RG Jones Deploys Martin Audio Across Four Major Stages of Glastonbury

RG Jones Deploys Martin Audio Across Four Major Stages of Glastonbury posted: 08/07/2019

WPL Makes Festival Debut on New IICON Stage with Surround Sound

RG Jones Sound Engineering returned to Worthy Farm following its fallow year to deploy Martin Audio systems across four major stages of the Glastonbury Festival. While Martin Audio's premiere sound system, MLA, once again graced the Pyramid main stage as well as West Holts and the Genosys stage of Block9, Martin Audio's Wavefront Precision Longbow (WPL) made its festival debut on the stunning new IICON stage featuring an immersive 6.1 channel surround sound system designed by Simon Honywill.

The Pyramid stage bustled with electrifying performances throughout the three-day festival with Stormzy delivering an impassioned and historic headline set on the Friday, followed up by a barnstorming, hit filled, performance by The Killers on the Saturday and rounded off with a nostalgic tour de force by The Cure to close out Sunday night. In-between, the acts were their usual eclectic self with everyone from Sheryl Crow to Liam Gallagher, Janet Jackson to Bastille, as well as an emotional return for Kylie in the legend' Sunday afternoon slot.

Stormzy delivering an impassioned and historic headline set on the Friday

The system deployed on the Pyramid Stage was impressive in every respect, designed to maximise SPL levels and even coverage for the 150,000 strong audience while respecting offsite limits. A total of 72 MLA comprised the four main hangs with a further four MLA Compact arrays for infill flown from the proscenium arch. Eight delay positions in an inner and out ring consisted of MLA and MLA Compact arrays to optimise coverage across the expansive field. A massive broadside cardioid array of 38 MLX subwoofers stretched across the entire width of the stage to provide sub-bass support and control to the entire system.

The results overall were stunning, and for headliners The Killers it was reported they could play at 106dBA

Despite the glorious sunshine that bathed the festival this year, the site is susceptible to windy conditions and this year was no different with the wind changing from all points of the compass. But again this was something the PA system was able to confine with ease.

avy Ogilvy, FOH engineer for Tom Odell, said, I thought it was great, I expected the sound to get blown away in the wind but all the power stayed there, I'm very happy. This was further endorsed by Mike Timm, FOH engineer for George Ezra. I was really impressed with how it held up in the wind, it sounded great and the low end was good. Yet more praise came from Paul David Hagar, FOH Engineer for Miley Cyrus, The rig sounded great, even with the wind. Everyone on the crew was so nice and professional but you guys always are. Had a great time mixing on the system.

FOH engineer for George Ezra. I was really impressed with how it held up in the wind, it sounded great and the low end was good

Martin Audio's unique MLA technology enables very fine control of how each array covers its designated audience area. Acoustic cells housed within each cabinet are independently controlled by their own amplifier and DSP channel, a total of six in each MLA. This control allowed RG Jones to specify exactly what SPL and frequency response was required across the audience, with the intelligent software automatically controlling the array to produce that result. As Ben Milton, system tech, commented, This amounted to just a 3dB drop off over the 200m-plus long audience area, with incredibly even frequency response.

The results overall were stunning, and for headliners The Killers it was reported they could play at 106dBA - the first time such high levels have been achieved in the history of Glastonbury - while corresponding offsite levels registered as 62dBA, the limit being 65dBA. For The Killers, it was a resounding triumph, putting to rest their previous headline set in 2007 that was marred by sound problems and ultimately led to RG Jones and Martin Audio being installed as the audio providers for the Pyramid stage ever since.

Kenny Kaiser, FOH engineer for The Killers, had nothing but praise. I've been touring with MLA for the last five years, but I've not had much experience with it outdoors and I was a little scared. But this system was phenomenal, everything was there, and MLA still has a very long lifespan in my opinion.

Meanwhile, West Holts enjoyed some equally stellar performances from the likes of Lizzo, Janelle Monae, Jorja Smith, Wu Tang Clan and Jeff Goldblum, and thanks to an upgraded audio deployment those performances connected perfectly to the audience. This year, West Holts had 14 MLA per side, an out hang on house left of six MLA Compact and a house right outfill of eight MLA Compact which helped to extend coverage out to the Pathway to extend arena space. 21 MLX subwoofers deployed in a cardioid pattern kept noise on stage to a minimum but chest pumping energy to the audience. Two hangs of 16 MLA Compact delays were positioned 95 metres from the stage and extended coverage for another 75 metres before tapering off sharply using Martin Audio's unique Hard Avoid feature to prevent sound spilling into market stalls. As system tech, Jack Bowcher, commented, This was a massive improvement from two years ago, with better quality audio through the field and better containment as well.

West Holts enjoyed some equally stellar performances

This audio quality was further endorsed by Andrew Lorenzo, FOH engineer for Hollie Cook. MLA sounded really crisp to me, I didn't do anything to the graphic, it's been really well tuned by RG Jones on site and I found it really full in both the bottom and high top end which is what I need for reggae. But it wasn't harsh which is the other thing I noticed

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