New York, NY (October 08, 2024) – Billing itself as New York’s biggest party,” the Governor’s Ball Music Festival was held June 7-9, 2024, in the iconic Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The three-day festival featured over 60 of the world’s most popular artists, including Post Malone, The Killers, SZA, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Sabrina Carpenter to name a few. With the help of Gateway Studios & Production Services and DCR Nashville, Governor’s Ball festival organizers specified d&b audiotechnik SL-Series, based on previous experience, citing its ease of deployment, broadband directivity control, and low stage volume. The sonic upgrade resulted in praise by fans, artists, engineers, management, and even the festival’s founder, who stated: “This year was the best Governor’s Ball has ever sounded.”
Governor’s Ball began using d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers in 2016 and this year’s main stage and stage three were equipped with GSL and KSL loudspeakers and paired with SL-SUBs. Monty Curry, the festival’s audio designer attributed this decision to SL-Series‘ ability to deliver powerful, clear sound across the expansive festival grounds, but in a tightly controlled manner with minimal interference between stages and the surrounding residential areas, along with a quieter stage for the performers.
“The tonality, controlled coverage, and SPL provided by SL-Series really impressed me,” said Curry, “but the minimal bleed of SL-Series loudspeakers on stage was also huge. They’re so damn quiet compared to anything else and it’s because of their full-bandwidth cardioid configuration.”
“Keeping audio from bleeding between stages and into residential areas would normally be challenging,” added Gateway Studios & Production Services’ President, Andy Gerber. “But with d&b ArrayProcessing and the cardioid dispersion patterns of d&b subwoofer enclosures, we had the ability to control and ‘steer’ the audio, so it wasn’t really a challenge.”
For the production teams, the ease of SL-Series deployment also made for a successful event. “Festival production reported that it was the smoothest load in and out they’ve ever had,” continued Gerber. “SL Aiming Plates made it easy to physically steer the arrays while rigging, allowing us to quickly position them. We then loaded Monty’s ArrayCalc simulations with ArrayProcessing into d&b’s R1 Remote Control software to dial-in the granular fine-tuning.”
For DCR’s President, Paul Owen, Governor’s Ball was his first time deploying a d&b audiotechnik system. When asked why they added d&b audiotechnik to their portfolio he enthused “The quality of the product speaks for itself. We invested in d&b audiotechnik because we wanted the best loudspeaker system that exists, and that’s SL-Series. This was the third year we’ve provided audio for Governor’s Ball, but the first year with d&b audiotechnik, and it was our most successful.” He also agreed with Gerber stating, “In my 25-year history of deploying PAs, I’ve never had one deploy as smoothly as SL-Series.”
The performances at Governor’s Ball 2024 were nothing short of spectacular, with fans, artists, and their teams praising the sound quality as a key component. As Curry relayed, “The front of house engineers all said they were ‘very happy with the d&b audiotechnik system’ and one of the festival’s founders said ‘it was the best Governor’s Ball has ever sounded.’”
When asked if he would recommend d&b auditotechnik SL-Series to other festivals or tours, Curry concluded “SL-Series loudspeakers should be on everyone’s rider. They sound great, they fly easy, they’re tightly controlled, and spec-wise, they have the highest output out there.”
About the System Configurations
Mainstage: For the Governor’s Ball mainstage, Gateway Studios & Production Services deployed 28 x GSL8 and 8 x GSL12 for the main left and right array; the side PA included 24 x GSL8, and 30 x SL-SUBs were on the ground. For front fills 8 x V10 and 2 x Y10P were employed. The VIP area featured 4 x Y10P. Side fills were provided by 8 x KSL8 and 4 x KSL subwoofers. 16 x KSL8 were utilized as delays. On-stage monitoring included 16 x M2 Monitors and 4 x B6-SUBs.
Stage 3: For the Governor’s Ball stage 3, DCR deployed 28 x GSL8 and 4 x GSL12 for the left and right mains, 12 x KSL8 were used as ground-stacked side PA, 28 x SL-SUBs were on the ground, 12 x Y10P point sources were used as fills and 16 x M4 floor monitors were on stage.
About d&b audiotechnik.
d&b audiotechnik provides professional audio technology and solutions to accurately transfer passions through high-end quality speech and music reproduction. d&b audiotechnik is internationally regarded as a leading company for sound reinforcement systems in installed and mobile applications, with a reputation for quality of construction, standard of service, system integration principles, and pioneering technological development.
Founded in Germany in 1981, d&b audiotechnik headquarters are located in Backnang, near Stuttgart, where research, development and production take place. With sales offices in major cities around the world, the d&b audiotechnik team numbers more than 600 co-workers. www.dbaudio.com.
d&b audiotechnik is part of d&b group which provides professional audio technology and AVLM solutions to create memorable, multisensorial experiences.
