Napa, CA (October 31, 2022)—Held in the heart of wine country, Downtown Napa’s Oxbow RiverStage presented a string of national acts this past summer, including Brandi Carlile, Lovers and Strangers, a-ha, Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown, Third Eye Blind, Robert Plant and Allison Krauss and Widespread Panic. Ensuring that the event’s sound met the same level of quality as the performers, Sound Image Productions was brought in to provide the complete audio, lighting and staging package for the concert series.
The audio system centered around a P.A. from Eastern Acoustic Works’ ADAPTive line, including its Anya Loudspeakers and Otto Subwoofers. In all, Oxbow RiverStage utilized nine Anya’s flown inside and three Otto subs on each side of the stage.
“We worked with the City of Napa this year to deal with concerns we’d had in past seasons with bleed into neighboring communities,” says Mike Brown, head of audio, Sound Image Productions. “Turning the stage around and moving it to the other side of the venue helped, but EAW’s Anya ADAPTive PA system was amazing. The flexibility of Anya allowed us to control our sound and place the audio where we wanted it and keep it away from where we didn’t want it.”
With the new stage orientation, the landscape featured a train bridge almost 400 feet in front of the stage. “This long, perpendicular concrete structure creates a very pronounced slap back into the audience,” adds Brown. “With the Anyas and Ottos, we were able to reject a lot of the low end behind the hang, and focus energy into audience areas, reducing transmission into surrounding neighborhoods. We were also able to reduce the delayed reflection of the train bridge by limiting the coverage back into the lawn.”
