Martin Audio Wavefront Precision Deployed at Pickathon in Oregon

	Since nearby residential neighborhoods have rapidly expanded, Martin Audio's optimization technology proved central to the festival's operational priority of mitigating off-site noise.

Pickathon, the multi-day music and arts festival held annually at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, outside Portland, Oregon, this year featured Martin Audio Wavefront Precision sound systems, deployed by Cascade Sound.

Featuring indie rock, folk, bluegrass, jazz, and global sounds, and prioritizing artists on the verge of breaking out, Pickathon is famous for stunning, environmentally sustainable stage designs that use raw construction timber to create organic structures that blend into the surrounding maple and pine forests. Since nearby residential neighborhoods have rapidly expanded, Martin Audio's optimization technology proved central to the festival's operational priority of mitigating off-site noise.

Every outdoor stage at Pickathon 2026 featured Wavefront Precision products. "It is a homogeneous 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 neighbors can sleep."

Joe Lima, Martin Audio's product and application support manager, who worked alongside Honywill and Cascade Sound to model and optimize the festival arrays, says, "They are inherently great-sounding loudspeakers. At Pickathon, with varied topography and environmental challenges, the optimization capability within our DISPLAY 3 software was a stand-out advantage for even and precise coverage."

Cascade became the festival's audio supplier in 2024, after acquiring its longtime predecessor. The company's Martin Audio partnership began 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. "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 Pickathon 2026, the main Paddock Stage comprised 11-per-side hangs of WPC Wavefront Precision Compact line array elements. The WPC system was supplemented by a wide broadside array of 12 Martin Audio SXC118 cardioid subwoofers, designed to reduce spill to the sides and behind the stage.

Jason Power, audio manager at Pickathon, says, "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."

The Cherry Hill stage, which offered a more intimate experience, featured seven boxes a side of WPC and two arrays, left and right, consisting of SXC118 subwoofers in a two-by-two setup. "Cherry Hill is challenging because, like the Paddock Stage, it is situated at the bottom of a hill with quite a steep rake," says Jay Blaney, field application engineer at Martin Audio North America. "Importing the topographical data into our DISPLAY 3 software allowed us to optimize 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 hangs of WPM Wavefront Precision Minis, combined with six SXH218s in a ground-stacked cardioid configuration. The stage sits on a short incline, with large trees in the audience area creating an acoustic shadow. "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'," Blaney says.

The Woods Stage, in the middle of the woods and not an easy location to deploy a sound system on given its uneven ground, featured a ground stack of six WPS Wavefront Precision Subcompact boxes per side, mounted over four SXC118 subwoofers, with FlexPoint FP12 acting as infills. "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 on-site, the Galaxy Barn featured Martin Audio TORUS T1230 and T1215 constant curvature line array elements per side, ground-stacked on two SXC118 subwoofers; various DJ setups featured Martin Audio's THS triaxial 15" point-source cabinet complemented by SXC118 subwoofers.

Nuri Erdal, A1 on the Grove Stage, says, "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."

Kris Geffen, A2 on the Grove Stage, adds, "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."