L-Acoustics K Series – namely the K2 and Kara – was deployed at Melbourne’s inaugural Now or Never festival.
The festival attracted over 150,000 attendees and featured over 300 local and international artists. The festival culminated with four nights of live music and visual performances in the Royal Exhibition Building.
Gig Control Australia were appointed to deliver the event for Now or Never and designed a 16-metre-high video scrim that became a canvas for innovative visual displays. L-Acoustics certified provider, Novatech, co-designed and deployed a professional audio system to accompany the visuals.
Novatech was tasked to create a concert-grade sound system that would give full-range coverage to the massive audience. However, there were strict audio limits within the World Heritage-listed building.
Leko Novakovic, managing director at Novatech, expounded on the need to adhere to guidelines to avoid structural damage caused to the building: “Calculating the system’s output peak particle velocity measurements associated with ground vibrations was essential to ensure the preservation of the building’s structure.”
Designing within a tall, reverberant hall, Novatech’s solution featured left-right arrays of eight L-Acoustics K2 per side with a delay system of eight Kara per side. Four ground stacks of three KS28 subwoofers each provided low-end extension. Twelve Kara boxes placed evenly across the stage provided front-fill, while six Kara were used as out-fill to cover the audience areas on the sides of the main hall. DJs and live electronic music artists on stage received monitoring from 14 L-Acoustics X15 as well as six Kara over four KS28 subwoofers. Twelve LA12X amplified controllers drove the entire system.
Novakovic attests to the success of the deployment: “It was monumental to witness one of Melbourne’s iconic, historical buildings filled with the sounds of live music for the first time in over two decades. Novatech is proud to have been involved in delivering a world-class sound system as part of a larger festival that emphasised the highest production values.”