Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival Turns Up the Good Times with Harman Professional Solutions Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival recently deployed an array of class-leading AKG by Harman microphones for show-stopping performances from artists like Coffis Brothers & the Mountain Men, B & The Hive and more. Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival, formerly known as Beaverstock, is a two-day outdoor music and arts festival held every September at Castoro Cellars winery in Templeton, California. Established in 2013, Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival hosts performances from rock, country, folk, bluegrass, and funk artists, as well as well as yoga classes and arts and crafts activities. Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival features performances on two stages -- the Main Stage and the Stomping Grounds stage, which is built on the bed of a 1957 Chevy flatbed. In order to provide exceptional sound for an eclectic mix of artists, Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival outfitted the Stomping Grounds stage with AKG D7, C7, C451B, and D112 microphones. "Whenever an act finishes on the Main Stage, another act starts playing on the Stomping Grounds stage, so the music never stops but there are never two bands playing at the same time," said Luke Udsen, promoter, Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival. "We used AKG mics on the Stomping Grounds stage, which was awesome. It sounded great and the artists really enjoyed using them." Live sound engineer for the Stomping Grounds stage, Johnny Valdez, used AKG C7 and D7 microphones to capture detailed vocals from a tightly packed stage. AKG D7 mics were also used on guitar amps for their crisp, clean sound. Valdez used the iconic AKG D112 mic on kick drums for its solid low-end response. A pair of AKG C451B small-diaphragm condenser microphones were used as overhead mics for drum kits, bongos, and congas to deliver a smooth, airy sound. "The AKG C451Bs worked really well as overhead mics -- we didn't have any feedback issues at all, which is a common problem," said Valdez, Adept Events. "I also used two C451Bs in an XY stereo configuration to mic up a bluegrass band that wanted a more traditional sound -- it sounded great!" The sound crew weren't the only ones impressed with the superb sound quality -- the artists loved performing with AKG microphones. "The AKG C7 and D7 mics have excellent clarity and the feedback rejection is amazing," said Josh Barret, bassist and producer, B & The Hive. "We're a rock band with a female lead vocalist, so she needs a mic that can pick up every little nuance of her voice for everything from soft ballads to hard rock -- these mics did a great job." "It's really important for us to have clean, clear, dynamic vocals when performing live," said Kellen Coffis, The Coffis Brothers & the Mountain Men. "AKG mics are a great fit for us because we sing a lot of harmonies and we can mix and blend our vocals just by changing our distance to the microphone in a really natural way." 
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