Aktuelle News & Schlagzeilen

Martin’s MLA completes seven years at British Summer Time

As the contract for the Hyde Park festival site comes up for renewal, all involved in the production of Barclaycard presents British Summer Time can reflect on seven years at a location that had previously been considered unworkable and unviable.

That promoters AEG Live have proven otherwise is due in no small part to the role of their technical contractors, including Capital Sound who deployed the Martin Audio MLA multicellular loudspeaker array technology.

Monitored by acoustics consultants Vanguardia, as it has been every year, MLA - using Martin Audio’s proprietary Display software - was equal to a wide range of performance over the two weekends - extending from Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion and Josh Groban at one extreme, and Bob Dylan and Neil Young at the other.

Capital Sound account manager Martin Connolly says that Barbra Streisand had given the system a good workout, and the vocal clarity both from her and Groban and Dion, had added a new dimension to the event as had Robbie Williams and Keane who brought British Summer Time to a close on the final Sunday.

The Great Oak main stage was equipped with two hangs of 16 x MLA and a single MLD Downfill per side, with 13 x MLA and an MLD Downfill for the sidehangs. The sub array consisted of 32 x MLX in the now familiar broadside cardioid design (21 front facing, 11 rear facing). With 12 MLA Compact serving as front fills all MLA components were running on the same network.

Out in the field, the main ten delay towers comprised seven MLA and a single MLD Downfill, supported by 12 MLX subs while delay positions 10 and 11 deployed eight MLA Compacts. One slight change this year was that delay position nine was bolstered with the addition of two further MLA elements in respect of the depth that the site now runs to, enveloping those at the rear of the field.

Martin Audio systems were also provided elsewhere. On the Barclaycard Stage (Stage 2), eight MLA Compacts were flown on each side with 14 x WS218X subs in a spaced and recessed cardioid configuration, with four Martin Audio DD12 providing front fill sound, while two MLA Compacts were provided as outfills on Stage Left.

The audio team comprised Al Woods (crew chief), Chris Whybrow (FOH engineer) and Toby Donovan (system engineer).

www.martin-audio.com

© 1999 - 2024 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories