DEFQON.1 MUSIC FESTIVAL

Staged at the Sydney International Regatta Centre

Produced by Q-Dance, Defqon.1 was the first large scale music event to be staged at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith. We were engaged in 2009 by Q-Dance to develop a sound management strategy as part of the event development application.

​

We continued to work with Q-Dance on the site layout and audio systems design over the years untill the festival ended its run.

Sound Mitigation Strategies

We were approached by Q-Dance Australia to provide a strategy to minimise impacts to nearby residents while providing the best experience to the patrons. The festival has a long history in Europe and the expectation for the music played at this festival is for high levels. 
We work closely with the local council to develop guidelines of acceptable noise levels at residential areas. 
From the acceptable limits and desired number of stages, we design a site layout that allows for the maximum output within the grounds and less disturbance to the surroundings.
An important part of our sound management systems is community engagement. As part of our plan we include a strategy for noise complaint response and reporting. Additionally, we analyse site output and likely residential areas affected and identify residences to be notified and engaged. Q-Dance invited members of the community to the festival and setup on prior days to ensure that the community understood the importance of the event.

Logging and monitoring

The Sydney Regatta Centre is a large site and in our sound management plan we stipulate monitoring at the perimeter to ensure that the entire site is captured. The logging and monitoring system is based on remote loggers connected to a central computer. This system allows us to analyse the output of the entire site at a central location and in real time.

Management of additional sources

While the main sources of sound within the site are the loudspeaker systems on large stages, we also provide management of additional sound sources.
Examples of these that we have done in the past include helicopter rides, mechanical services, mechanical rides and mobile stages.
Crowd management have also been implemented. Our involvement included staggered stage closing and management of levels at the end of the night to minimise the flow of patrons exiting and in result limiting patron noise outside the venue.