BUENA PARK, Calif. — Few events can claim to both capture and define a movement, yet this is precisely what the Rock the Bells Festival has done since its inception in 2003. Rock the Bells is more than a music festival; it has become a genuine rite of passage for thousands of core, social, conscious, and independent Hip Hop enthusiasts.

A premiere music experience, the festival was established as a forum of unparalleled diversity and excellence uniting the biggest names involved with urban culture. This year, the festival took place in 20 different venues across the U.S. featuring performances by Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul, Method Man, A Tribe Called Quest and many more, with special guest performances by Black Eyed Peas in Los Angeles and Jay-Z in New York.

The tour has been using two Yamaha PM5D digital audio consoles. "We have about 12 headlining acts on the same stage during the festival, so it is paramount for me to be able to store all the acts and pull them up on the fly," states Billy Flores, sound crew chief and front of house engineer. With the exception of A Tribe Called Quest who is using a PM5000, all acts were mixed on PM5Ds at front of house and monitors.

"Without the PM5D, mixing the shows would not be nearly the ultimate experience it has been for me this summer, " adds Flores. "Since we are doing the tour 'festival-style,' no one sound checks and most of the artists dont even arrive on site until 1:00 pm or so. The grounds open up at 11:00 am to about 10-15 thousand concertgoers so with the settings stored on a 5D card, Im up and running in no time."

Flores first began using a PM5D with Black Eyed Peas back in 2004. "It 's so easy to navigate around this desk because the layout is user friendly, and at the touch of a button you can select effects, compression, noise gates, dynamics, whatever," notes Flores. "With the latest 5D version, you have an expanded effects library to play with as well as newly added dynamics."

For more information on the Yamaha PM5D, visit www.yamahaca.com.