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The legendary Buffalo Chip is not only the largest and best equipped campground at the annual Black Hills Motor Classic in South Dakota, it’s also home to the iconic Wolfman Jack Stage, itself a draw for thousands of rock’n’roll fans, four miles from the city of Sturgis where the annual population swells from 6,000 to an estimated 20,000.
You can read the full story exclusively in the October 2007 edition of FOH magazine, but let’s just give you a sneak preview of what was going on at this year’s Buffalo Chip.
First, there were the bands – a stellar array of national headliners, assembled by Buffalo Chip founder and owner Rod ‘Woody’ Woodruff, that included Toby Keith, Velvet Revolver, ZZ Top, Poison, Foreigner, Papa Roach, Edgar Winter and Grand Funk Railroad.
Saying that “every year we try to outdo ourselves that little bit…give our audiences something extra,” ‘Woody’ adds: “this year we also decided to raise the bar in terms of sound production.” That meant the event’s first line array system – a self powered Renkus-Heinz STLA/9 large format system, supplemented by compact PN102/LA line array cabinets, all provided by the event’s long-term audio supplier, Sure Sound & Light.
The system was required both to project across the 400 ft deep and 650 ft wide natural amphitheatre yet contain the sound from spilling beyond the event site – a double brief that according to ‘Woody’ was met perfectly. Renkus-Heinz’s David Rahn and Senior VP Ralph Heinz were on hand to help, hang out and enjoy the sights and sounds of this amazing two-week-long event with nine whole days of top quality entertainment. Says David: “This is an incredible event – a whole line of great bands, some of the best and most experienced sound engineers anywhere in the world – plus a chance to achieve a great result for a great event.”
The general feeling among the visiting engineers was perfectly summed up by Velvet Revolver’s FOH engineer Toby Francis, who said after their headline slot: “I first worked with this system a year ago and I was completely blown away by it. It’s punchy top to bottom, clear and smooth when you want it to be and incredibly responsive.” |
