Day: January 8, 2025

Based in Crawley, Sussex, Tulleys Farm turns into a seasonal theme park in the Autumn and Winter months. It’s then that they promote an evolving programme of festivals and visitor attractions with ‘Shocktober’ (developing into a Pumpkin Festival), now followed by a newly inaugurated Christmas Light Festival through its various woodland trails, occupying the month of December.

Owned for the past four generations by the Beare family, to give an idea of scale at this pumpkin farm, when Martin Audio partners SWG Events were brought in to create an integrated and immersive sound and light trail—part of an overall Christmas experience—it required around 400 of the manufacturer’s ADORN A55T series loudspeakers, spanning 40 zones.

SWG Events were introduced to handle the inaugural Christmas Light Festival, which occupies an entirely new trail through the woods.

Head of Audio, Simon Purse, says the installation is an extension of the Pumpkin Festival where ADORN speakers already featured. For the Christmas light trail, wooden fencing follows a pathway through the trees where the ADORN speakers, weather-protected by their purpose-designed IP kits, are festooned along the route. These are powered by a series of Martin Audio VIA2004 and VIA5004 amplifiers.

The quality of the system has brought the whole festival alive.

But it is within the 26 dedicated DX0.4 2-in/4-out network system processors that the magic takes place. “The client wanted to be able to control everything from a central position, and with the DX0.4s all on the same network we were able to use the Martin software in a single location. From here, any adjustments could be made to the sound remotely—and all 26 devices can be controlled from anywhere with access to our wireless network, which works remarkably well.”

He adds, “Of the 40 different zones each might have a different track or require a different level—all fed and adjustable from that master control location over a Dante network.” In terms of security there is a live mic override which ducks the system in the event of an alert.

Since the experience needs to be constantly evolving in and out of different themes, SWG are also sending timecode down the same network to various locations, as the content—played out from a media server—works through different genres … from love songs, to classical, rock and disco—synced to the various areas that require programmed lighting. Projection video reinforcement is also tied into the show control to further stimulate the senses.

Leading the project for SWG Events is Dan Jenkins. “It’s very much Dan’s vision of system deployment and flexible control,” says Purse. “In fact it took eight of us a month to put everything in.”

However, it doesn’t end there: the trail opens out to a pair of large lakes which offer stunning views of the lights, and alternate between different shows. To match this dynamic, SWG Events have beefed up the sound system, installing 48 Martin Audio Blackline X12 high performance speakers. “Since the lightshows are more impactful it required a bit more SPL and low end,” confirms Purse. A further area provides a live band stage and lasers.

Summarising the project Simon Purse says it’s the sheer scale of the event at Tulleys that makes this festival season special. “What they have achieved in a year is massive,” he says.

Added Sam and Stuart Beare, “Working with SWG Events for the implementation of the Martin Audio system has been completely seamless. The quality of the system has brought the whole festival alive.”