CASE STUDY

Voodoo Village 2025
Belgium

Immersive spatial audio at the Shelter and Forest stages

Voodoo Village, set in Brussels, Belgium, is a boutique electronic music festival known for its strong artistic identity, immersive storytelling, and carefully curated environments. Music, stage architecture, and location are treated as a single experience, with each stage designed as its own distinct world.

For the 2025 edition, the festival continued to push its sonic ambitions by deploying advanced audio technologies across selected stages. The global audio specialists Noizboyz were responsible for sound system design and optimization, with a focus on consistency, clarity, and spatial depth across complex and unconventional stage layouts.

Areal Upmix Engine technology was implemented at two stages with very different characteristics: the Shelter Stage, a newly introduced 360° architectural structure, and the Forest Stage, an open-air stage embedded deep within the surrounding woodland.

SHELTER STAGE
configuration - 16-point

Shelter Stage, spatial audio within a 360° structure

The Shelter Stage was one of the most distinctive new designs at Voodoo Village. Designed by Lumus and inspired by a Stonehenge-like form, the stage featured a circular layout with loudspeakers integrated directly into the vertical pillars. The audience was positioned inside the structure, surrounded by the sound system on all sides.

This type of geometry presents clear challenges for traditional left/right sound reinforcement. Without careful processing, circular systems can easily result in uneven energy distribution, phase issues, comb filtering and strong level differences depending on audience position. For the Shelter Stage, the goal was not to create a single listening focus, but to ensure a coherent and engaging experience throughout the full 360° space.

The Areal UPMIX ENGINE was used as a spatial processing layer, allowing Noizboyz to treat the complete ring of loudspeakers as a unified immersive system. Stereo DJ sets were rendered in real time into a spatial sound field that could be evenly distributed around the audience, maintaining impact and clarity while adding depth and movement to the mix.

Instead of relying on high sound pressure levels to create excitement, spatial cues were used to shape the listening experience. This allowed the Shelter Stage to feel powerful and enveloping, while remaining controlled and balanced across the entire structure. Visitors could move freely within the stage without encountering drastic changes in tonal balance or level, reinforcing the architectural concept of a shared, central listening space.

Forest Stage, immersion in a natural environment

In contrast to the Shelter Stage, the Forest Stage was defined by openness and its natural surroundings. Located within a wooded area, the stage was designed to blend into the environment rather than dominate it. This more immersive woodland setting required a system that could deliver detail and intimacy while respecting the acoustic complexity of the forest.

Trees, uneven terrain, and changing audience density can make consistent sound coverage difficult, especially when aiming for musical clarity rather than sheer volume. For the Forest Stage, the Areal UPMIX ENGINE Engine was used to enhance spatial coherence and perceived depth, helping the system feel immersive without pushing overall levels.

By distributing spatial information across the system, instruments and vocals gained a sense of placement and separation, allowing the music to translate naturally into the space. Rather than sounding like a distant PA, the system created the impression of being embedded within the performance itself.

This approach supported the Forest Stage’s identity as an immersive, organic listening environment, where the audience remained connected to both the music and the surrounding landscape.

FOREST STAGE
loudspeakers - acoustics

configuration - Full circle

Integrated sound design

Across both stages, the Areal UPMIX ENGINE was not used as a standalone effect, but as an integrated part of the overall sound system design. Loudspeaker placement, tuning, and system optimization remained central, with spatial processing enabling greater flexibility in how sound was distributed within unconventional environments.

By applying immersive audio selectively and purposefully, Voodoo Village was able to support bold architectural concepts and natural stage settings without compromising musical clarity or control. The Shelter and Forest stages demonstrated how spatial audio can enhance both electronic and live performances when integrated into the system design from the outset.

– Images provided by Voodoo Village –