I had multiple production managers and audio engineers give kudos to the Brown Note team, Targonski shares. From their willingness to make adjustments for the comfort of an engineer, or the ease of an engineer simply being able to plug in and mix because the analyzing work had already been done, Ryan and his team are incredibly efficient, accommodating and thoughtful.
A bird's eye view of Trifesta's third and final 2019 festival, Louder Than Life, which drew 128,000 hard rock fans to Louisville's Highland Festival Grounds
When I called Ryan five years ago for Aftershock, I knew what I was getting, but I needed everyone else at DWP to witness it, he adds. All it took was that one festival to prove a point. These days, when I advance with an artist that has played one of our events, t
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Marshall Electronics, a globally recognized provider of high-performance video solutions for broadcast, streaming, AV and professional production, will exhibit ...
08/10/2026
14-hour package also includes A Remarkable Place to Die season 2 as well as libr...
L-Acoustics Triumphs at Trifesta posted: 12/12/2019 
