Music Festivals

L-Acoustics Raves On at Ubbi Dubbi, Billed as #FirstFestBack

June 30, 2021

Onstage Systems deploys PA on all four festival stages for Disco Donnie Presents

ENNIS, Texas – June 2021 – Although increasing numbers of live concert events are finally starting to occur once again, Dallas-based L-Acoustics Certified Provider Onstage Systems has already been busy over the past few months. In addition to providing sound reinforcement for recent Deadmau5 and Brett Young shows, the company was the exclusive audio supplier for Ubbi Dubbi, which was billed as the first large-scale North American festival to make its official post-pandemic comeback on April 24 and 25.

Staged at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, just south of Dallas, Ubbi Dubbi attracted more than 30,000 fans each day at the festival to hear top EDM artists like Kaskade, Illenium, Carnage, The Adventure Club, Kill The Noise, and dozens more joyously celebrate the communal experience of live music. To keep the crowd of ravers moving and grooving, event promoter Disco Donnie Presents (DDP) called on Onstage Systems to handle all concert sound reinforcement, which it did via L-Acoustics loudspeaker systems deployed across the festival’s four stages.

Onstage has worked with DDP on numerous festivals since 2015, including the inaugural Ubbi Dubbi, which took place at Fort Worth’s Panther Island Pavilion in 2019. At this year’s two-day event, a full lineup of 45 national and international EDM artists and 27 “hometown heroes” performed for the highly enthusiastic music-hungry throng.

For the primary “Ubbi’s Stage,” Onstage flew six L-Acoustics K1 over eight K2 per side as the mains, with eight KS28 subs ground-stacked below each array, plus 16 SB28 double-stacked in groups of four across the face of the stage with a single Kudo enclosure atop each sub-cluster for frontfill, all driven by LA8 amplified controllers.

“I am really loving this rig size; six K1 over eight K2 is a perfect match for many of our shows,” enthuses Onstage Audio Department Manager Jeremy Helt. “It’s compact, not too heavy, a perfect combination of K1 and K2, and friendly in the truck pack as well. Given the size of the main hangs and the audience area, no delays were necessary. The width of coverage from K2 meant we didn’t need an outfill covering the VIP area either.”

Onstage Senior Project Manager Tyler Johnston agrees: “The K1/K2 combo is loud, clear, and rider-friendly. There’s never any need to talk an artist or client into the fact that it’s going to sound fantastic. With L-Acoustics gear, there’s no doubt about the level of quality that the system will deliver.”

A considerable part of that reputation for amazing sound can be attributed to L-Acoustics Soundvision as a stellar system design platform, says Helt. “Soundvision has become an extremely reliable tool for predicting audience coverage, tuning details, and even timing effects,” he shares. “Autosolver, in particular, has taken so much time and trial-and-error out of the process that everything is now very streamlined. In most real-world situations, there is little tuning to be done if the Soundvision process has been correctly completed beforehand, and Ubbi Dubbi 2021 was a terrific example of that.”

The festival’s secondary “Dubbi’s Stage” featured ten K2 per side as the mains with a massive double-stacked wall of 24 SB28 subs spread out across the stage face, all driven by LA8. The “Zoom Room” stage utilized arrays of four K2 per side plus SB28 subs, while the “Ubbi Dubbi World” circular shade structure featured a four-stack surround design using Kudo with K1-SB subs to support trance acts.

Both “Ubbi’s Stage” and “Dubbi’s Stage” were also equipped with the appropriately-dubbed “Texas headphones” for stage monitoring. These comprised three Kara over one SB18 sub per side for DJ sidefills and were similarly LA8-powered. According to Johnston, “Texas headphones were the requirement on every rider this year because they look cool and sound amazing,” he says. “Once all the big names started using them several years ago, the rest of the DJs followed suit, and now everybody asks for them.”

For Onstage Systems CEO/President Hyacinth Belcher, Ubbi Dubbi was a tremendously welcome return of an event that companies like hers have been hoping for over the past year. “This was a mile-marker event for sure, and it felt great to be the first audio company back for an event that brought in 60,000 people post-Covid,” she says. “During the pandemic, the Onstage team came together to produce eight weeks of Covid-safe drive-in events where we kept our K2 busy! Our team was able to stay sharp and in good practice, so when we came out for Ubbi Dubbi, we could come out strong with a PA that we love and had taken very good care of during our ‘year break,’ so to speak.”

“Being in the driver’s seat and seeing all the smiles—people glowing with happiness to finally be able to attend festivals again—to listen to our favorite artists, and be outside under the sun and the stars—it was incredible,” she adds. “Witnessing the faces of artists, crew, and attendees when the rig powered up and music traveled across the landscape was priceless. Music heals, and we were all there soaking in the beautiful elixir!”

Following Ubbi Dubbi 2021, Onstage Systems has kept its K1/K2 systems busy in Hutto (a city just outside of Austin) and Fort Worth for Deadmau5 shows, on a Brett Young concert at TCU’s Carter Stadium, and for other recent events.

For more info on Disco Donnie Presents and Ubbi Dubbi Festival 2021, visit www.discodonniepresents.com and www.ubbidubbifestival.com. Onstage Systems is found online at www.onstagesystems.com.

About L-Acoustics

Founded in 1984 near Paris, France, L-Acoustics is the market leader in professional sound reinforcement technologies. With over 550 team members worldwide and offices in Paris, London, Singapore, Los Angeles, and New York, L-Acoustics is present in over 80 countries via our network of Certified Providers. Focused on solutions that elevate the audience experience, more than 20% of L-Acoustics’ talent is devoted to R&D in the areas of acoustics, applications, mechanics, electronics, signal processing, and software development. In recognition of creating innovative professional sound technology, L-Acoustics was named as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2020.

Recognized for pioneering the line source array, L-Acoustics continues to shape the future of the professional audio industry with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology, a multidimensional, object-based approach to designing, mixing, and processing sound that results in extremely natural and intelligible audio, and a more vibrant, authentic connection between artists and their fans. Now also available for exceptional private sound spaces with L-Acoustics Creations designs.

L-Acoustics technologies can be heard in places like the Hollywood Bowl, Dickies Arena, Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich, or the Philharmonie de Paris, as well as the world’s top-grossing festivals, and on tour with world-class artists such as Mark Knopfler, Aerosmith, and P!NK.

# # #

Reader contact:
L-Acoustics, Inc.
2645 Townsgate Road #600 / Westlake Village, CA 91361
Tel: 805.604.0577 / Fax: 805.556.4846
Email: info.us@l-acoustics.com / Web: www.l-acoustics.com

Editor contact:
Chris Shuler, Public Address
Cell: 574.514.7131 / christophershuler@comcast.net

Related images:
1) LA_Ubbi_Dubbi_1.jpg – The main Ubbi’s Stage featured six K1 over eight K2 per side, plus 16 KS28 and 16 SB28 subs (pc: Drew Ressler, RUKES.com)
2) LA_Ubbi_Dubbi_2.jpg – The secondary Dubbi’s Stage flew ten K2 per side with 24 SB28 subs double-stacked across the stage face (pc: Jason Fenmore, Oh Dag Yo Photo)
3) LA_Ubbi_Dubbi_3.jpg – Kaskade on Ubbi’s Stage using “Texas headphones”—three Kara over one SB18 per side—for monitoring (pc: Drew Ressler, RUKES.com)
4) LA_Ubbi_Dubbi_4.jpg – With 30,000 people attending each day, Disco Donnie Presents billed Ubbi Dubbi as the #FirstFestBack (pc: Drew Ressler, RUKES.com)

Onstage Systems New SAM575, the Region’s Largest Event Mobile Stage

June 2, 2021

Onstage Systems is thrilled to bring our newest mobile stage, Stageline’s SAM575, home to our 80,000 square foot warehouse of top-of-the-line audio, video, lighting, and staging gear for full-service event production. The most exciting part of the SAM575 is what it means for the future of your events when you partner with Onstage Systems.

The SAM575 is Stageline’s largest single trailer mobile stage, and Onstage Systems, one of the nation’s leading full-service event production companies, is the only company in the region that can offer it. From Denver to Birmingham, Onstage Systems now has one of the biggest and the best stages in the business to make your events bigger, better, and located wherever you want. Our new mobile stage acquisition allows Onstage Systems to produce single-stage events for up to 50,000 attendees.

About the Stageline SAM575

The SAM575 is simply the best staging equipment for its size, combining fast setup, outdoor resiliency, and exceptional rigging capacity. Stageline’s SAM575 offers events 50×38’ of stage floor, expandable to 90×56’ when configured for wings and backstage. Six engineers can set up the mobile stage in as little as six hours, and the SAM575 offers 94,000 lbs of rigging with wind resistance up to 115 mph.

Additional Mobile Stage Specifications

20×32’ Configurable Covered Wings
Full-height Windwalls, Rainproof, Retractable Backdrop
77×12’ Crossover

What the SAM575 Means to Onstage Systems

Our SAM575 is more than an addition to our mobile stage family. It’s a statement of our commitment and our intention on being the very BEST full service production company in the Southwest USA. From our family to yours, our passion, integrity and commitment can be seen across our people, our gear and our dedication to quality events.

See all our Mobile Staging Options to find the right platform for your event. Or, Contact Us to start developing your event.

Finding an Event Production Company for Your Concert, Tour or Music Festival: What To Look For, How to Vet Them, and What You Need To Know

April 30, 2021

2020 was a challenging year for event production. Many event production partners had to pivot and change their businesses to survive, and others had to shut their doors. Now, as the live events industry begins to spring back to life, there are many pop-up shops and new, inexperienced production companies flooding the market and making it more challenging to find a qualified vendor. That’s why we put together this article with our decades of live event experience to help you know what to look for in an event production partner for your concert, tour or music festival.

Start With The End In Mind

Before searching for your ideal concert, tour, or event production company, make sure you set the relationship up for success. This preparation includes starting early. Pre-production meetings for your event should begin roughly three months prior to the event’s date. You should also take this time to develop a clear vision for your event. Even a veteran event production company can have difficulty bringing out the potential for an event if your vision isn’t clear. You also need to make a checklist of the needs for your concert, event, or tour production. Items for your checklist include:

Sound & Lighting
Crew Size
Interactive Components
What equipment is being provided by the venue
What equipment needs to be rented
Will the event be broadcast, live-streamed, or need to be professionally recorded?

AV Company vs. Event Production Company: Make Sure You Understand What You Are Looking For

Once you have the idea and the rough needs of your event outlined, you should start looking for an event production company. The first thing to identify in your research is that your prospective partners are professional event production companies. Sometimes an audio-visual company likes to stretch its offerings and moonlight as an event production company. An AV company is competent in running event equipment and can help you set up said equipment for your event, but that is where their expertise ends. They are not an event production company.

An event production company does provide equipment setup and operation, but also much more. A full-service event production company can help you design your event from the ground up. Onstage Systems has helped many clients early in the event process with tasks like venue selection and permitting. Beyond setup, an event production company will help bring your event vision to life. They can help you with the design and coordination of your stage, audio, lighting, and multimedia, turning your event idea into an extraordinary audience experience. That’s in addition to providing the nuts and bolts of offstage event production like crowd control and security. Events are far more than running lights and sound. It’s essential you work with an event production partner that can provide the full scope of services your event needs.

Event Planning, Event Management, and Event Production Companies

You also want to make sure you’re looking for the correct type of event production partner. Though they may sound similar, there are differences between an event planning company, an event management company, and an event production company. An event planning company helps on the front end, assisting clients in finding venues, finalizing event dates, hiring caterers, manage budgets, etc. In contrast, an event management company handles the project management side of event production. These companies help with event registration, managing event staff, and resolving onsite conflicts, to execute your event. An event production company focuses on the live, stage presentation of an event. They often work with the presenters/acts, AV crews, and technology vendors to produce and deliver the amazing live experiences at an event, concert, or tour. Generally, the event production company handles all production aspects of the stage production for the client.

Consider Event Production Companies or AV Companies Outside of Your Search Radius

Online research will skew towards your location. That can keep you from finding great event production companies that are outside your metro area, who would be an excellent fit for your event, and who are willing to travel. For example, Onstage Systems is based in DFW, but we help put on events, concerts, and tours from Nashville to Albuquerque. You could miss out on a great event production company partner by centering your research on your current location.

Establishing a Budget For Your Event

One of the biggest questions for a group planning an event is price. Look for an event production company partner whose pricing seems fair and reasonable for what you ask them to deliver for the event. To determine what is right and fair, consider what all your event entails. An event production company provides labor but also may provide equipment, staging, furniture, crowd control, security, and transportation. In addition to those costs, there are creative design, insurance, permitting, and taxes. An event’s costs can quickly balloon, especially if you begin involving multiple event partners like an event production company, event planner, and event management. The more moving parts in your event production, the more expensive it will become.

Sticker shock can drive some groups to search out budget solutions and low bids. But, if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Often a budget price translates to a budget production. The last thing you want for your event is to spend less and feel like you didn’t get your money’s worth. Remember, your event’s success is determined by its impact on the audience and how memorable it is. So spend your money where it will have the most impact, in the event’s production. Engage a full-service event production company early in your event timeline. A good, full-service event production company can help review your budget and suggest ways to use it to provide the best production, “bang for your buck.” They may be able to help you negotiate discounts and uncover additional cost savings to help your event production budget stretch further.

Vetting Event Production Companies

One of the first things you should consider when culling your list of potential partners is event production company specialties. Some event production companies specialize in corporate events like trade shows, conferences, seminars, and product launches. That company is likely not the ideal partner for your summer concert festival. Similarly, you may forego working with an event production company that specializes in broadcast if you’re not planning to broadcast, stream, or record your event. Many 2021 events have transitioned from full virtual to hybrid events, featuring in-person production, crowd control, and live-streaming. So you may be looking for an event production company partner like Onstage Systems that has been doing hybrid events for over a year now, and producing live events for over 40 years.

Experience & Licensing

Once you’ve assembled a shortlist of potential partners, you can start investigating them to find your best partner. One of the best hallmarks to look for is experience. How long have they been in business? Does their track record of work fit the type of event you’re producing? In addition to experience, ask about an event production company’s certifications, licenses, affiliations, and ensure they have general liability coverage and workers compensation coverage.

Online Presence

Delving into an event production company’s social media, website, and old event footage is a great way to get a feel for their event production. You can also learn a lot about the company’s core values, the quality of the people they have on their team, and the quality of service they provide. For example, looking back through our social media, you can learn about some of the challenges we needed to overcome to help produce a 1,000 drone open-air light show in December.

Also, check online for feedback, reviews, and referrals. You should also consider asking vendors, venues, and other event producers if they know or have worked with an event production company. This feedback can help you quickly discover less desirable event production partners.

Creativity

How do the events your prospects produce look and sound? At the end of the day, this is how event attendees and concert-goers will judge your event. Look for an event production partner that is bringing something unique to the event. Look for photographs and videos of their events across the internet to see if they have a wow factor that can benefit your event.

Event Production Company Questions

Once you’ve winnowed down your potential partners, it’s time for direct questions. These questions are in the final step to help you determine if an event production company is right for you.

What are your core services?
What equipment can you provide, and what will you need to rent?
Are you able to travel?
Can you source local labor on the road?
Can you hire/coordinate your own AV labor?
Can you provide a show flow or cue-to-cue document?
Can you tell me about the latest event production trends and technology?
Choosing Your Ideal Event Production Company

Like any good partnership, you have to like and trust the people you work with. In your gut, do you trust an event production company can bring your vision for an event to life? Even after your interviews, if your potential event production partner checks all the boxes but your gut says otherwise, it may be best to trust your gut and keep looking.

Now you are ready to find your ideal event production company for your Spring and Summer event, concert, or tour. In your search, consider Onstage Systems. We have more than 40 years of experience in live events and offer full-service live event production with audio engineers, lighting experts, and technicians ready to bring your vision to life.

Learn More About Onstage Systems Event Production Capabilities

The Capricorn Drive-In at Fair Park

October 14, 2020

The Capricorn Drive-In hosted a four week series of music, film, and performance in Dallas at Fair Park. As part of the #SociallyDistantSummerSeries, the event was held Fridays and Saturdays, from August 28th to September 5th.

Capricorn Drive-In Featured Performers

AhhFugYeahs
Colab
Cure of Paranoia
DJ Don Gentry & Wayward
Fempyre
Infamists & Static Creatures
Lost Arts Legacy
Meach Pango
Skin & Drum Drum Cult

The event had the distinction of being Dallas’s first COVID-19 safe public concert approved by the City of Dallas. It was created to highlight the talent of Texas musicians and performers. The four-week Fair Park event was the culmination of 14 weeks of planning. Great effort was placed on creating a COVID-19 safe, live event experience.

COVID-19 Considerations

To be approved by the City of Dallas, Onstage Systems needed to develop a safety plan with attendee management as priority number one. Onstage Systems created a parking diagram with designated attendee sitting areas following COVID-19 distancing guidelines. Automobiles were spaced 30 feet from the stage with safe, designated sitting areas to the front and left of automobiles. Attendees were encouraged to tailgate from their automobiles or sit in the designated areas on blankets and picnic chairs.

Other considerations included organizing high traffic areas like toilet facilities and coordinating the cleaning crew for high-traffic area sanitization.

Visual Messaging

Part of the safety plan was creating a visual messaging strategy for COVID-19 safety protocols. Informing attendees of the protocols was paramount. The visual messaging solution encouraged attendees to adjust their behaviors to keep live events live and for attendees to be part of the solution. Security at the event also enforced COVID-19 safety protocols.

Backstage Safety

Working crew, bands, and other performers were all temperature checked upon arrival. Additionally, all working crew, bands, and performers were required to wear masks when within 10 feet of others.

Onstage Systems – COVID-Safe Dallas Event Production

Onstage Systems coordinated the event with local bands and the managers of national talent to bring The Capricorn Drive-In at Fair Park all together. In addition to coordination, Onstage Systems provided video , lighting and audio production. The audio solution for the drive-in event included live public address system sound and the inclusion of an FM transmitter for attendees to listen through their automobile stereos. In addition to live performances, Onstage Systems live-streamed select performances from the event online to virtual audiences.

Onstage Systems is proud to have been a part of bringing live events back to Dallas with the City’s first approved, COVID-19 safe public concert. We would also like to thank our event partners that helped to make The Capricorn Drive-In at Fair Park a success.

About Onstage Systems

Onstage Systems is a full-service event production company committed to creating lasting impressions. From virtual and live corporate events, music festivals and more, we have solutions to transform your ambitious vision into reality.

We offer design, production management, audio, lighting, video, backline, rooftops, and staging to ensure your event runs smoothly so you can enjoy your big moment stress-free. Looking for a non-traditional live event production team? Learn more about Onstage System’s drive-in and virtual event capabilities.

How to Create Successful Virtual Fundraising Events

September 9, 2020

COVID-19 has thrown non-profit fundraising for a loop in 2020. Many not-for-profit organizations that rely on fundraising events to fund their mission are scrambling to move their fundraising online. If you are one of those organizations, take a deep breath. With a little preparation, planning, and the right fundraising event partner, your next virtual fundraiser will be a success.

Tailor Your Fundraiser to Your Audience

One of the secrets to hosting an effective virtual fundraiser is having a well-defined audience. The better defined your event audience the more focused you can make your fundraiser to drawing donations from your audience. The easiest way to accomplish this is to make sure the WHY of your fundraiser is front and center. Don’t get distracted by transitioning to a virtual event. You can find success in this new medium by keeping your organization’s WHY at the center of your event.

Virtual Fundraiser Ideas

With your event’s WHY and target audience at the front of your mind, it’s time to determine what sort of virtual fundraiser will work best. What type of event best suits your audience and allows you to reinforce your event’s WHY? Below are few example types of virtual fundraisers you can run for your event.

Online Auction
Online Class
Online Contest
Online Open Mic
Online Raffle
TED-style Virtual Speaker
Virtual 5k
Virtual Concert or Festival
Virtual Tour
Watch Party

Drive Engagement Through Audience Participation

Without the stimuli of an in-person event your audience may feel disconnected to the content presented. There are many ways to stimulate an interactive connection. One of these ways is by encouraging audience participation. Ideas to add audience participation to your event include creating quiz questions for the audience to answer, operating online polls, or encouraging the audience to submit questions on social media for you to answer during the event.

How to Achieve Your Fundraising Goals

With the transition to virtual fundraising many organizations are worried about falling short of their fundraising goals. The first thing you can do to increase your donations is to make sure to follow up on potential attendees and RSVPs. Treat your virtual fundraiser like you are organizing an in-person event.

Another thing is to make sure you choose a donation goal that’s achievable. The silver lining of virtual events is they tend to have lower overhead compared to in-person events. This means you will keep a larger percentage of each donation. This helps to counterbalance the stigma from attendees that they don’t “get as much” out of a virtual event.

The single best advice to avoiding falling short of your fundraising goal is to make it easy to donate. This ensures you capture 100% of the donations people want to make. Make sure to choose a donation avenue that accepts many types of payment. Payment types your want to be prepared to receive include credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, etc.

What Makes for a Successful Online Fundraiser

Planning is the key to online fundraiser success. The earlier you start planning your event, the better. You should begin planning a one-time event at least four weeks before the date. For more complex virtual events, like multi-day simultaneous channel fundraisers start your planning 12 weeks out. Because virtual fundraisers live online, it’s important you create a well-designed event page with registration, agenda, and donation capabilities. Your virtual event also needs to be optimized for mobile. It’s likely a significant percentage of your attendees will be interacting and donating to your fundraiser via phone.

And of course, to ensure your online fundraiser goes smoothly, spend the time to pick out the right platform, tools, and event partner.

Virtual Fundraiser Additional Considerations

Additional considerations for your fundraising event should include event promotion. For your fundraiser to be a success people have to know about it and show up. Get your event information out early and often. You can reach out directly using email, social media, and SMS. You should also create a press release to generate media interest and coverage of your virtual fundraiser.

After the event make sure to follow up and thank attendees for their participation. This is a good time to solicit feedback to improve your next virtual event.

Virtual Fundraiser Example: March for Babies StepUp!

For an example of a large non-profit changing their fundraiser see the March of Dimes, March for Babies StepUp! The March of Dimes annual walkathon “March for Babies” was transformed due to COVID-19 concerns into March for Babies StepUp! The virtual fundraiser allowed participants to track their steps individually through a pedometer phone app. They also created a TikTok dance challenge and hashtags to share individual progress on social media.

Virtual Fundraiser Event Production Partner

Just like producing an in-person fundraiser, there is a lot of technical work that goes into producing virtual events. Virtual fundraising events also have the added difficulty of making sure your fundraiser looks and sounds great over broadcast.

Trust an experienced, virtual event production partner to make your online fundraiser a success. Onstage Systems has 30 years of event production experience, including virtual event and live streaming expertise. Onstage Systems can help you with lighting, stage design, audio, and multi-feed setups.

Onstage Systems Virtual Event Production

See how Onstage Systems can help make your virtual fundraiser a success: Sonic Soul Tribe Virtual Concert. Onstage Systems produced the 12-hour international, virtual concert event. The event included on-location concert production and coordinating remote, international performances over the event’s 12-hour duration.

More Virtual Experiences by Onstage Systems

Boxing Events
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s America Strong Concert
DAS Ultimate Typing Championships
Stitch House Dallas
And More

There is still time to meet your 2020 fundraising goals with a well-planned virtual fundraiser and the right event production partner. Visit HERE to see more of Onstage System’s featured work. Or, CONTACT US to get started with planning your next successful virtual fundraising event.