Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has become a nucleus for live events in recent years and is home not only to the biggest outdoor festival in the Middle East, but one of the biggest music events in the world, SoundStorm.
Created by entertainment company MDLBeast, in December 2024, the event welcomed over 450,000 fans and 200 international artists – including Clair Global touring clients Eminem, Muse and Linkin Park as headliners, boasting an eclectic mix of genres.
Clair Global’s contribution required coordination from multiple warehouses across four time zones, utilizing 150 worldwide crew from group partners Eighth Day Sound, ATK and AudioRent Clair. The audio team was led by Clair KSA Regional Manager Stuart Wright, and Eighth Day Sound’s Owen Orzack, while Ethan Quint and Carlos Elizondo from the Clair Data Services team, led the IT, comms, and radio deployments for the entirety of the production site.
Reflecting on the festival’s most ambitious event yet, Stuart begins: “I feel proud to be a part of this team; our KSA crew worked tirelessly for three months during pre-production. SoundStorm is an event which really demonstrates our strengths as a global company, and the teamwork that we achieve together, at this scale, is something I’m always thankful for.”
The design and deployment of critical show communications was crucial for a smooth event. Clair provided 135 Riedel Bolero wireless belt packs with 60 antennae and 80 smart panels, and 110 wired packs, plus over 3,000 Motorola R7 two-way premium radio handsets.
When it came to securing uninterrupted internet coverage, Clair Global’s Data Services team was responsible for delivering a variety of network services to ensure seamless connectivity for staff, security, vendors and attendees, keeping the festival online throughout the build/strike and event days.
The remit included multiple large distribution networks for audio (Dante networks for emergency PA, artist feeds, and VIB suites, and timecode for drone shows), video distribution, (IPTV Solutions, WebRTC streaming, NDI networks); an environmental lighting network using the ArtNet and sACN protocols; a comprehensive network infrastructure for the festival’s production team, access control, RFID, artist network, point-of-sale, public facing Wi-Fi and CCTV.
Data Services also managed sitewide fiber distribution of 576 strands in a redundant ring. This included 22,000ft of permanent infrastructure and over 100,000ft of temporary fiber deployed serving site wide comms, video distribution and cameras.
Carlos says: “A local telecommunications company provides us with redundant connections to the internet which we take into our core infrastructure. The core then breaks out into IDFs – intermediate distribution frames – to connect edge and user devices. Our data services cover all production vendor IT needs, so the expectation is huge – everyone relies on us. We are using the latest network technology which is crucial for this event but also the live events industry as a whole. We bring in bespoke ‘tour ready’ systems which are pre-configured before we even get to site.”
Clair also designed audio to the festival’s four underground stages. Underground 2 & 4 carried Cohesion PA systems comprising CO12 and CO10 for main hangs, CP6’s and CF28’s, while 1 & 3 comprised d&b audiotechnik KSL rigs with B22 subs.
SoundStorm attendees can opt for the VIP experience, or in this case, VIB (Very Important Beast) experience where they can enjoy the atmosphere of the festival via luxury suites. Here, flexibility and impeccable fidelity are essential for the guests to feel ‘front row’ audio impact while enjoying a private club style box. To achieve this, the VIB Boxes had Cohesion CF24 loudspeakers installed.
Stuart elaborates: “We install a tiny hi-fi in every single VIB box so that fans get a L-R and a sub volume they can control. It makes a huge difference to the listening experience.”
The small form factor combined with great output and excellent directivity makes CF24 the ideal solution for this task. With 125,000 music lovers packed into the massive SoundStorm venue, the positioning of the VIB Boxes well above the vast crowd offers distinguished audio to match. Each suite had its own individual sound reinforcement system represented by the CF24 loudspeakers on the same axis as the main PA system, meaning although guests were 100m from the main ‘Big Beast’ stage below, they were enveloped by music. Additional CO8’s were used for VIB deck fill.
“Another interesting part of our audio scope this year came in providing equipment and engineers for the artists’ live multi-track mixes; every stage gave the artist the option to be provided with a multi-track mix straight to YouTube. We created five mixing suites with DiGiCo consoles and Waves rigs,” he adds.
“The successful delivery of services for a festival of this scale is in the cohesiveness of each other’s skills. This entire production is an incredible team effort and with SoundStorm, MDLBeast has created space for the pinnacle of live events in KSA.”
