KV2 Audio » References » KV2 powers up Electric Bay festival in Torquay, Devon

KV2 powers up Electric Bay festival in Torquay, Devon

Described as a ‘game-changing music weekender’, Electric Bay is a unique open-air dance music festival that takes place over two days in the stunning Torre Abbey meadows on the Torquay seafront. Following a completely sold-out first edition last year, the 2023 event promised to be ‘bigger and better’ at every level, with a bigger production, a larger stage, an even more powerful sound system and increased facilities and food and drink options. The 2023 lineup featured some of the biggest names in electronic music, including Hedex, Pendulum LIVE, Dave Rodigan, Andy C, Gardna Live, Sub Focus, and many more. Festival organisers and renowned electronic music promoters, Louder Events, once again turned to local AV rental experts, Future Technical Solutions (FTS) who supplied a kicking KV2 sound system.

“FTS has a working relationship with Louder in other venues for both live and DJ sets, so it was natural that they asked us to quote for last year’s event,” describes FTS managing director, Neil Carpenter. “We specified KV2’s VHD system, having already used it for events up to 5000 people on the same site. Electric Bay 2022 brought in 7000 people, but I knew it could do the job. Admittedly, Louder’s production manager, Alex Anderson was dubious at first, but he decided to go with us, and I’m delighted to say he was more than happy with the results!”

Based on the resounding success of the first edition, Louder Events decided to up the ante for 2023 with an even bigger production, this time for 10,000 revellers. Anderson once again turned to FTS for the audio system package. “We had fantastic coverage and superb sound quality across the site last year using our VHD system, and I was confident that it would handle 10,000 people with no problem,” notes Carpenter. “However, we had to do some EASE Focus simulations to convince Alex that we didn’t need delay towers! The system has to face the sea so as not to disturb local residents, which limits coverage towards the long part of the site. However, I’ve always felt that a line array system would cause more problems that it would solve in attempting to cover the complete site rather than a point source system like KV2 that gives great energy in the areas that need it with less than half the number of boxes.”

FTS supplied a pair of VHD2.0 and a VHD1.0 per side as a flown L/R system. Bass and sub-bass was provided by four VHD2.16, eight VHD4.18 and eight VHD2.21 arrayed in front of the stage, along with a pair of ES1.0 as centre fills. “Essentially it’s the same system as last year with the addition of a fourth pair of VHD2.21s and the ES1.0 centre fills which worked really well and covered the whole of the listening zone with ease,” says Carpenter. “The biggest changes were to the DJ monitor system on stage – last year we used VHD1.21s with ESD15s, largely because Carl Cox has used ESDs before and likes them. However, we had a few issues with sub bass travelling behind the stage and causing noise issues for some residents, so this year we went for an ES rig comprising a pair each (one per side) of ES1.0, ES2.16 and ES1.8. This gave us more bass control options and definitely worked much better for us. The final change was that we added six ESM12 floor monitors to the package to replace the non-KV2 monitors we used last year, as I gathered that wasn’t a popular move!