PK Sound Collaborates with the Do Lab at Lightning in a Bottle 2018

	Do Lab's Lightning in a Bottle festival main stage

PK Sound's crew of expert engineers and technicians returned to the Do Lab's Lightning in a Bottle festival for Memorial Day 2018. An estimated 30,000 fans and contributors arrived at San Antonio Lake in Bradley, California, to play, dance, do yoga, learn, and cool off in in the water during the four-day campout. Festival goers and experience creators enjoyed perfect weather, incredible art, a beautifully curated group of musical acts performing on PK Sound's Trinity sound system. Music on the Lightning Stage both serenaded the crowd, and roared throughout the weekend thanks to PK's patented technology and its crew.

The Lightning Stage served as Lightning in a Bottle's main stage where top acts like Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals, Zhu, Griz, The Glitch Mob, Fever Ray, Sofi Tukker, Beats Antique, and Dirtwire performed. The audience danced from afternoon until last call, soaking in the soundwaves.

While the transitions between sets looked seamless to the audience, the PK Sound & Stage crews hustled during load-in, onstage, and backstage to equip each performing act with its best gear. In addition to PK Sound's own gear, multiple semi-trucks and box trucks of guest production were loaded in. Two full box trucks of instruments and festival backline also needed coordination throughout the weekend. Thanks to expert stage management and planning, the show ran like clockwork and every stage movement ran like a well-oiled machine.

The Lightning Stage's main PA consisted of 12 per side PK TRINITY line array, 48 PK CX800 dual 18" subwoofers, and four PK VX12 medium format line array front fills. Field delays were a stereo pair of three PK TRINITY line array per side ground-stacked, placed 220' from main PA, to extend coverage for headline sets.

On stage speakers included, three PK VX10 compact arrays and one PK CX800 subwoofer per side as stage side fills for the bands and DJS, as well as 12 PK SW215 stage wedges and two PK KLARITY 218 dual 18" subwoofers as drum fill.

Front-of-house consoles and system drive included an Avid Profile console, a DigiCo SD9, PK Sound's KONTROL PA Management System, and two Lake LM26 System Processors.

The PA was plotted and configured through the use of EASE Focus software, which pinpoints the angles of the boxes and dispersion patterns. FOH techs Rory Stewart and Ian Hicks manned the fort and accommodated three guest consoles and a total of 10 guest FOH technicians.

"We strive to make it an easy and comfortable experience for any guest engineers on a PK rig," commented Hicks.

Josh "CT" Sarraulte is on his first tour with The Glitch Mob as FOH audio and Lightning in a Bottle fell early in the tour schedule.

"My only goal is to take what The Mob do and amplify it! For this gig it is about separation and clarity," explains Sarraulte.

"I was happy with the amount of air I was able to push with the rig. Having this be the first big PA that we hit on this run it was nice that I didn't immediately hit a boxes limitation," he continued.

The following night Anderson .Paak and The Free Nationals engaged, entranced, and thrilled the audience with fun, suave tunes for their closing set. Nevin Thomas, FOH for the band joined the team in the sound booth to drive the system. While he's working the live mix, Thomas' main focus is getting a well-balanced mix that's both simple and in-your-face. Through this approach he ensures the band matches the DJ tracks and its energy is what hits the audience first.

For his first time mixing on a PK Sound rig, Thomas stated, "Amazing, nice and wide, clear sound everywhere. Feeling the subs and a nice top end made the night."

"I'm a fan of the tech that goes into the system as well -- it added a huge stereo image," he continued.

Coordinating the many moving parts and collaborating with top talent were the two themes of the weekend and the PK Sound team reports it is always pleased to work with standout professionals.

"We had a pretty smooth year, considering how much gear came in and out. We always love working with the Do Lab/Lightning in a Bottle family and really enjoy supporting their vision," said Arlen Cormack, VP of production.