The Rat's Arrive at Coachella 2005

The Rat's arrive for load in at Coachella, a two day festival in the Indio, CA. Over 90 bands on 5 stages and 100,000 people expected to attend this unique fesival. Rat provided audio for three of the 5 stages and here is a quick run down: Our focus today was Mojave stage and Main Stage early on and then Gobi tent later in the day.

1) Main Stage - As in the past 5 years, L'Acoustics was the system of choice. There will be four hangs off the main stage and 2 delay clusters.

2) Mohave Tent - the new Turbosound Aspect Aystem complimented by Rat subs. The Aspect System is unique in that it offers accurate control over both the horizontal and vertical dispersion. With the Mojave tent placed between the Sahara and Gobi tents, we felt this pattern control would reduce reflections off of the tent side walls as well as lower acoustic bleed into the neighboring tents. The horns in these things are pretty interesting, here is a link to a pic of the install version without the grill http://www.prosoundweb.com/sr/rat/nsca/pa.php.

The system is made up of left and right hangs, two wide three deep, each giving 50 degrees of horizontal coverage. Aspect double 15” cabinets and Rat Sound double 18”s provide the bass and sub. Infill and outfill uses more Aspect mid-highs with the horns rotated to give the 25 degree horizontal in a vertically oriented cabinet. XTA DP226’s process the system as four way active with the Rat 18”s adding a fifth way fed from an aux send. The system is powered by Turbosound’s new T25 and T45 switchmode amplifiers, the Aspect amplifier of choice.

3) For the Gobi Tent, Rat is supplying the new Renkus Heinz STLA/9 speaker system. This system is a compact, self powered line array and it is the year time Gobi tent has had a flown system. We will fly 4 per side and then deck stack 4 per side as well. Trim heights for flying systems inside tents pose a particular challenge. The Renkus' compact self powered line array was well suited for the job.

More pictures and info tommorrow for Day 2 of sound set up. More info to come...

The FOH Riser, Main Stage
Noice the ultra narrow profile to minimize sight line blockage.

Nemo adjusts the Turbosound rig in the Mohave Tent

New Turbosound "Aspect" rig and Rat subs
in the Mohave tent.

Mohave Turbo Aspect System

Midas Consoles, Mohave

More Mohave with XTA processors driving the Aspect

Mohave Comps and gates and FX.

Roz gives us a hand on the main stage.

Back side of Mohave System with the amps

Lighting in the Sahara, Techo Dance Tent

Renkus Heinz speakers for the Gobi Tent
before they are flown