Wavefront Precision Systems Boost Pickathon's Outdoor Sound

Pickathon, the much-loved multi-day music and arts gathering at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley near Portland, Oregon, is renowned for intimate, community-first programming that spotlights emerging talent across indie rock, folk, bluegrass, jazz and global genres.

For 2026, Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision systems, supplied by Cascade Sound, were rolled out across all outdoor stages to raise audio quality and coverage while curbing off-site noise.

The festival’s striking, sustainably built stages are designed to blend into the surrounding maple and pine woodland. As nearby residential areas have grown, reducing sound spill has become a core operational priority, with Martin Audio’s optimisation toolkit central to meeting those goals.

Every outdoor stage was equipped with Wavefront Precision. "It is a homogenous design to provide consistency across the entire site," explains Simon Honywill, Market Development Manager, Live Sound at Martin Audio. "The whole idea is that the Wavefront Precision quality and sound that people love maximizes audience impact while making sure the neighbours can sleep."

Martin Audio’s Product and Application Support Manager, Joe Lima, worked with Honywill and Cascade Sound to model and optimise the systems via DISPLAY 3. "They are inherently great-sounding loudspeakers," says Lima. "At Pickathon, with varied topography and environmental challenges, the optimisation capability within our DISPLAY 3 software was a stand-out advantage for even and precise coverage."

Cascade took over as the event’s audio provider in 2024, later forming a Martin Audio partnership in 2025. “I was at the point of needing to replace an aging inventory of speakers and so the timing was perfect to bring the WPC to the Paddock Stage,” says Sean Rathbun, owner of Cascade Sound. “That was a smashing success. Then in 2026 there was an opportunity to make a larger purchase of Martin Audio inventory, and so this year we were able to make all three of the larger stages Martin Audio.”

At the main Paddock Stage, 11 WPC compact line array elements were flown per side, with a wide broadside array of 12 SXC118 cardioid subwoofers to limit spill at the sides and behind the stage. Jason Power, Audio Manager at Pickathon, was impressed: "I have been really impressed with the sound. As a touring engineer showing up to mix a band, it's fantastic to step up and not feel like you have to fight or over-process the PA."

“WPC is a highly adaptable, flexible system with a clean, natural sound. It can deliver serious power, but it can also be subtle for acoustic acts," notes Honywill.

The Cherry Hill stage, a more intimate setting, ran seven WPC per side with two arrays of SXC118 subs left and right in a two-by-two layout. "Cherry Hill is challenging because, like the Paddock Stage, it is situated at the bottom of a hill with quite a steep rake,” describes Jay Blaney, Field Application Engineer at Martin Audio North America. "Importing the topographical data into our DISPLAY 3 software allowed us to optimise coverage angles physically and electronically so we achieve even coverage from the front to the back of the audience."

The Grove Stage featured eight-per-side WPM (Wavefront Precision Mini) with six SXH218s in a cardioid ground-stacked configuration. Large trees introduced acoustic shadow across the audience space. "We maintained a standard of SPL consistency and frequency response that surpassed anything achieved in previous years - tight and musical near the stage while containing energy within roughly 130 feet,” explains Blaney.

Set deep among uneven woodland, the Woods Stage deployed ground-stacked arrays of six WPS per side, each mounted over four SXC118 subs, with FlexPoint FP12 handling infill. "There is an uphill incline on one side where audience members sit all the way up the hill,” Blaney notes. "Our ground-stack predictions allowed us to throw audio up the slope without sacrificing quality for the listeners directly in front of the stage."

“The WPS and SXC118s delivered such a smooth and full-range sound on the Woods Stage,” adds Rathbun. “It covered the space so well and felt like a larger PA than it looks.”

Elsewhere, the Galaxy Barn used Martin Audio TORUS T1230 and T1215 per side, ground-stacked on two SXC118 subs, while several DJ spots paired THS triaxial 15-inch point-source cabinets with SXC118s.

On-site engineer feedback was emphatic. Nuri Erdal, A1 at the Grove Stage and a Pickathon regular in various roles, said: "That is what a concert should sound like. Compared to other systems I'm familiar with, the Martin Audio rig brings the best of those worlds together. It has a clean, smooth, non-harsh top end, punchy low-mids, and the subs delivered the exact punch needed."

A2 Kris Geffen agreed: "Often with low frequencies you'll hear resonant spikes on certain notes, but everything sounded remarkably uniform. I walked all around our coverage area, and the high-end clarity extended right to the back boundary of the audience space. It's a large area, and often you lose the top-end out there due to trees or hills, but the HF extension held up remarkably well."

As Lima summarised: "The engineers experienced a system that was remarkably consistent front to back, giving everybody essentially the exact same mix that the engineers heard at the board. It put a big smile on their faces. The magic behind the optimisation - besides Hard Avoid and controlling noise pollution - also comes down to our SPL profile. The fact that we can maintain level and tonal consistency front to back really unites the audience. That is what makes Wavefront Precision and our optimisation software the winning combination."

Rathbun praised the support behind the scenes: “As we have been building out these systems, Martin Audio has been a pleasure to work with. Joe, Jim, and Paul have been amazing and have supported all the needs of the festival.”

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