Dirtybird Campout Returns

Dirtybird Campout – West Coast 2021 took place at the Modesto Reservoir Campgrounds in California, celebrating the independently run, eclectic art, music and cultural festival. The unique style of the Dirtybird festival events stems from their Californian roots – where the record label Dirtybird was first created by record producer Claude VonStroke in San Francisco in the early 2000s.

Dirtybird started as a day BBQ in a park in San Francisco, but quickly turned into a yearly campout. The inaugural one took place in 2015 at Oak Canyon Park in Silverado in California. It now describes itself as a free-spirited, yearly summer camp for adults. And it felt extra special to be back following the enforced hiatus of the pandemic and for the 3-day festival to return with its boutique style and unique vibe.

This edition of the event saw the introduction of a Void Acoustics Arcline 8 line array, making its debut appearance at Dirtybird on the main stage at the festival – the Bird House stage. Given that this was the main one of the three stages, and hosting up to 4,000 festival-goers at any one time, it was imperative the audio was smooth and immersive whilst also totally controlling any leakage.

Paul Plescov from Royal Sound & Lighting explains their reason for recommending the Void Acoustics Arcline 8 to the organisers.

“We have specified Void systems at previous iterations of Dirtybird over the years. But with the re-birth of the festival ‘post pandemic’ we wanted to provide an even better audio experience for everyone at the festival. And so upgrading to Void’s Arcline 8 system was a natural choice. It ensured the provision of very smooth, horizontal coverage across the entire audience area, which, at peak times, hosted up to 4,000 festival goers. This seamless audio experience was applauded by the larger capacity crowd.”

An important aspect of the brief was meeting the demands of the strict county-enforced noise regulations. This was not only integral to the brief but one of the biggest challenges of the outdoor installation. “Offsite noise has been an issue in previous years, but we knew it was something Void strives to remove, with their carefully considered solutions for this problem” smiles Paul knowingly. “The Arcline 8 system enabled us to fly it up, and have downward-facing control, in a way that point source can’t facilitate. This meant we had complete control of the sound to the areas we wanted and could minimise the audio leakage into the areas where it wasn’t welcome.”

The reaction from organisers, artists (including Claude VonStroke, Ardelan, Not Green Velvet, Nala and Gene Ferris) and the audience was universally positive.

“That rig was a beauty”

“The quality of sound was surreal”

“For every act the sound was crystal clear”

“My ears say thank you!”

In summary, the Arcline 8s offered exceptional sonic fidelity for the Bird House stage and were supported by the iconic Void Air Motions and controlled by Bias Q5 amplifiers. There was a DJ booth on the stage as well which featured the stylish Air Vantage which is perfect for DJ monitoring and the compact Stasys 218s.

All-in-all there is no doubt that Dirtybird and Void are a marriage made in heaven and, based on the success of the relationship this year, one which will hopefully continue long into the future!

Images copyright David Marshall Fleming