Adlib Brings The Noise to Creamfields 2017 posted: 26/09/2017
Adlib answered the classic DJ siren call of Make Some NOISE!!!! at Creamfields 2017 one of the world's most famous and popular electronic music festivals - supplying sound, lighting and rigging to two main arenas - CF03 (Armada / Mega) and CF05 The Curve - plus CF10, the all-important VIP and Hospitality area where beautiful people clamour to be.
The four day festival was staged at its regular site on the Daresbury Estate near Warrington. Adlib was working directly for creative production specialist LarMac LIVE, and was delighted to be involved again with the brand that defined the energy and positivity generated by the city of Liverpool with legendary dance club Cream which burst onto the scene in 1992.
On site, the Adlib crews were led by Hassane Es Siahi (Hass) who also designed the audio in CF03 and Adlib's Kevin Byatt who was project manager over all of the disciplines.
Sounding Off
CF03 (this year co-hosted by Armada and Mega) is a large tent built on a slope presenting immediate topographical challenges in getting even sound coverage. Added to this, the tent skins were swagged - hammock style - over the king poles, creating further reflections, so dealing with the sonic detractions involved conscientious detailing.
Hass has worked as FOH engineer for leading international DJ and superstar David Guetta for several years and in that time built up an extensive knowledge and understanding of the nuances of dance music and DJ performance, and the finesse involved to make it sound awesome for audience and artist.
Unsurprisingly to anyone familiar with the environment, bass is the key but we'll come to that shortly!
The main PA in CF03 comprised 12 a side L-Acoustics K2 hangs and 32 of the new L-Acoustics KS28 high power subs - a left-centre-right array of these all running in cardioid mode.
The twelve subs on house right (stage left) were stacked in a 4-4-4 configuration, with the bottom elements reversed.
The centre cluster was made up of eight subs in four columns of two - 2-2-2-2 - with the bottoms on the first and the third stacks (when looking from the house) reversed.
The stage right / house left stack mirrored its counterpart on the other side, again with the bottom cabinets reversed.
This proved a winning formula in terms of throwing bass to the back of the 75 metre long space, as Hass explained that it was essential to get the subs physically high enough to create a big wave of low frequencies at the front that self-propels itself down the length of the room.
He chose cardioid mode because of the quantities of KS28 subs and the fact that they needed minimal output sneaking out behind the stage.
The minimal rejection of these new subs however means that they are uber-quiet at the back, so in fact he probably could have used less and gone for a non-cardioid set-up after all, but decided to go with what he knew would work in a venue rocked by some of the greatest names in dance like Armin van Buuren (A State of Trance set), Above & Beyond, Alesso, Duke Dumont and many more.
Four-a-side ARCS II speakers provided front fill, and for the outfield, Hass positioned three KARA a side ground-stacked on flight cases, plus a delay stack on the tent king-poles at the back of the FOH position directly facing the main entrance.
The psychology there was wanting people walking past to be able to hear the DJ perfectly through that entrance gap before they decided whether to squeeze their way in!
This delay also compensated for any sound interference that might be coming from the open air stage directly opposite across the site.
It was the second time that Hass has designed audio for this tent and he was very pleased with the results.
He used a Soundcraft Vi600 console, chosen because it is straightforward and simple . Being DJs there wasn't a need for multiple plug-ins and other magical tricks, It's all down to tuning, EQ'ing and controlling the system confirmed Hass, for which he extensively used the LA Network Manager.
You have to be genuinely interested in the music to hit the spot with a dance artist he states, It's hugely more than two faders . What the DJ is playing changes second-by-second, it's a completely dynamic audio space, and the sound is like any musical instrument ... you have to listen properly to how they are playing it!
This is one reason why many dance artists will have their own engineers on-board even from an early stage in their careers.
At the stage end, the role of the monitor engineer is equally important to ensure that the artist hears and feels all the right things, because without that, they can't connect to the crowd and that relationship is right at the core of the electronic music experience - DJs don't sing or chat to the audience, they build up their rapport entirely through the music..
Hass notes that audiences are also educated in what they want to hear at events, which is a big part of why they are into specific genres of dance music the subs need to be sweet and strong and the low-mids are also important to bring a good, clean assertive punch.
That's why it's so fundamental for the sound to be right!
In CF03 they specified a classic' DJ monitor set up with two L-Acoustics SB18s per side and three KARAs sitting on top mixed by Adlib's Matt Gadsby using a Soundcraft Vi1.
Hass mixed most of the artists on CF03, only Armin van Buuren brought his own engineers. His favourite set of the weekend was Above & Beyond, who headlined Saturday night's Mega line-up and absolutely smashed it!
In CF05, a Coda AiRAY sound system was spec'd, which has been used before in the space and proved ideal for delivering the clarity, detail, low end and general sonic excellence required for this tent, s
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Adlib Brings The Noise to Creamfields 2017 posted: 26/09/2017 
