Inside and Outside Avalon: Rethinking Sound in the Heart of Hollywood
Void Acoustics brings two approaches to sound to one iconic Hollywood location
On Vine Street in the heart of Hollywood, Void Acoustics has delivered two contrasting sound systems, each designed around the space, audience and experience it serves.
Inside Avalon Hollywood, a new permanent Void Acoustics system now forms part of one of Los Angeles’ most historic entertainment venues.
Just metres away, the SIDEPIECE Hollywood Block Party called for something entirely different: an eight-point, inward-firing Void system that placed the audience at the centre of the sound, supported by multi-channel Upmix Engine technology from Areal.
Against the unmistakable backdrop of the Capitol Records building, the two projects brought together Void Acoustics, Avalon Hollywood, Insomniac, John Lyons, Royal Sound & Lighting and Areal to deliver two very different approaches to sound in the heart of Hollywood.
Avalon Hollywood: almost a century of entertainment
Opened in 1927 as the Hollywood Playhouse, Avalon’s home on Vine Street has spent almost a century reinventing itself.
Over the decades, the building has been known as the Federal Theatre, El Capitan Theatre, Jerry Lewis Theatre, Hollywood Palace and The Palace before eventually becoming Avalon Hollywood.
A major new chapter began in 2002, when John Lyons and Steve Adelman acquired the venue business and redeveloped the former Palace into Avalon Hollywood. Lyons brought with him decades of experience as both a club operator and sound-system designer, investing heavily in the venue’s sound, lighting, acoustics and infrastructure.
More than two decades later, Avalon’s relationship with Insomniac marks the next stage in that story.
Founded by Pasquale Rotella in Los Angeles in 1993, Insomniac grew from underground warehouse events into an international live entertainment business behind brands including Electric Daisy Carnival, Factory 93, Dreamstate and Bassrush.
Avalon and Insomniac began working together as promotional partners in 2024, before Insomniac Entertainment acquired the historic 1735 Vine Street property in 2025. Today, Avalon’s regular Friday and Saturday nightclub events are presented by Insomniac.
For Lyons, the relationship brings together two generations of Los Angeles electronic music culture.
System includes
Inside: Avalon Hollywood
- 4 × Air Array
- 4 × Nexus Q
- 4 × Nexus X
- 4 × Incubus Subs
- 4 × Kinesys
- Bias amplification
Outside: SIDEPIECE Hollywood Block Party
- 28 × Arcline 218
- 40 × Arcline 8
- 8 × ArcM 15
- 4 x Air Vantage
- 2 x Air Stream
- Bias amplification
John Lyons, Founder & Owner at Avalon Hollywood“For the very first time at Avalon LA, I now have partners who are rowing in the same direction as me. Their ability to produce experiences is unparalleled, and they understand the music and the scene.”
A new Void Acoustics sound system for Avalon Hollywood
Avalon’s next chapter called for a new approach to its sound.
Rather than starting with a standard nightclub configuration and adapting it to fit the room, John Lyons and Void Acoustics developed the permanent system specifically around Avalon’s architecture, audience areas and operational requirements.
At its centre is Void’s Incubus System platform, configured as a custom five-way system to deliver the scale and impact expected from a major electronic music venue while maintaining clarity and control throughout the room.
The project also builds on Void’s experience with the Incubus System stretching back to its release in 2012, allowing more than a decade of experience with the platform to be applied to a venue shaped by Lyons’ own extensive background in nightclub sound.
For Void Co-Founder Alex Skan, the project reflects the collaborative approach behind Void’s bespoke system design, bringing together years of experience with Incubus and Lyons’ vision for the room.
Alex Skan, Co-Founder at Void Acoustics“Incubus has been with us since its release in 2012, so we’ve had years of learning and experience with the system. Working with John and his vision for Avalon gave us the opportunity to take the room to another level.”
Fine-tuning the Avalon Hollywood experience
Areal’s Upmix Engine was integrated into the system, expanding conventional stereo programme material across the venue’s multichannel loudspeaker system in real time, without requiring a dedicated multichannel mix.
The installation also represents the latest chapter in a long-standing relationship between Lyons and Void, developed through years of testing and using the brand’s loudspeakers within nightclub environments.
Nathan Short, Head of Technical Services North America at Void Acoustics“We got the basic timing and EQ right, and then the Areal Upmix Engine effectively did that final level of fine tuning. Instantly, the clutter disappeared, the stereo image opened up and the dance floor became a much wider sweet spot for everyone.”
SIDEPIECE Hollywood: rethinking outdoor event sound
Only metres from Avalon, the SIDEPIECE Hollywood Block Party presented a completely different challenge.
Produced by Insomniac in the parking lot alongside the venue, with the Capitol Records building rising behind it, the event provided an opportunity to rethink the architecture of a large-scale outdoor electronic music sound system.
Instead of a conventional stage-facing left-and-right PA projecting across the audience, Void Acoustics and John Lyons designed eight individual system positions around the event footprint, all firing inwards.
Rather than standing in front of the sound system, the audience was effectively placed inside it.
For Lyons, surrounding the audience was fundamental to both the experience and the level of control the system could achieve in such a challenging location.
John Lyons, Founder & Owner at Avalon Hollywood“We have eight individual towers that surround the audience. The upmix puts the information where it needs to be, while the off-axis rejection helps reduce the frequencies heading into the neighbourhood and keeps the energy focused towards the centre.”
An eight-point sound system in the heart of Hollywood
Bringing multiple sound sources closer to the crowd helped create more consistent coverage across the site, while directing the systems inwards gave the team greater control over where acoustic energy travelled.
Each of the eight positions combined five Void Arcline 8 line-array elements with Arcline 218 subwoofers to create full-range sound around the audience. The subwoofer arrays were configured directionally, concentrating low-frequency energy towards the event while reducing unnecessary bass behind and above the system.
As a temporary outdoor deployment, the system also needed to deliver that experience without the infrastructure of a permanent venue. Rapid deployment and removal, control of acoustic energy beyond the site and the ability to create an intense sound field within the audience area all formed part of the design brief.
Alex Skan, Co-Founder at Void Acoustics“With a pop-up event like this, deployment and removal are critical. We wanted to create an intense, stimulating sound field for the audience while controlling the acoustic energy beyond the site. It was about combining the technology creatively to achieve both.”
Careful array positioning, directional bass and system processing worked together to keep as much acoustic energy as possible within the event footprint – particularly important in the middle of Hollywood.
Nathan Short, Head of Technical Services North America at Void Acoustics“Outside, everything had to be focused down and in. We didn’t want to overshoot the audience and start creating reflections from the surrounding buildings. The directional sub arrays were also designed to reduce bass energy to the rear – all of those things helped us keep the energy where we wanted it and play nicely with the neighbours.”
Royal Sound & Lighting brings the SIDEPIECE system to life
Royal Sound & Lighting, Void Acoustics’ long-standing rental and production partner in California, supplied the equipment for SIDEPIECE and brought extensive experience of large-scale and distributed festival sound to the project.
The company has built a substantial Void rental inventory, with its experience including multiple stages and art cars at Burning Man – including Pinball Tommy, Camp Questionmark, Favela, Sepia Lux and Echolalia in 2026 – as well as several years supporting stages and areas across Northern Nights Festival.
That experience made Royal a natural fit for a project where eight individual sound-system positions needed to operate as one carefully controlled environment.
Areal’s Upmix Engine creates an immersive multi-channel experience
Areal’s Upmix Engine played an equally important role in bringing those eight positions together. Instead of feeding identical programme material to all eight positions, the Upmix Engine distributed the incoming stereo programme across differentiated multichannel outputs.
For SIDEPIECE, this meant conventional artist source material could be transformed into an eight-channel programme feeding the eight Void systems around the audience. Crucially, artists didn’t need to change the way they performed or prepare a dedicated multi-channel mix. They could deliver their normal source material while the Upmix Engine generated the multi-channel programme required by the system.
Void shaped the acoustic environment through loudspeaker placement, orientation, level structure, timing and tuning, while Areal provided the processing that expanded the incoming stereo programme across those positions, enabling them to work together effectively.
The result was a 360-degree full-range system that placed the audience at the centre of the experience rather than asking a conventional PA to project across them from one end of the site.
Pieter Doms, Co-Founder at Areal“By having multiple speakers like this, you have a much more equal spread of sound across the entire area – not just in level, but also frequency response and impact. Everybody is closer to a speaker, so everybody can have that same experience.”
Two bespoke Void Acoustics sound systems in the heart of Hollywood
Avalon Hollywood and the SIDEPIECE Block Party took place only metres apart, yet each called for a very different approach.
Inside Avalon, a permanent five-way Incubus System was developed around the architecture and long-term needs of a historic nightclub approaching its centenary.
Outside, an eight-point distributed Void system surrounded a temporary audience beneath the Hollywood skyline, combining loudspeaker design, directional bass and multi-channel processing to create an immersive outdoor sound experience.
Together, the two projects demonstrate what can be achieved when sound is designed around the individual space and experience. From a permanent installation inside one of Hollywood’s most iconic venues to an ambitious outdoor event just metres away, each system was shaped by the needs of its audience and environment.
For Void Acoustics, it’s an approach rooted in collaboration and creative system design. Bringing together the right people, technology and ideas to create an experience that feels completely at home in its surroundings.
