(16/07/2013) A revolutionary sound system and reoriented stage provided the perfect recipe for the AEG-Barclaycard British Summer Time festival at London's Hyde Park, as Bon Jovi and the Rolling Stones kicked off the ten-day season attracting crowds of 65,000.
Historically, Hyde Park concerts have been dogged by offsite noise pollution leading to neighbourhood complaints and the need to reduce sound levels on site meaning that the audience couldn't hear the performances. So new tenants AEG/Loud Sound adopted Martin Audio's award winning Multi-Cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) system to help solve the problem.
Knowing that its advance level of control would be the only scientifically proven system capable of maintaining an offsite level beneath the stipulated 75dB(A) threshold, there was the equal confidence of being able to raise the levels up by as much as 6dB from previous years to around 100dB(A) within the audience area, ensuring that the entire audience was united in the experience.
These figures were verified by Ian Colville, technical manager of Capital Sound, who designed and supplied the complete audio infrastructure. He had nothing but praise for the MLA system that allows a site to be mapped and areas optimised for audience, non-audience and hard avoid' entirely.
As a result, neighbourhood complaints were reduced to an absolute minimum.
Loud Sound had already received categorical proof of MLA's wizardry at the 2011-2013 back-to-back Underage, Field Day and Apple Cart Festivals in Hackney's Victoria Park, serviced by Capital Sound. Immersed in a densely populated neighbourhood (as with Hyde Park), according to the event management, complaints about noise escapement suddenly ceased.
This gave Loud Sound, the site managers for AEG, the evidence that MLA would be a perfect tool for the Hyde Park concerts.
But given the sensitivities of noise thresholds in the Royal Parks, a site simulation was first set up at Hatfield House in Herts for the promoters and acoustics consultants Vanguardia Ltd who routinely carry out measurement and analysis at outdoor events such as this.
Ian Colville and Martin Audio R&D Director Jason Baird confirmed that this location was chosen because of its similarities in shape and size to the Hyde Park site, and evaluation took place against other systems
The Martin Audio system is unique in its ability to place the sound only where it is required unlike conventional systems, which have largely depended on trial and error. As a result the sound coverage pattern can be programmed into Martin Audio's breakthrough MLA software to guarantee sound containment.
Vanguardia recorded near- and far-field measurements and asked Martin Audio to load in two different presets, which set coverage at 100m and then 50m. The measured SPL data over the site was then fed into their own environmental model before giving the system the thumbs-up. Vanguardia's experience with MLA also caused them to believe that a better offsite sound could be achieved than with a conventional system.
The other key factor in the sound threshold increase was the reorientation of the Hyde Park stage by around 30 from north facing to north-west (directing it away from Park Lane). The result is that fans positioned out at the perimeter have been able to enjoy an identical sound experience to those at the front of the stage, said Capital Sound general manager, Paul Timmins. But walk five yards outside the soundfield and it will vanish.
With its rapid loudness drop-off, the MLA system was created for environments such as Hyde Park. According to one sound engineer, who had earlier worked with the system. the ability to taper off' the sound at the perimeter is as if an invisible ring has been drawn around the site. It was this that will have impressed those monitoring the offsite sound at typical nearby locations such as the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane.
Assessed Ian Colville, The ability to gain an extra 6dB of volume on-site, whilst keeping within the off-site maximum level of 75dB(A), provides a significant advantage. MLA is such a different system, with all of its acoustic cells individually controlled, to produce phase-coherent summation in the audience areas.
So how was the Hyde Park system conceived? Sculpted into the oak shrubbery of the concept stage's proscenium the inspiration of set designers MDM working with Star Rigging were left and right hangs of 16 x MLA elements (with a single MLD Downfill box at the base). Outfills were provided by 12 MLA (and a single MLD each side) with eight pairs of the small footprint Martin Audio W8LM Mini Line Arrays for front fills.
The subwoofer cardioid broadside array made up of 32 MLX subs is now a tried and trusted electronic arc' concept, with one back facing enclosure for every two forward-facing ones providing cancellation at the rear. The beauty of this design, says Colville, is that you can adjust the horizontal dispersion and rear rejection electronically without needing to physically move anything.
In addition there were ten delay masts. The front two arcs of four MLA masts each contained seven elements and a single MLD. For the larger shows, two further delay towers at the back were enabled, made up of eight MLA Compacts. Critical distances were 50 metres (from FOH to stage), while the delays were set at 90m (from the stage), 160m and the 210 metres (for the MLA Compacts).
In summary, Ian Colville said, At Hyde Park we proved how MLA technology allows us to significantly increase on-site volume whilst containing the sound within a strictly defined area. It's a great result for everyone involved in the project.
Martin Audio managing director, Anthony Taylor, added: This is a significant jewel in the crown of worldwide events; we are thrilled tha
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
(16/07/2013) A revolutionary sound system and reoriented stage provided the perfect recipe for the AEG-Barclaycard British Summer Time festival at London's Hyde Park, as Bon Jovi and the Rolling Stones kicked off the ten-day season attracting crowds of 65,000.
