One of the largest salsa festivals in Latin America, Salsa Fest takes place each year at the Salsódromo in the city of Boca del Río in the Mexican State of Veracruz. Sound for the festival lineup was supplied by Mexico City-based production services company Producciones Evolution, who deployed a NEXO STM system.
A free event enjoyed by locals and tourists, this year’s festival featured performances by four leading salsa artists and bands on each of three days in June, attracting a total audience reported to be in excess of 200,000 people.
The lineup t included stars of the genre Grupo Niche, Los Van Van, Melany Ruiz, Alberto Barros, Diego Morán, Chiquito Team Band, Galy Galiano, José Alberto El Canario, Oscar D’León, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Joseph Amado Lavoe Orchestra and Buena Vista All Stars.
Main left and right hangs of 15 STM M46/B112 with three M28 down fills were supplemented by hangs of nine per side flown STM18 subwoofers and 12 per side stacked.
NEXO P15 and PS15s were used for stage monitors and NEXO GEO M10 for front fills. Power and processing for the full system came from NEXO’s NUAR V2 Universal Amp Racks.
The work of acoustic planning and prediction was essential as Barry Barradas, technical sound system designer from Producciones Evolution explained: “On behalf of Producciones Evolution, we had to design how to fly the systems based on a design already established by the NEXO team. We used the NS-1 acoustic prediction software to define the ideal coverage and meet the required sound pressure levels.”
"We have a system of 18 cabinets per side in a double column, throwing 100-metres without any drop-off,” reported Carlos Hernández, market developer for NEXO at Mexican Distributor Representaciones de Audio. “In fact, we were reaching even further. It’s a system ready and prepared for any situation that comes up at the festival.”
“The purpose of flying the subwoofer system is to be able to reach the people further back,” explained Representaciones de Audio NEXO brand leader Diego Martínez. “This is a massive event, and the concentration of so many people could mean a loss in coverage. We want everyone to hear clearly and uniformly.
“At Representaciones de Audio, we are always committed to supporting our clients with the necessary technical assistance and raising the professional audio standard at Mexico's most important festivals.”