The Sinnissippi Music Shell at Sinnissippi Park in Rockford, Illinois is visually striking:
a flaring overhead clamshell roof above a modernistic trapezoidal frame around the
stage. These kinds of architectural statements, however, often come with challenges
for venue sound, and this was no exception.
For this year’s Music In The Park series—which began on 7 June with the Phantom
Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps and runs through August 3 with the Funk, Party and
Dance Band, and hosts artists performing genres from rock to bluegrass to Zydeco
and everything in between. Clearwing Productions called on an L-Acoustics Kiva II
design to provide a sound system that covers every seat and stands up to weather in
a highly exposed location.
The system is made up of ten Kiva II loudspeakers, flown below three SB15m subs in
a single centre-hung array, with two SB18m subs on the stage, all powered by three
LA4X amplified controllers. That single hang can cover every set in the venue, plus
grass sitting areas on the sides and at the top of the hill opposite the stage.
“Ideally, you would always like to have a left-right stereo system, with a hang on
either side of the stage. However, it does not always work out that way,’ says Mik
Moore, systems design engineer at Clearwing Productions, who began working at the
Parnelli Award-winning sound-reinforcement provider when he was in college over 20
years ago. “At Sinnissippi Park, given the architecture and the load-bearing limits we
faced with this kind of stage design, we had to work with just one line array. Because
the seating areas are wide and extend up a hill behind the fixed seats, it was more of
a challenge than it looked.’
That challenge was addressed by the L-Acoustics Kiva II ultra-compact modular line
array, which generates symmetric horizontal coverage of 100 degrees, without
secondary lobes over the entire frequency range. And at just 31 pounds per module,
the Kiva II allowed Moore to design a full-spectrum system that covered all of the
seating areas consistently and clearly, without putting undue stress on the venue’s
support infrastructure and still allowing three 15-inch subwoofers atop the hang.
Using Polar Focus rigging elements that fit a motorised lift atop the array and an anti-
sway stabiliser bar underneath that keeps it steady in the breeze, the Kiva II system
kept Music in the Park rocking without any rolling.
“The horizontal dispersion pattern of the Kiva II is just fantastic,’ says Moore. “One of
the first big shows of the series had over 3 000 people in the seats and more on the
grass around them. The producers told us that everyone heard everything, even off
the side and on top of the hill, thanks to the extra 6dB the Kiva II gives us. Like all
the L-Acoustics systems we use at Clearwing, we chose the Kiva II because it offered
the most versatile solution for a challenging project.’
