VUE and Bell Events Deliver Perfect Waves for Spyder Surf Fest

	Vue's al-class arrays rock the annual Hermosa Beach festival for the third year in a row.

Every year, the city of Hermosa Beach in California kicks off the summer season with a celebration of its rich surfing heritage and culture. The Spyder Surf Fest is a family-friendly "party on the beach" that brings together the most recognized brands in action sports, with surfing enthusiasts and the local community alike. Festivities include vendors, giveaways, live music performances, and a special inductee ceremony for the "Surfer's Walk of Fame." This year, for the third year in a row, main-stage performers shared their unique talents with a little help from a VUE al-4 subcompact line array supplied by Bell Events Services.

"This was our fifth year providing sound for this event, and our third with the al-4 array," explained Tim Campbell, audio supervisor and operations manager at Bell Event Services. "Vue line arrays deliver dynamic range and clarity at a level that is simply unmatched. Combine this with exceptional coverage control, and we're able to deliver very high-quality results with minimal tweaking in almost any environment. In short, working with the al-Class systems is just simple and convenient."

For Spyder Surf Fest, Bell Events flew dual al-4 arrays, each comprised of two al-4SB flying subwoofers with eight AL-4 subcompact elements hanging underneath. Vue hm-112 systems served monitor duty, while VueDrive V4 Systems Engines provided power and processing for the arrays and monitors. Allen & Heath iLive consoles handled both front-of-house and monitor mixes.

For additional low-frequency support, Bell added two ground-stacked as-418 isobaric subwoofers. Flown and stage-stacked subs were tuned asymmetrically, with the flown subs rolling off at 100Hz, and the stage-stacked as-418s going up to 70Hz.

"When you have the subs separated like we did, I've found I get much better results when they behave almost like two different systems," explained Campbell. "The top subs are the clarity -- punching through to the back of the venue. The bottom subs deliver that swoopy, fat 'Pink Floyd' sound. It's an especially perfect fit for the as-418, which delivers a massive amount of low frequency with a lot of heft."

Spyder Surf Fest is the latest among a growing roster of festivals and corporate gigs to benefit from Bell Event's versatile al-Class inventory.

"The Vue al-4 is so scalable and powerful that I can easily support all kinds of applications with a single truck pack," concluded Campbell. "Without a doubt, Vue's versatility has helped us to build a reputation for delivering high-quality sound that is up and rocking without a bunch of extra time or expense. We're incredibly pleased with our Vue partnership and looking forward to expanding the line in the future."

Bell Event's al-Class line arrays are well booked, with numerous festival and corporate showings in the coming months, including Monterey Car Week, the Buena Park and El Segundo Concert in the Park Series, and the Fiesta Hermosa Labor Day weekend celebration.