Headliner acts thrive in a world-class audio environment that enthralls 50,000 people, as the Cherry Blossom Festival assertively redefines festival standards.

“The Cherry Blossom Festival represents everything we stand for—passion, innovation, and a commitment to excellence. And we are truly humbled by the faith that Jason Manners from Rockski EMG and Ali Zaidi and Anupam Arora from Event Network placed in us. This festival is undoubtedly a hallmark event in India’s live music scene, and it was an absolute privilege to work with such a visionary organising team. Together, we aimed to create a truly immersive sonic journey—and judging by the overwhelming response, I believe we delivered true on that promise” comments Manoj Singh, Director of KG Movie as he notes that for his team, the Cherry Blossom Festival wasn’t just another project—it was a labour of love. “From breathtaking performances by global legends and Indian stars to the flawless sound engineering that elevated each act, the Main Stage at the Cherry Blossom Festival 2024 has become a testament to what’s possible when artistry and technology align” he concludes.

A Stage Where Legends Came to Life

Shillong, with its vibrant music culture and awe-inspiring landscapes, has once again proven itself as India’s ultimate live music destination – all thanks to the Cherry Blossom Festival 2024.

Held on November 15th and 16th at the sprawling RBDSA Sports Complex, this unique celebration of all things art and culture, blossomed into a musical masterpiece as it united global and Indian artists on a scale rarely seen in India. Drawing an attendance of over 50,000 visitors on each of the two days of its span, this festival wasn’t just another event—it was a sensory extravaganza that took the city’s reputation as India’s “Music Capital” to dazzling new heights.

Captivating and alluring – the festival’s new cultural highlight was a picturesque Japanese village nestled amidst scenes of blooming cherry blossoms, offering visitors an idyllic escape between high-energy performances. Alongside, the festival boasted three distinct performance stages, each of which boasted a power-packed line-up of fan-favorite artists from India and all over the world. All eyes, however, were on the Main Stage, where international icons like AKON, Boney M, and Clean Bandit shared the spotlight with Indian favourites like Jasleen Royal, R3HAB, and Kanika Kapoor.

But the real showstoppers weren’t just the artists—it was the breathtaking production quality. The mesmerising mainstage was adorned with state-of-the-art sound systems, dynamic LED displays, and intricate lighting effects that elevated the festival to a whole new level. And at the heart of this spectacle was the awe-inspiring sound experience, masterfully designed and executed by the team of experts at KG Movie – one of India’s most trusted live event technical solutions provider.

Precision in Every Detail

Tasked with creating a sonic landscape that would envelop every festivalgoer at the Main stage section, KG Movie collaborated with Clockwork AV (a division of Clockwork Design LLP) to deliver a seamless, immersive audio experience that – in many ways – assertively set a new benchmark music-lovers in India.

The on-ground operations team comprising Vicky Singh (Project Lead), Joyjeet Panday (Festival System Engineer), Sourav Bagchi (Monitor Engineer), Anil Chaudhary (Show Technical Manager), Karan Acharya (RF Engineer), Akash Deep Majumdar and Yudhajit Biswas (Stage Engineers) worked tireless to ensure that every technical aspect – from inventory deployment to system calibration and seamless wireless communication – was executed with military precision. And ably supporting them were KG Movie’s talented system technicians, Surojit Dhal and Ravikant Prasad, who orchestrated equipment logistics and crew coordination with flawless efficiency.

“Our goal was simple yet ambitious—to deliver a seamless audio experience that matched the calibre of the artists performing on the Main Stage. The team worked tirelessly, from meticulously calibrating the system to ensuring on-the-spot coordination. Every individual member of the team played a critical role. And in the end, seeing the crowd’s reaction and hearing the artists praise the sound made every challenge worth it” shared Vicky Singh.

Crafting a Seamless Audio Experience

At the core of the sonic spectacle was a comprehensive d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system – meticulously designed and expertly commissioned by team KG Movie – that transformed the main stage into a sonic masterpiece. The KSL line array system formed the backbone of the main PA, with a total of 32 units of the KSLs adorning the performance stage in stereo configuration to provide pristine coverage across the audience. And complementing the sonic fidelity of the KSLs perfectly were a total of 16 units of the mighty SL-GSUB subwoofers and 12 units of the compact yet powerful B22 subwoofers that were strategically placed in front of the stage to deliver thunderous, chest-thumping bass that reverberated through the crowd.

Owing to the massive expanse of the mainstage performance section, team KG Movie took special care to ensure that audience members located at the farthest ends of the section also enjoyed a similar high-quality soundscape, as they craftily deployed a total of 24 units of d&b’s V-Series line arrays to serve as the delay reinforcement system. The thoughtful loudspeaker system design, combined with d&b’s signature voicing consistency across its systems, helped team KG Movie ensure a consistent, flawless and immersive audio experience for every last audience member, regardless of their distance from the stage.

It’s also worth noting that artists performing on-stage too enjoyed an equally stellar soundscape, as KG Movie utilised d&b’s trusted MAX2 loudspeakers as the main stage monitoring reinforcement, while also deploying a total of 6 units of T10 line array modules paired with B6 subwoofers as the side-fill reinforcements. And to further enhance the performers’ experience, over 24 channels of the acclaimed 2050 series in-ear monitors from Sennheiser, along with an extensive deployment of the globally validated Axient wireless systems from Shure were made available by team KG Movie.

Managing the intricacies of the audio setup was made possible by state-of-the-art mixing consoles from DiGiCo. At Front of House (FOH), a DiGiCo SD10 digital mixing console, complete with multiple SD Racks for enhanced I/O expansion, ensured that every nuance of the performance was captured and delivered with stunning precision; with a secondary SD10 console being made available to serve guest engineers when needed.  Meanwhile, artist engineers at Monitor World were empowered by the next-generation DiGiCo Quantum 338 digital mixing console, which offered them unmatched control over every single nuance of the stage mix. Furthermore, team KG Movie were able to guarantee absolute redundancy, unmatched pristine audio quality and seamless communication between FOH and Monitor World, as they chose to integrate this entire setup through Optocore networking.  And for additional versatility, the team also offered the famed S6L digital mixing console from AVID that was mostly used by several of the fan-favorite Indian performers that graced the stage.