MORE THAN A MUSIC FESTIVAL, HANGZHOU

ARA series at the More Than a Music Festival in Hangzhou

The More Than a Music Festival has become one of the most important music events in Hangzhou since its first edition in 2019. In 2025, the event brought together a large audience on 15 and 16 November at Baima Lake, an extensive green area with large open spaces that regularly hosts cultural activities and large outdoor events. The festival included service areas, rest zones, and food and drink stands that complemented the music programme. Around 15.000 people attended over the course of the two days.

The 2025 lineup offered a combination of rock, hip-hop, indie and electronic music, with performances by leading artists from the Chinese and Taiwanese scene such as Liang Bo, Ma Siwei, MC Pharaoh, Soft Lipa and Sunset Rollercoaster. All of them enjoy a strong following, particularly among the younger generations in the country. With this mix of styles and an audience arriving from across the region, the festival consolidated its position as a major music event in the city.

Long-throw coverage in an outdoor venue

Staging the More Than a Music Festival on a large grass esplanade in a completely open-air setting posed several challenges from an acoustic point of view. The large audience required uniform coverage over long distances, maintaining clarity and sound pressure even in the areas furthest from the stage. At the same time, the location of the festival, set in a green area regularly used for cultural activities and large-scale events, made it necessary to control sound propagation towards residential areas and other sensitive spaces in the surroundings.

The conditions of an open space added complexity to the system design. The total absence of physical barriers encouraged sound dispersion and required careful management of factors such as wind, humidity and low-frequency energy loss. In addition, the artistic programme, focused on rock, hip-hop and other high-dynamic styles, required a system capable of delivering definition, punch and accurate reproduction of vocal and instrumental content in a large-scale environment.

The power of LARA as the main system

The sound system was designed to ensure uniform coverage across the entire esplanade and maintain dispersion control in a completely open environment. The installation was carried out by Hangzhou Qijiang Stage Design Technology, while Hangzhou Bonney Advertising Planning provided the rental systems.

The main system was configured in L/R with two arrays of 14 LARA per side, delivering the necessary sound pressure and stable projection over long distances. Each module provides a maximum SPL of 145 dB, ensuring the required capacity for an event of this kind. In addition, its cardioid technology helped reduce rear energy, a particularly important aspect in a space close to urban areas.

Lateral reinforcement was achieved by installing eight LARA as side fills to cover the lateral audience areas that were not within the main coverage zone. For low-frequency reinforcement, 16 LARA-SUB subwoofers were placed under the stage to ensure a powerful and controlled response, especially important for rock and hip-hop performances that demanded punch and definition in the low range. The stage was also equipped with eight ARA-M210A monitors, providing accurate reference for the musicians throughout all performances.

To cover the first rows, 12 AERO-12A were used as front fills, ensuring clear and balanced sound in the area closest to the stage. Further back, 24 SARA were deployed as delay towers, extending coverage towards the rear of the space without loss of definition or abrupt changes in level.

“LARA’s cardioid technology was key to keeping the sound under control”

The configuration designed for the More Than a Music Festival proved its ability to deliver consistent sound in a large, completely open-air space where distance and dispersion could have compromised the audience experience. According to Germán Rodríguez, systems engineer and head of technical support for DAS Audio in APAC, “the power of LARA as the main system, together with the reinforcement provided by SARA on the delay towers, allowed us to maintain a uniform level and excellent clarity across the entire esplanade, which is particularly demanding at a festival of this size”.

Germán also highlighted the importance of dispersion control in an environment without physical barriers. In his words, “LARA’s cardioid technology was key to keeping the sound under control and reducing rear energy, avoiding disturbance outside the festival area and improving definition in the mix”. The result was a balanced and precise sound experience in all audience areas.