DEFQON.1 Music Festival

Background

DEFQON.1 is one of the world's most iconic electronic music festivals, drawing more than 250,000 attendees and earning a reputation for its monumental stages, world-class artist lineups, and fiercely devoted global audience. While the main stage has long been streamed on YouTube Live, fans at home had no free access to performances from the festival's 14 other stages—until now.

In 2025, DEFQON.1's media team set out to change that. Their mission: to deliver the full festival experience online, giving fans the ability to stream every stage in real time, wherever they were in the world.

The vision for this expansion originated with Job Bleije, Project Manager for DEFQON.1 Media Productions. Seeing the opportunity to connect with a much broader global audience, Job spearheaded the initiative and brought the concept to life—selecting Mixlr as the ideal platform to make it happen.

Driving the transformation alongside him was Albert-Jan van Leeuwen, Live Streaming & Broadcast Tech Specialist and Owner of Lion Productions, their trusted Technical Production partner whose technical expertise helped turn vision into reality.

The Challenge

DEFQON.1's team needed more than just a way to expand coverage—they needed a complete, professional-grade streaming solution that could scale with the complexity and size of the festival.

Key challenges included:

• Broadcasting live from 14 separate stages
• Integrating with a professional Dante audio infrastructure and existing OBS setup
• Ensuring redundancy and reliability in a fast-paced live environment
• Embedding live audio directly into the Q-dance website, fully branded and on theme
• Providing a polished, on-brand listener experience that matched the visual quality DEFQON.1 is known for

The team needed a platform that could match the festival's high standards for quality, branding, and scale—without overcomplicating the workflow.

The Solution

Mixlr became the central platform for DEFQON.1's multi-stage digital experience—streaming live audio from every stage in a way that was powerful, reliable, and completely on brand.

Seamless Implementation & Key Features

Mixlr integrated seamlessly into DEFQON.1's existing broadcast workflow, aligning perfectly with their technical infrastructure and live production setup.

🎛 Professional Setup, Simplified:

• 2 Mac Studio systems with dual network cards (Dante and internet)
• 10 OBS instances per machine, each patched to a stereo feed from DEFQON.1's Dante network
• A fully redundant setup allowing for quick failover if needed
• Direct audio streaming from OBS to Mixlr was achieved using Mixlr stream keys, eliminating the need for any intermediate processing or monitoring layers

• 🖼 Custom-Branded Channels & Embeds

  Each of the 14 stages had its own Mixlr channel, fully embedded on the Q-dance website. Every player featured the striking visual identity and festival imagery DEFQON.1 is famous for—creating a cohesive, premium experience for fans tuning in. This wasn't just a live stream—it was an extension of the festival's brand.

• 🌍 Streaming from Anywhere Onsite

  Thanks to Mixlr's flexible architecture and support for third-party streaming tools, DEFQON.1 was able to broadcast directly from each stage's media compound, ensuring a clean and consistent live feed from every corner of the festival.

• 🛠 Reliable, Scalable Setup

  The combination of Mixlr's infrastructure and DEFQON.1's professional encoding setup ensured flawless delivery across the weekend. With simple control over each stream and built-in redundancy, the team had everything they needed to stay focused on the show.

Game-Changing Impact

With Mixlr powering their live broadcast, DEFQON.1 delivered a world-class streaming experience:

• 📡 All 14 Stages, Live For the first time, the full DEFQON.1 lineup was available to fans worldwide for free.
• 🌍 125,000+ Global Listeners A massive digital turnout showed demand for a more complete online experience.
• 🎧 A Branded, Immersive Audio Journey With fully customized channels and embeds, fans got more than audio—they got the feeling of being there.
• 📉 No Added Complexity The direct OBS-to-Mixlr setup kept the workflow clean and simple.
• 🛠 Rock-Solid Redundancy Dual-system encoding allowed for peace of mind throughout the weekend.

With the technical expertise of Lion Productions' Albert-Jan van Leeuwen, Mixlr enabled DEFQON.1 to stream the heart of the festival—bringing every beat, from every stage, to fans around the world.

Conclusion: Why Mixlr?

For DEFQON.1, Mixlr wasn't just an add-on—it was the core platform driving the festival's global digital expansion. With broadcast-quality audio, seamless OBS integration, and fully branded streaming, Mixlr empowered DEFQON.1 to amplify its reach and elevate its online presence. It delivered the essence of the festival—every beat, every stage—to a worldwide audience like never before.