This used to look impressive
I remember 8 years ago picking up a copy of Knowledge magazine (a UK based drum’n’bass monthly production) and seeing the picture above with an article attached. I was in awe of the 75,000 watts of sound that came out of this stack, and every word of that article made you yearn to hear the bass rumble.
After hearing Hospitality’s sound setup at Matter Nightclub, which had better sound than clubs in Vancouver, I was stoked to hear the grand-daddy of all sound systems at a special Valve System showdown at the Indigo nightclub inside the O2 Arena. Walking in with anticipation of gut wrenching bass that you can feel in your spine, I should have known something was up as the sticky floor pulled at my shoes and the sound was a bit off.
Its difficult to explain in words what good sound should sound like, especially for music labeled Drum and Bass. Let me first tell you what it should NOT sound like. It shouldn’t make you feel like your ears are about to bleed because it’s so loud. It shouldn’t sound like it’s coming out of the muffler of a Harley Davidson. It shouldn’t sound distorted so you can’t recognize bass versus treble, or vocals. And if you’re the sound guy, you defiantly shouldn’t walk away from the sound booth during your headliners set, it’s your job to control the volumes. Loud is not quality.
No, you should be able to feel the bass through a crowd of 4,000. You should be able to understand any vocals that are being played. You should be able to talk to the person next to you because Bass and Treble are two different frequencies. This is what we’re used to back home with sound done by PK at many Calgary events and at Shambhala. This is the high standard we’re used to and expected the Valve Sound System, so hyped up over the world, to compete against.
We were sorely disappointed. It sounded like a blown out nightclub who maxes out their sound to get that little bit of extra juice. Like an old boxer who’s trying to come back into the ring, the Valve System just get’s its ass handed to it by current champion PK. If you want to feel good sound, look up a PK Event and or make plans to attend the Shambhala Music Festival located in Nelson B.C, you’ll not be disappointed!
PK Sound Setup at The Village Stage, Shambhala Music Festival – For the Win!
Yeeeah, I thought we were the only ones that thought that way.
Glad to hear someone recognizes good sound in a contemporary context.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness, …..when it comes to sound.
I have never heard a PK system, nor valve. Dillinja and Lemon D who are the owners of the valve system master their tracks to vinyl in a way where they are distorted. That was part of Dillinjas sound back in the day. I am sure he is still doing the same type of engineering on his tracks to vinyl.
With that being said, I would imagine the sound from the valve system is distorted because of the tracks being played on it? I am not saying you are wrong, but listen to some Dillinja tracks on your monitors at home (Stronium Jazz is a great track). It has a lot of harmonic distortion on it from the mastering.
Besides all that, I am interested in hearing a PK system. A buddy of mine is currently looking to invest into a sound system and I would like to see some prices.
Take care!
Thanks for you reply Norman. Don’t you worry though… we have seen said Dj’s now on both systems and they played a far better sounding set on the PK rig. Same with the other headliner DJ’s we saw on this night at the Show Down. They have all been to Canada and played on a PK Sound. And yes they played some of the same vinyl tracks at both of these shindigs.
Looking back, the speakers looked impressive. Bit older then the speakers we see at PK shows. But still look like they could pack a good deal. A good sound system for an event is based hugely also on the SOUND TECH. And for the Valve night the sound tech was no where in sight for a majority of the night. Who knows where he was… But the headliners went on and he was not around. We have never seen a sound booth empty at a PK show. Infact, there is usually multiple guys in there! So MAYBE the sound that night would of been a bit better… we will never know. All i do know, after traveling the world for a year and attending a variety of festivals, clubs, and events we were SO happy to come back home to Canada and hear our PK sound again. It was and still is heaven to our ears.
PK Sound is some good friends of ours and make an amazing product. I see your from the states. Have you heard of Bassnectar? He loves the sound of PK speakers so much that he actually tours with his own PK rig. I believe he calls it the wobble factory.
If your looking to buy a big sound system PK I’m sure can outfit you. They are situated here in Canada, but have been hired to do sound for shows and festival in the states and I’m sure more then willing to sell some sound out there. I don’t know the prices but contact them from their website http://www.pksound.ca/ Tell them that Scott and Dee sent you.
PK is 100% for sure the best sound you can get in North America. For Scott and I and many others we know…. We believe in the world!
Sounds like you got unlucky. The one time I saw VSS the one thing that impressed me was the clarity, particularly in the low end. This would have been way back in 03 though.
They must not have updated their speakers since 2003!