The annual Chicobum Festival in Italy has been a regular fixture on the calendar for Piedmont-based PA company Big Talu for a number of years.

Owned by Guido Costamagna Big Talu have been long devotees of Martin Audio’s Wavefront series — and
some time ago took delivery of the 400th W8C off the production line.

Held in the Park Chico Mendez di Borgaro, to the north of Turin, Chicobum’s principle attractions are the main stage (for mainstream acts) and the Barrumba stage (which leans more towards techno).

Artists appearing this year included Alanis Morissette; Flaminio Maphia; Siblings Di Soledad; Gem Boy; Giorgia; Coil Gap; Line 77; Ozric Tentacles; Jones Persian; Piero Pelù; Roots; Sepultura; Ska-P; Skin; Subsonic and South
Sound System.

This was Big Talu’s first outing with the W8LC Compact Line Array which they purchased from Audiosales, Martin Audio’s Italian distributor.

“Given the size of shows they do, the medium-sized line array was the perfect solution for Big Talu,” said Audiosales’ product manager Mauro Codeluppi. But to fulfil the requirement in Turin they needed to sub-hire in some further enclosures from another PA company, Electra Service — who had been the first company in Italy to purchase the W8LC.

The two companies combined their inventories to dress the main stage with 12 Compact enclosures per side, while the sub frequencies were handled by ten WSX per side. Eight of Martin Audio’s industry-standard LE400 wedge monitors were provided for artist foldback.

The whole rig was powered by Lab Gruppen 3400 amplifiers and processed with XTA DP226 digital devices.

“We took some of our customers along to the festival — and fortunately the sound was really impressive,” says Mauro. “This system has been well received since we first demonstrated it — to 80 customers at the football stadium in Viadana village. We already have 40 boxes out in the marketplace.”

There is a good co-operation between the PA companies in Italy. One of the major players, Fumasoli, purchased a 24-box W8L Line Array system in Spring last year.

In early August he took that system to Zofingen — for a large festival between Zurich and Berne in Switzerland to support one of Martin Audio’s Swiss customers.

The festival, which takes place in September, will accommodate international artists such as Counting Crows and Joe Cocker, alongside Italian atists and DJ’s.

From left: Daniele Fonneso (stage manager), Cipo Calliari (FOH sound engineer), Sem Cigna (monitor engineer), Raffaele Manera (backline tech), Guido Costamagna (Big Talu owner) and Roberto Buttarelli (Electra Service owner).