The SXSW Music Festival is about discovery: For the 2,000 artists taking the stages of every bar, club, and concert venue in Austin, it’s an opportunity to connect with fans and vie for the attention of executives hoping to sign the “Next Big Thing.” For 160,000 music lovers, it’s a chance to share space with both legendary icons and the hottest undiscovered talent. But for everyone, it’s about a love of music, food, fun times, and more music.
Meyer Sound was proud to be the Official Sound Partner of two brand activations at SXSW 2019: the House of Scandinavia, hosted by SAS—Scandinavian Airlines and Rev Worldwide, and the Relix Roadie Lounge at the Brooklyn Bowl Family Reunion.
Hosted by Brooklyn Bowl, Relix, and Harley-Davidson at Austin’s Historic Scoot Inn, the Brooklyn Bowl Family Reunion showcased 25 acts including Broken Social Scene, White Denim, The Marcus King Band, and The Get Up Kids. Meyer Sound systems powered the event’s Relix Roadie Lounge, which offered a welcoming space for engineers, stagehands, techs, and other crew members to connect and recharge.
“We created the Relix Roadie Lounge to give back to the hardworking people essential to making each show happen, the bands, techs, crew, and everyone on the team,” said Josh Rowe, Relix’s vice president, events and sponsorship. “These people often go unrecognized, but make no mistake, they are the true rock stars. At Relix, Brooklyn Bowl, Capitol Theatre, LOCKN’ and all Dayglo entities, we always strive to go above and beyond to take care of the bands and crew.”
The lounge featured six Meyer Sound self-powered systems comprising UP-4slim loudspeakers and MM-10ACX miniature subwoofers, managed by a Galileo GALAXY processor. Two Amie monitors and a USW-210P subwoofer were on hand to showcase their power for those entering a prize giveaway to win a pair of the Amie precision studio monitors. The randomly-chosen winner of the Amie monitors contest is Heather Thomas, drummer and vocalist for the Seattle-based psychedelic rock band General Mojo’s.
Across town at the Fareground at One Eleven food hall, the House of Scandinavia served up a dynamic mix of Scandinavian philosophy, culture, and business in the form of concerts, workshops, and a pop-up restaurant.
“At SAS—Scandinavian Airlines, we believe in traveling and that traveling both makes you a better person and creates societal value and growth,” said Cecilie Svegaarden Thune, the airline’s head of brand experience. “For over 70 years, SAS—Scandinavian Airlines has connected Scandinavia and the world, and pioneered the industry with new sustainable and innovative ideas. That is the vision behind the House of Scandinavia.”
SAS—Scandinavian Airlines partnered with Roskilde Festival, Northern Europe’s largest music festival, to curate performances by top Nordic acts, including Denmark’s Lowly and Norway’s Death By Unga Bunga. For Roskilde, that meant specifying systems by Meyer Sound, which has partnered with the festival to provide sound reinforcement as well as collaborate on educational and R&D initiatives.
“Meyer Sound is a significant part of the Roskilde Festival,” Roskilde production head Bertel Baagøe said. “It's very natural for us that Meyer Sound is a part of that, and to assure that our program is on the right level with high quality, of course we recommended Meyer Sound to the House of Scandinavia and to SAS.”
Self-powered LINA loudspeakers, UPJ compact loudspeakers, 750-LFC subwoofers, and MJF-208 and MJF-210 stage monitors provided sound for four stages, distributed across six zones managed by AVB-integrated Galileo GALAXY processors. “This space is very unique in the sense that it is a functional business during the day,” said Meyer Sound technical support specialist Josh Dorn-Fehrmann. “There's also a pop-up restaurant in the evening, along with live bands, presentations, and keynote speakers throughout the presentation time. One of the biggest requests from our partners at SAS was to have audio in different places at different times, so we incorporated an AVB GALAXY matrix and sent audio wherever it's needed.”
Sound reinforcement and onsite support were provided by Dallas-based Crossroads Audio. “Crossroads Audio has been instrumental in this whole process,” added Dorn-Fehrmann. “They've been wonderful to work with and they are just ultimate professionals. It's been really amazing to work with them.”
In the end, everyone at SXSW plays their part in celebrating a shared love of music and the spirit of discovery. “We have had long tradition of searching for newcomers, both for music and arts,” concluded Baagøe. “Hopefully we can bring something home, but we also bring something to South by Southwest, and hopefully make a little mark of our own here together with Meyer Sound.”
Meyer Sound’s partnership with Relix will continue in New Orleans from April 26 to May 1 with sound support for the “Relix Celebrates 50 Years of New Orleans Music and Culture” event at the NOLA Jazz Museum.
