Rolling Sets Festival and Let the Good Times Roll Festival

Dec 2023, The Entrance NSW

“The VTX A system surpassed all my expectations,” says Ryan Hazell of Roll In Production Services. “I was expecting it to be good but not ‘that’ good. We were able to compare it pretty much side by side next to the big German manufacturer’s latest system on the main Rolling Sets stage. The VTX A more than held its own and covered the space beautifully with a perfect deployment. For eight A8s on the main hangs, I did not expect the fullness and quality of the sound image coming from such a small format PA. This is what makes the A8s so versatile; lightweight, small footprint and a huge sound. The A8s married perfectly with the A6 infills, the sonic signature was seamless between the two boxes. Those A6s pack a punch! The sub deployment was also super impressive, 10 G28 in array pattern and cardioid configuration. It’s rare to get such even sub coverage around the entire audience area. There were so many comments, it definitely had the edge in this regard over the main stage.”

“The clarity and efficiency is what makes this system stand out from the pack. The improved clarity means you don’t need to run the system as loud to translate the impact to the audience. Pete Kubow was explaining the new driver technology and the super quick recovery time that translates into drastically improved transient response; more like a studio monitor. That is how I would describe the sound of the PA – the transient detail was something new to what I have experienced in a deployment of this size. You can hear the space between that is normally lost in a live setting.”

Advertisement

“There were zero complaints received from any touring engineers with the system – this is rare! As we all know, us engineers love a good winge. The industry in Australia is dominated by a very few major brands and I feel engineers and production managers use this as a comfort blanket to specify on their riders. I feel after enough people use the VTX A here it will break into the holy grail of touring riders. The overwhelming positive feedback actually came from the festival promoters and the audience, noticing a drastic improvement on the stage from the previous year.”

“I feel like there needs to be more players in the touring market in Australia and VTX A Series brings something unique. The Crown V rack takes care of all the processing you could need with a clean user interface. It sounds like there is heavy investment in R&D which makes me feel comfortable that there will be constant updates to stay relevant with emerging technology and user feedback. It’s a clean system, well-thought-out with rigging, transport and storage. Most importantly it, sounds as good as anything out there. People are always going to have their personal taste in PA, but to me VTX A Series will match it with anything out there, giving me confidence to spec for future events.”

Tristan Forbes is the production manager for Let The Good Times Roll Festival, and is similarly impressed. “The efficiency of the VTX A Series system was demonstrated to be outstanding. Whilst in operation, I visited numerous locations and found it sounded just as clear up front as it did further back, including with changing crowd numbers. Feeling very confident that the VTX A provided clarity in multiple listening situations, I walked away with a smile on my face. I could feel the full impact of a full range of frequencies and levels up past the FoH mix position when the headliner was on. I glanced around FoH position to see what other people’s reactions were like, and it was a dance party with everyone really enjoying themselves, dancing around as though they were front row.”

Advertisement

“I know that a production supplier for this festival has enquired about having it on their next festival. They are happy to leave their existing PA in the warehouse and go with VTX A Series now. I personally had bands approach me to say thanks for the awesome sound on this stage, to which I had to redirect the appreciation back to the VTX A Series. Having bands walk away feeling as though their mixes were actually heard correctly note for note has made our job so much easier. The international acts walked away knowing they were definitely looked after out the front. Thats huge for us.”

“I’d like to see VTX A Series on another few festivals to confirm what I already believe to be a real contender in the market of A-Grade PAs. I have heard numerous PAs handle all types of music in different ways over the years. With VTX A Series I was hearing extended, clear high frequencies when levels are pushed, an even coverage of sub frequencies, and both near and far field performance. I already have VTX A Series in mind for a few more festivals in 2024 where I know that the listeners will be expecting the highest levels of audio quality.”