The Havel Festival has a long tradition in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany. For over 40 years, it attracts in the summer – now around 200,000 – visitors. In 2018, the Havel Festival included a total of five stages. LichtWerk Veranstaltungstechnik GmbH, one of Berlin’s leading companies for the planning and technical implementation of professional events, has been managing the event for a number of years, with a brief break in 2016 and 2017. In 2018, the company was responsible for the lighting, as well as the sound system and public address system of the Stadtwerke-Bühne am Heineufer. For the first time LichtWerk relied on Alcons Audio.

The main PAs used were 24 of the compact medium-sized Alcons LR18 pro-ribbon line-array systems and 12 Alcons BF362 18″ subwoofers for bass support. Twelve of the smaller Alcons LR14 pro-ribbon line-array systems acted as in-fills, two of the versatile Alcons VR12 pro-ribbon monitor systems as out-fills. The system was powered by 8 Sentinel10, Alcons’ proprietary 4-channel amplified loudspeaker controller.

The three-day program on the Stadtwerke-Bühne had it all: the spectrum ranged from headliners like Yvonne Catterfeld and Johannes Oerding to the dance and gala band “Lounge Society”, to folk music with Stefanie Hertel. The final concert was contested by the Brandenburger Symphoniker.

Clemens Decking of LichtWerk usually took care of the mix of the shows. Together with René Hartmann, he had set up and tuned the sound system. Since another festival stage was only 180 meters away, it was not to be affected by noise. “So, the request was a lot of pressure in front of the stage, but not too far,” laughs Decking.

A task that the Alcons system evidently had coped effortlessly with: “The system transported an impressive 102dB at a distance of about 30 meters absolutely clear and powerful – without the ears hurting. And the next stage was completely undisturbed. The engineer of Johannes Oerding was obviously having fun; He was the one who absolutely wanted to hear the system. Despite the enormous musical bandwidth, the system always looked good and delivered a very clear and transparent sound, “concludes Decking.