Tucked away from the hectic Los Angeles streets, a mere thirty miles outside of the city center, sit the rolling hills of Topanga Canyon, a scenic backdrop to the annual ‘Reggae on the Mountain’ festival. Founded nine years ago by the co-founders of Label 27, Brooks Ellis and Amit Gilad, Reggae on the Mountain celebrates the positive and unifying message of the genre while giving back to the Topanga Community Club. This year, dBTechnologies was selected to power both stages for the festival, which occurred July 14 and 15 at the Topanga Community Center.

To ensure the best sound quality for such a unique space, the main stage featured five VIO L210s ground stacked per side, with a gradient array of seven VIO S318 subs. Each side of the stage featured an Ingenia IG3 and a DVA 1518 sub as sidefills, and the monitors consisted of two DVX DM12THs, six DVX DM12s, one DVA S1518 and one DVX 15HP. Additionally, the VIP area hosted two Ingenia IG1s, allowing VIP guests to enjoy crisp and clear sound. The second stage was flanked by two Ingenia IG3s per side, as well as two DVA S1518 subs.

“This year’s event was history in the making,” commented Gilad. “People enjoyed legendary music from Toots & The Maytals, Barrington Levy and more. The music has never sounded crisper or cleaner than through the state of the art sound system provided by dBTechnologies.”

With temperatures averaging in the nineties in near-direct sunlight for the weekend, organizers and attendees had to plan for the elements of a sweltering Southern California summer day. “We’ve had issues in the past with monitors onstage overheating, but we didn’t have to worry about that with dBTechnologies,” says monitor engineer Stephane Dumont. “Two full days in direct sunlight and no issues. The artists all loved the sound on stage, and the system didn’t require any EQ – just an awesome, stress-free experience with dB overall.”

Matt Smyrnos said, “The dBTechnologies speakers were the right amount of everything.” His company, Kilroy’s Lighting and Production, has been with Reggae on the Mountain since day one. A self-described avid music fan, Smyrnos commented, “The dBTechnologies boxes performed wonderfully with the nature of a reggae concert. We had ten bands over two days, seventy artists on the stage throughout the festival, and no complaints at all. I thought the boxes were small and compact at first, but they have a big sound to them. The mains pushed over 200 feet to the back of the field over with wonderful clarity and presence. It’s amazing how efficient they were.”

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