Sound Concept & Guidelines

Hello @Kate :)

Did Freiland ever get back to you with a new proposal for the different zone?

Those feedback are important to update and finalize the sound protocol and the different zones as Site Planning is starting and Kiezes starting to plan.

Last info shared for the Kieze Realizers Meeting is the latest update from your meeting:

1- Centralized and Unique sound camp for Loud music (Underworld spot)
2- Only 1 zone for semi loud (KinderKiez)
3- All the rest is quiet

Yes! Let´s have a meeting to we can discuss? I´ll write you a pm.

Hey gang, I wrote the 2018 sound protocol. After being asked about joining up to help organize a sound kiez this year, I figured to join in the cha(n)t. For some background and disclosure, I've been doing sound since 2000 and have recently started a berlin-based sound company with a friend and Wwedish distributor of Danley Sound Labs speakers.

I've read the proposed sound guidelines and numerous chats concerning the subject and wish to offer this advice:

1. End-fire and cardioid subwoofer arrays can work, but must be precisely measured and must not have any obstructions around a large radius behind, above, and besides the boxes. A large enough required radius of no objects is enough to greatly reduce available space for tents, vehicles, tables, etc.

1. I've read the blurb about the hay bales. Large, solid baffles around the speakers can reduce rearward projecting, but need to be several meters wide and tall. I have my doubts about the fire safety of the bales, even if kept soaking wet, but if truly large, they may work. Construction of a wooden baffle needs to be heavily braced so the structure does not turn into a vibrating surface. If it vibrates, sound goes backwards.

2. More practical is to use large horn arrays. Most, if not all of the subs used at freiland have been ported direct radiating subs. Horns are much more effective at aiming sound forwards. However, a front surface of over 2 sq meters is necessary, so just one or two smaller horn subs is not going to help enough.

3. Do not forget about tops/mid-high speakers and monitors! DJ monitors usually end up aiming behind the dancefloor and even those aimed towards the dancefloor will send back a lot of lower midrange energy. Hornloaded tops are better at controlling midrange and highs, but the lower midrange will still wrap around and leak behind the boxes. Horns (or horn arrays) over a meter in width are necessary for proper control.

4. Trees don't block as much sound as they do light. Anyone who has been to any of the park parties in the last year can attest to how much sound just a bluetooth speaker can project through the woods.

5. Of the 4 proposed sound kiez locations, 3 offer some sort of hill behind the intended dancefloors. Hills can help block sound, but those who spent any time in the wellness tent can attest to how much sound escaped behind Underworld. The proposed location by the rear gate offers no such protection, so volume control there will be the most critical.

Hey, Eric sent some feedback to our improved draft! "We have just looked at your sound concept and think that it can work so well! Gladly we can do an on-site inspection together!"

What do you guys think? Let's share the proposal for further discussion with the community. 🔊⭐️ 

Is anyone of you attending the spark campout at Freiland this weekend? If you wanna do a guided "sound" tour at the site, I can try to arrange a date with Eric 🙂 @Quentin

Thank you Kate for the feedback from Freiland, and happy to see that they are accepting our Sound Guidelines proposal :)

I won't be at the Spark but have been to Freiland many times. What is the most important, in my opinion, is that we can do some testing on site during the build of the event. When the PAs are ready for soundcheck. So we can set the maximum level allowed for the sound stages.

I communicated the info to the Site Planning team already so every camp that is not in the loud zone can be informed not to bring any PA with them.

Next step is to work on the coordination with Rangers and Site Lead to ensure all this will run smoothly.

A little announcement: UnderWorld opened applications for music until 8 July! Especially since we have limited capacity for sound camps this year due to the new agreement with the site (to keep the neighbours happy) – we would like to invite the whole community to share their funky tunes #welovewegbassen #welovedowntempo #letsshakeourbooties

Fill out the form and share it with whoever you think can contribute 🙂

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZ-29LeqVTWBMe6pXie5B4QfClOquJqU9msBY51HPBn_UWgw/viewform?usp=sf_link

P.S Please accept the authority of the grumpy cat

hello! i have a fully hornloaded digital PA system that has great directivity. it is not in use this august, would this help the kiezburn? very unique look and sound, it would be an honor to bring it to freiland ;) let me know if you are interested...

Dear @lisette many thanks for offering this, this is a truly amazing gift! Underworld is already equipped, maybe @Roko @Jan-Christian Kaspareit @Quentin @Tim Menuridae (?) are interested. The spots for people who want to bring sound are already full, but idk if anyone still needs a PA

@Quentin oopsi, is the final sound guidelines document still existing? When clicking on it my browser says: no... maybe you can check the url?