The Evolving Sound of GTC, Shaped Through Trial and Error
READY FOR OPEN AIR #3
GROW THE CULTURE continues its candid interview series, this time sitting down with Bishamon and kobachi to discuss the sound system behind GTC, sharing their honest thoughts and perspectives on its sound and evolution.
Event
[No. 003]
The Evolving Sound of GTC, Shaped Through Trial and Error
READY FOR OPEN AIR #3
GROW THE CULTURE, transmitting underground dance music culture inspired by UK soundsystem culture from Tokyo.
Ahead of GROW THE CULTURE OPEN AIR 2026, which is finally taking place tomorrow on November 7th,
we had Bishamon and kobachi, the very people crafting that sound, candidly share their thoughts and stories about the acoustics.
PART 2
→ What makes GTC uniquely appealing to artists?
PART 1
→ (Part 1) Creating community experiences that transcend events and genres
Q2. How did you get involved with GROW THE CULTURE as a sound engineer?
Bishamon: In terms of how it started, to begin with, I already knew Hisaki, the organizer. Hisaki asked me, "Can you set up a sound system?" and I replied, "Yeah, I think so," and just joined in like that.
kobachi: Did you know about his background?
Hisaki: I kind of knew. But since I didn't know anyone else who could do that sort of thing, I remember reaching out to him with the mindset that even if it didn't work out at worst, I'd still have him give it a shot.
Bishamon: Exactly. He consulted me once during the planning stage of the first edition.
kobachi: At first, I was doing various things, acting like a bar manager of sorts. But when I thought about it more carefully, I realized, "Wait, aren't I supposed to be on the PA team side?" so it felt like I transferred over.
Bishamon: We were short-handed, so we were like, "Yes, please!"
kobachi: At an event like the first one, since I can handle both the bar and PA, and there were so many unknowns, I was helping out in the bar section which was chaotic. But from the second time onward, operations and staffing were reinforced, so I was able to properly commit to the PA side.
Bishamon: I mentioned that I already knew Hisaki, but I'd like to talk a bit more about how we connected. Originally, I was DJing Hardcore Techno and related sounds, and Hisaki's roots also lie around there, which is where our paths crossed. It's probably been about 10 years now. Hisaki likes Gabber, and so do I. We even played B2B together at his birthday party.
kobachi: You did that?
Hisaki: Yeah, we did an event where I went B2B non-stop for 6 hours.
Bishamon: That was at the old Dimension. Good times.
Bishamon: So, we were quite familiar with each other, and as Hisaki's world expanded into bass music, he reached out to me through our old connection—that's pretty much how it felt.
Q3. How many times have you been in charge of the sound now? Were there any differences compared to previous times, or changes in terms of equipment and systems?
kobachi: At first, I was just goofing around at the bar, so I've been in charge of sound since the second time. Did I help with setting up the speakers at first? Did I?
Hisaki: You helped with the setup too. Properly.
Bishamon: Well, there are a few things that have been changing. In terms of equipment, we changed the mixing console.
Hisaki: What did we change it from, and what to?
Bishamon: Originally, it was an Allen & Heath (a long-established British audio equipment manufacturer) console. That was the one provided by the venue.
kobachi: I think it was one from the SQ Series.
Bishamon: From there, it was changed to a YAMAHA DM3. It's my personal gear, though.
kobachi: It's easy to use.
Hisaki: What about LIVEHAUS?
kobachi: I think ours is a YAMAHA QL Series one.
Bishamon: There were two reasons: first, the house console seemed to be acting up a bit. Second, the features I wanted to use were locked, I think? So I couldn't use them.
kobachi: That's right.
Bishamon: Also, there was one more reason. I wanted to practice on my own console, so I decided to switch it.
Bishamon: Speaking in terms of brands, YAMAHA is rather well-known, or rather, it's everywhere. Allen & Heath and the like are more for people who like a particular sound or are really particular about it, I guess? Since we switched to something new, the sound should become clearer as well.
Bishamon: Oh right, and we added more speakers starting from the second time.
kobachi: If I recall, the low-mids were added, right?
Bishamon: I don't know the model number, but wasn't it not just the low-mids, but infills were added too?
kobachi: I believe both were added. That's why the layout changed compared to the first time.
kobachi: (Looking back at photos) As I thought, the very first time didn't have infills. The very first time lacked both infills and low-mids. We added them starting from the second time.
Bishamon: It's almost the same.
Bishamon: First off, the sound changes. These square speakers handle the low-mids; in terms of sound, imagine it makes the attack of the kick and the punchy, thumping frequency range easier to perceive.
kobachi: Like the frequency range within the bass where you can perceive actual musical pitches.
Bishamon: Originally, the two units we had from the very first time—placed in the center and on the outside—their specialty is rather in the lowest pitch range. The sound called sub-bass that you feel as vibrations in your body. For example, around 30Hz to 100Hz or 150Hz. But what we're calling low-mids right now is around 100Hz to 300Hz, I guess. These speakers specialize in things like the attack of the kick and the lower end of male vocals. The lowest sound that the main full-range speakers (which we had from the second time) could produce sometimes didn't reach down there, so (the frequency range handled by the low-mids) was weak.
Bishamon: Exactly. They reinforce it like that. It's like we added speakers as infills to reinforce the sound so that people dancing near the DJ booth—or close to the stage—can dance to even better sound.
Bishamon: Yeah, especially, like I said earlier, the attack of the kick can be felt much more strongly now, I think.
kobachi: The speed of the kick, or rather the punch of the kick, is exactly as you say.
Bishamon: Or maybe I should call it the speed of the sound. Things like that improved, and as for the infills, you can now hear good sound no matter where you're dancing. The first time, there were spots where the high frequencies didn't reach as well, but now there's been an update so that wherever you are, you can hear generally high-quality sound.
Q4. Could you tell us about the difficulties and innovations in the acoustic setup specific to this venue (Oba Camp Village)?
Bishamon: Well, rather than the outdoor environment or topography itself, being considerate of the neighborhood was probably my biggest concern. Honestly, I feel like there were hardly any issues caused by the topographical structure (of Oba Camp Village). At typical raves or outdoor events, when you set up speakers on a stage, the low-end vibrations can be so intense that resonance occurs, causing the turntables to feed back and making them hard to use, but we didn’t really have those kinds of problems. So, if anything, neighborhood considerations were definitely what we prioritized. It’s not just because it’s GTC; as long as you’re doing an outdoor event, it’s something you have to care about.
kobachi: Unlike typical raves, (Oba Camp Village) is a venue that is closer to residential areas than people might think. From the second edition onward, the sound was upgraded and the density and richness improved dramatically, but on the other hand, when walking down the mountain trail, you could slightly hear the bassline. Also to be considerate of neighbors, we were constantly hiking up and down the mountain trail, communicating via transceivers to make adjustments.
Bishamon: It definitely ranks in the top 3 hardest things.
kobachi: Establishing a baseline standard is inevitably difficult. It’s about finding the right balance. The sound on the floor is great, and both the artists and audience are satisfied. But how does this sound affect the neighboring residents? Could we get a complaint? You can push the volume as much as you want if you try, so setting standards really is essential. Especially since there are several peak times, if you don't establish a standard that always leaves some headroom, situations will arise where artists can't play at the volume they want, leaving everyone feeling frustrated—so it's quite tricky...
Bishamon: There are definitely several factors; with having or wanting to create multiple peaks like that, first and foremost, figuring out how to manage volume control throughout the party becomes crucial. Like, "This person is a big guest, so we want to raise the volume around here." In addition to crafting that kind of narrative—like dialling it back slightly for the next act to create dynamics—neighborhood considerations are also factored in at the same time. Therefore, having solid communication with everyone involved to manage that is a very important and challenging point. For the first edition, we had a standard using a sound level meter, but I remember the cutoff being quite strict.
kobachi: Well, it was the first time, after all.
Bishamon: So from the second edition onward, through detailed discussions with the venue manager, Jugen-san (the venue's sound manager), and others about optimal standards and how to manage them, it led to doing what was mentioned earlier—walking down the mountain trail and so on.
Bishamon: As it stands right now, yes.
kobachi: Well, not just the two of us, but also including Jugen-san and the venue manager, it feels like we decided on it together while walking up and down the mountain trail.
Q9. Among this lineup, was there any artist whose sound design you were particularly particular about, or who left a strong impression on you?
Bishamon: For the most part, we just gauge it by the vibe.
Bishamon: In general, people do say things. But at GTC, maybe not so much regarding the sound itself. Of course, there are times when they tell us it sounded great after their set.
Bishamon: The one that left the strongest impression on me was probably ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U.
kobachi: It was our highest attendance ever, and the VOID sound got absorbed (by the crowd).
Bishamon: First off, my main point in saying this is that the range of sounds Yukimatsu-san plays is incredible. He plays so many different sounds from various eras, so the audio quality shifts constantly.
Bishamon: So, to make sure the dancers wouldn't feel any awkwardness from those differences in sound, I remember adjusting it from the PA side practically track by track.
Bishamon: Something like, "Oh, it's like this now? Okay, then I guess I'll adjust it like this."
Bishamon: That was one aspect, and as kobachi-kun mentioned, when more people fill the floor, the sound gets absorbed. That happens in clubs too, but whenever there are lots of people on the floor, the sound gets sucked up and the perceived volume drops a bit. So we were constantly adjusting that perceived volume as well. Speaking of which, there's one episode: the audience was dancing pressed right up against the subwoofers right in front of the stage, so the subs were blocked and the bass wasn't coming through much. (laughs)
kobachi: I was surprised to realize bass can get absorbed (by people). Usually, when a lot of people come in, the mid and high frequencies get absorbed by clothing and lose their reach, so you make slight adjustments for that. But I never imagined I'd experience bass not carrying through on VOID Acoustics.
mana: In that case, is it kind of like, "Well, if it's blocked, it won't be heard, so there's nothing you can do about it"? Since it's physically blocked...
Bishamon: It was packed like sardines, basically like a rush-hour train.
kobachi: We'd really never had a situation where people were jammed right in front of the speakers, or right in front of the stage, like that before. And Yukimatsu-san's set was the only one that was the most packed that day. In that sense, thanks to having infills and mid speakers set up, the overall balance was secured, allowing us to adjust with minimal volume control. Since we'd established a baseline, there was a sense of reassurance that, with this much absorption, it was safe to push it a bit more, along with the challenge of how to get through that set.
Bishamon: When it comes to Yukimatsu-san, on the PA side we really want to respond to the energy on the floor—like wanting to raise the volume precisely because the crowd is hyped. Or, for instance, when the DJ clearly shifts gears in their track selection, whether building up or dropping down, the PA side, or rather the sound team, wants to match that. I don't know if this is something to say for this question—we can probably cut this—but at the time, half for fun, we'd turn up the volume every time Yukimatsu-san took off a layer of clothing. (laughs)
kobachi: Crazy, but as for the voltage, the floor really does go wild when he takes something off.
Bishamon: Doing things like that to build a story, or create a narrative progression—that's something I definitely feel we did, thinking, "He's taking it this far? Wow." But generally speaking, we definitely want to adapt to the DJ's sonic gears and how they shift them.
kobachi: My only regret during Yukimatsu-san's set was the upper limit on the monitor volume. I couldn't anticipate his perception of the monitors at all. I was pretty hesitant, and then oyubi pointed it out to me. While thinking to myself, "oyubi, tell me sooner!" I rushed over to check. It was a bit of a learning moment, wondering how hard that speaker could actually be pushed. And during the preliminary sound check, when I turned up the monitor myself, even though it was loud to me, it wasn't enough for Yukimatsu-san. That was quite an eye-opener. It made me realize that for monitor speakers, you should be prepared to output as much as they can possibly handle.
Bishamon: Everyone's perception is different. Some people want the monitor volume to feel just like being on their own dance floor. Because of that, there are genuinely all kinds of people, and in that sense, there's a learning experience every time. The sound team is building things while constantly learning.
kobachi: During the first or second edition, we didn't have cushions around the turntables, so—was it lil mofo-san?—there was a time when it had crazy feedback, right? Was that the first or second one? That definitely happened, yeah. There was a time when it just kept feeding back. Turntables are definitely going to shake, so we absolutely had to put something under them. We gathered random stone slabs as best we could and leveled them out, but even that wasn't enough. So last time, we had someone run to the home improvement store, and we started putting rubber mats—or rubber pieces—under the four feet, which made it considerably more stable.
mana: You're constantly upgrading.
kobachi: The CDJs were 3000s, right? Remember the incident where the 3000 couldn't read? That happened with DX-san too.
Bishamon: That was another one of the issues that came up. And I was shaken awake while trying to rest.
kobachi: Those things happen.
Bishamon: In the end, we never really figured out (the cause) of that. (laughs)
Q10. Through handling the sound, has there been any change in your own skills or the way you approach sound?
Bishamon:
Bishamon: For me, my mindset—or rather my goal and the way I want things to be—has been set from the start. I have a certain vision for the kind of space I want to aim for, and it feels like I've constantly been thinking about how to get closer to that. At the beginning each time, none of us were really used to doing that kind of work, nor were we used to working as a basic team, so we were learning as we went. But as we did it a second and third time, we became able to do various things, got used to more things, and what we could do expanded, which led to feeling like, "If that's the case, maybe I can craft the sound like this." It feels like I'm stepping up toward the goal I set for myself. In terms of my approach to sound, it might not have changed all that much.
kobachi: Rather, it's more like testing my usual stance in the Ooba space—that feeling is stronger. Instead of going to Ooba and coming back changed, it's more like bringing my everyday life in the city to Ooba and seeing what happens. There's a certain unique word sense that only Jugen-san can bring out there, and that leads to feeling all kinds of new things, which I then take back with me. In a big-picture sense, it might have somehow become a routine. Yeah.
Q11. When working on the sound for this event, what are the moments when you feel a sense of fulfillment?
Points where you feel fulfillment or pride.
Bishamon: Through my sound, or rather... well, it's the DJ who makes the audience dance, though. But when people get hyped by the sound creation and sound design, leave feeling satisfied, and give comments like "the sound was amazing"—that is the most rewarding part, by far. Secondly, doing this kind of sound design and sound engineering—like system engineering outdoors—this was my first time doing it, with Closer Culture being the first. So, going through it step by step in practice and gaining confidence from it... maybe that's what fulfillment is. It feels like a place where I nurture my own self-confidence. In that sense, it's really rewarding.
kobachi: Year by year, thanks to Hisaki and the others working hard, the crowd has been growing properly. Having people dancing on the floor, and the more that energy rises, the more natural it is to feel that sense of fulfillment grow too, you know?
Hisaki: Doing this with just the four of us is really tough, haha.
kobachi: It's amazing though; there really is a strong sense of fulfillment.
Hisaki: In exchange, it turns into a pretty free event. It's a bit pricey, but I hope people buy tickets.
Bishamon: I'll do my best so that the organizers don't have to worry their heads about the sound and can just leave it all to us.
Hisaki: At the beginning, it was truly exhausting. I thought I could pretty much pull it off on my own, but my sense of omnipotence was completely shattered. I thought I could handle everything myself, but not just for that event—in life in general, how should I put it, you realize it's great if you can just do your part. That's where I understood the importance of working as a team, and that really became everything. It was also the catalyst for me to properly study team management. So having a sound team that I can trust and leave things to—the fact that they've come together and stepped up—has had an incredible positive impact on management. That frees me up to do the things that only I can do. I can voice my opinions on this and that, but I can't actually do the audio adjustments, after all.
Bishamon: Feedback on your outlook on life, huh.
Hisaki: Rather than an outlook on life, first of all, it really feels like a sense of community has formed. Yeah. Honestly, talking about getting married or whatever didn't really matter; it felt more like, "Let's all secretly hang out together at a nearby venue." Also, there are no bugs. When people think of festivals, they think of summer, but I hate the heat—it drains your stamina, and I feel bad having people carry the sound systems. You come back drenched in sweat. November is the best season. Although March was rough, too—way too cold.
mana: But the people at the soundboard don't move around at all, so they look freezing.
kobachi: That first time in November was cold. I feel like the first time was really cold. It was cold, and then with the food, it was like, "Wait, where's the food? There's no food vendor, it's gone, there's no meal." It was almost like a survival situation where we were stranded.
Q13. Do you have any advice for first-time attendees?
Bishamon: You definitely want to bundle up warm. It gets cold. Also, less of an advice and more of a tip, but around 3:00 to 4:00 AM is actually when the sound is hitting its hardest.
kobachi: Right around when you're breaking through the night, yeah.
Bishamon: Of course, we push the sound at peak levels late at night too, but that window where people are deciding whether to sleep or not is pretty sensitive, so I'm mindful of that.
kobachi: It's true for the sound, but being in that zone in the middle of the night or the morning where you can completely immerse yourself in the music is just the best. You really realize how amazing it feels to listen to Drum & Bass or Jungle in the morning. That sense of freedom. That's something I definitely want people to experience. There are proper places to escape to, you can eat good food, and it's really easy to just enjoy yourself.
