Held each May at an altitude of
2,300 metres, Top of the Mountain rounds off the ski season in fine style.
Robbie and his Big Band scaled the heights this year to perform their entire
Swings Both Ways album, marking the event’s 20th anniversary.
The STM modular line array PA system had to cope with the
biggest-ever audience at the Silvretta Arena, a crowd of 30,000 people, but it
also had to score in another crucial area. All equipment is brought into
the resort by snow gondola, with snowploughs handling on-site transport and the
crew flown in by helicopter. Here, STM’s ability to break down into smaller
elements proved invaluable, allowing for ease of transport to the arena.
All technical production was supplied by Austria’s
Fantasy Event Engineering, working closely with sound rental company acoustic
NETWORK from Germany to provide 15 sets of STM M46 Main, B112 Bass and S118 Sub
units per side, covering up to 80 metres. The S112s were supplemented with two
stacks per side of 4x CD18 cardioid sub bass units. Two delay towers of 10+2
GEO T cabinets covered from 85 up to 135 metres. Overlap between the two
systems was smooth, and very little EQ had to be applied. In addition, 8x
GEO S12s were used for the VIP area, and front fills were provided by 4x PS15s.
The system surprised even Val Gilbert, Nexo’s concert
sound technical advisor, who has heard STM in a great many locations and
configurations. “With snow acting as an absorbent everywhere, it was almost
like listening to very big studio monitors,” he says. “We experienced some of
the most pronounced climatic effects I have ever heard. Cold air on the ground,
warm air above the crowd’s head, and cold air from falling snow and fog above
created a layer of warm air exactly at the height of the FOH engineer position,
driving mid and high frequencies straight into the tent. This made it
difficult for the FOH engineer, Simon Hodge, to mix in a predictable way.
However the sound was solid and coverage and throw were excellent. Without a
doubt, STM was up to the task, and performed extremely well.”
Both Hodge and Britannia Row’s system engineer Josh
Lloyd, who tours with Robbie Williams, were complimentary about STM, expressing
a desire to spend time with it in more ‘hospitable’ conditions. “The
system sounded great, especially considering the tough environment we were
dealing with,” says Lloyd.
Lloyd wasn’t the only one who thought so; the event’s
technical director, Hannes Knapp from Fantasy Event Engineering has already
confirmed that STM will be used for next year’s Top of the Mountain, with
multiple high-profile sources telling him it was “the best sound ever in
Ischgl”.
