Case study · Street festival

Santa Monica Block Fest: Yappy Studios Stage

Our monthly Void stage on the 1400 block at Santa Monica Block Fest, hosted in September with Yappy Studios: bands and DJs on the street from afternoon into the night.

Client: Yappy Studios × Santa Monica Block Fest
Location: 1400 block, Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica
Date: September 2026
Event type: Festivals & Concerts

The challenge

What the event demanded.

An open city street
A downtown street isn't an enclosed space, so sound carries toward neighbors, shops, and the blocks around the festival.
Bands and DJs on one system
The lineup switched between live bands with different instruments and DJ sets, and every changeover had to sound right from the first note.
Afternoon into night
The crowd changes all day, from an easygoing afternoon to a packed street after dark, and the sound has to change with it.
A public load-in
A street has to open on time, so the system has to be built, tested, and ready before the first guests arrive.

Our approach

How we handled it.

We placed and aimed the Void stacks so the sound landed on the crowd instead of the surrounding buildings, then tuned the system on site once everything was up.

Our engineers handled every changeover between bands and DJs, re-balancing the mix for each act's instruments and sound.

They stayed with the system from the first set to the last, bringing levels up as the street filled after dark.

The system