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UK: The multi-use requirement of Cardiff Students’ Union’s Great Hall presented SWG Events with several challenges when designing and installing a frontline PA. The venue is a multipurpose space with a capacity of 1500 and a variety of needs. Firstly, the PA system needed to meet the approval of incoming circuit bands and productions, and at the same time be completely adaptable to a wide range of events. Since live music events are hosted in more than one space within the building, the PA needed to be demountable and reappropriated together in various locations.

SWG Events successfully met the challenges presented to them, their pitch based around Martin Audio’s premium Wavefront Precision WPS line array, which was ideally suited to the space. Joe Bailey, Account Manager at SWG Events, adds, “With our strong ties to the Wavefront Precision product range in our busy rental inventory, we were confident we could provide a solution that not only offered a high-end experience to customers, but also one that would be well received by touring parties and promotors.” He also affirmed that “the on-going goal is to assist the Students’ Union in developing their already very strong status as a top live music venue in Cardiff.”

These had been the requirements handed down by Head of Venues, Callam Thom. “This year the Great Hall enters into its 50th year of operation, as one of the oldest music venues in the Capital City. It is therefore crucial that we keep up with the demands of modern-day touring and the expectations of our audiences. To keep our name up there with the best venues, we wanted to offer a state-of-the-art system that is supported by a company with a wealth of experience. It feels right that our customers are given a sector-leading audio experience,” he said.

“Furthermore, with our venue being so multi-use, going from live music to a nightclub to a conference, it was imperative that the solution was easily adjusted.”

The Great Hall has recently seen significant development to the two accessible viewing balconies, vastly increasing the spaces available for those with additional viewing needs. The development provided an upper-level bar, toilets and viewing platforms—spaces that also had to be catered for with the sound system. SWG Head of Audio, Simon Purse sensed these challenges when confronted with a building that was “basically a big concrete square, with low balcony at the end, and the FOH position situated just under the bulkhead.”

SWG HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DELIVER ON ALL KINDS OF SCENARIOS WITH NO COMPROMISE.

SWG based their design for the conventional pros arch system around six elements per side of WPS, driven in 2-box resolution from Martin Audio’s iK42 amplifiers. Eight SX218 subwoofers are placed in a broadside array, while also at the stage, four Blackline X8 fill gaps in the nearfield with two TORUS T1230 delivering out fill sound.

Given the low balcony overhang, a ring of four CDD8 provides under balcony delay and a further four CDD8 above the accessible viewing left and right-side balconies themselves, DSP for which i provided by a dedicated DX4.0 controller; this also brings the fills into the VU-NET control network.

Purse added, “While there are elements that are fixed, a lot of it is like a conventional flown touring system. Exams one day might be followed by a rock show, so it can be derigged and taken down or change shape, depending on the requirements of the venue. Even the stage is removable, making probably the most diverse room I’ve ever been in.”

Martin Audio Product Support Engineer, Robin Dibble, assisted with tuning and time alignment which, being a reverberant concrete venue, was essential—despite the presence of drapes and acoustic treatment. Presets are programmed and stored, depending on the different scenarios.

Purse explains, “There is a snapshot for when the system is in its default live show mode, with all the time alignment EQ and settings loaded in that. For other events such as when a DJ is placed in the centre of the room, the PA is moved, new angles applied and given new optimisation. The system then resets back to its default state afterwards.”

Bailey also emphasises that the system has performed well in the first academic year of the contract with over 50 live music events since installation in Autumn 2023, most of which are touring artists.

Following commissioning by Robin Dibble, SWG Events provided training to the in-house crew, while they are also providing crew for live music events from a system engineer point of view.

Finally, to ensure Wavefront Precision gets full utilisation, the system will come out during the University’s summer recess to be redeployed on SWG Events’ vast roster of summer outdoor work, before returning to the Students’ Union for Freshers’ Week and the start of the Autumn term.

Summing up, Callam Thom, confirms that the solution totally fulfils the brief. “Incoming engineers have been pleasantly surprised and impressed by the new PA, noting the quality and headroom that it delivers—even for the louder artists and dance music genres.”

“As for the audience experience,with a significant proportion of the floor space being under balconies, the fills have managed to increase coverage greatly, meaning that customers have a far better experience even at the back of the room. The fills on the balconies have also been instrumental in ensuring that our accessibility customers get the best possible listening experience.

“Overall, the flexibility of the Martin Audio system means that SWG have been able to deliver on all kinds of scenarios with no compromise to the audio coverage or quality … even a drum and bass event with the DJ in the middle of the dance floor.”

INDIA: The majestic Ram Navami celebrations held at the bustling Shivaji Chowk in Pune, where the  Martin Audio WPC unparalleled sound system created an ethereal atmosphere that resonated with the essence of the festival.

The air was filled with melodious chants and vibrant music, echoing through the streets and captivating the hearts of all present. Powered by 12Tops & 12Subs, including the versatile WPC line array and the formidable SX218 subwoofer , every note and beat reverberated with clarity and precision, enveloping the audience in an immersive sonic experience like never before.

From the pulsating rhythms of traditional bhajans to the soul-stirring recitations of religious scriptures, every aspect of the celebration was elevated to new heights by Martin Audio’s state-of-the-art sound technology, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of all who attended.

UK: After playing a stretch of intimate in-store shows at independent record shops across the nation to announce their debut albumI Wonder If The World Knows, the K’s arrived at one of their local concert venues, the 1000-cap, Grade II-listed Parr Hall in Warrington on April 10.

To ensure an optimum audio experience for their fans, Martin Audio rental partner, dBS Solutions were brought in to provide their flagship WPS (Wavefront Precision) scalable line array. This was set in a ground-stacked configuration, as due to weight limitation flying the PA wasn’t an option.

The WPS was mounted, six-a-side, on a single SXCF118 cardioid sub, while a further six WS218X subs were arranged in a broadside array in the pit, for maximum LF grunt. Providing front fill coverage were four Martin Audio WPM, in 2-box stacks.

THE SYSTEM PROVIDED EVEN AND CONSISTENT OUTPUT THROUGHOUT THE SHOW.

Meanwhile, in the balcony of this Grade II-listed building Martin Audio XD15s were deployed as fills in biamp mode, tied into the venue’s TORUS T1230 constant curvature short throw speakers.

dBS Solutions deployed a pair of iKON amp racks, each housing three iK42. They were thus able to power the main PA in the optimum 1-box resolution—all of which impressed the band’s FOH engineer, Ben Hubbard. “Despite not being able to fly the PA, the WPS continued to deliver in its ground stack format,” he confirmed.

Systems engineer, Daniel Clare, designed the rig in such a way as to provide coverage to both the primarystanding area andthe initial parts of the balcony, where the house TORUS system in this Victorian venue took over to provide even coverage into the furthest recesses of the upper balcony.

Reviewing the overall performance of WPS, Ben Hubbard said, “The system provided even and consistent output throughout the show, conveying an accurate representation of the mix to every audience member.

“I noted to Daniel during the tuning process how impressed I was with the low-mid information produced by the cabinets themselves before introducing the subs. This helped me achieve a punchy mix, with real weight for the entirety of the show in what was a challenging space,” he concluded.

Photography byNat Persoglio.

UK: Within 15 minutes of completing victory over Preston North End on Easter Monday, Birmingham City’s St. Andrews stadium had been transformed into a rock concert venue.

The production team behind the staging—enabling local legendsUB40to kick off their world tour and announce their newUB45 album release—was Martin Audio partner, 22live.

At the same time the football club was able to reveal its new branding. Henceforth known as St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park, the stadium provided the perfect setting for this post match entertainment. But first 22live, led by Paul Timmins, had many challenges to overcome—not least where to site the 15 ground stacks of Martin Audio WPC and WPS line array, as well as the speed of deployment to get the show underway immediately after the final whistle.

“I always wanted to do this really unique event with the Martin Audio option,” Timmins admitted. “Over the years I’ve put out many perimeter pitch-side systems, delivered half-time shows, and presented playback gigs at sports events … but there has been nothing quite like this.”

The story begins whenUB40production manager Sean Busby-Little, having been approached by the football club about the proposed event, contacted 22live. “We’ve worked a lot together in the past, including military work in Afghanistan, so I’ve known Sean a long time,” continued Timmins. “The fact we were based locally helped, as with the odd timings there was always likely to be a lot of running around.” The fact that the date was suddenly brought forward 12 days from the originally scheduled April 13thdate.

Two days’ rehearsal in Digbeth helped new monitor engineer Harry Le Masurier settle in, while staging options were debated and the fact that 56 channels were required, choice of stage was paramount. He also knew this was no mere playback event … the band were going to perform live!

TO HAVE THE PA RIG BUILT AND DEPLOYED IN JUST 12 MINUTES FROM THE FINAL WHISTLE WAS REMARKABLE.

After dismissing other options they decided to construct the staging in the ‘sterile’ area—or empty block of seating—segregating the home and away fans in the Gil Merrick stand.

“The seats were removed, and the staging company built a two tiered stage because of the raking—set high up to avoid obscuring sightlines. Although big LED screens and lighting were able to be flown from the roof, in view of weight loading, audio was always going to be a pitch side perimeter speaker system.”

From past experience Paul Timmins was aware of safety implications, cabling challenges and the fact the speakers would need to be located behind the LED wall or advertising hoardings without blocking the access.

But because of distance variations each stand required its own unique treatment. The Main Stand is quite shallow and didn’t need as much power as the Kop side, so I chose WPS,four stacks high. On the Kop stand I used WPCs, four high because I needed more power. At the Tilton End I used WPC, three high, because I knew I could get away with less, with just two stacks WPSfour high required on the Gil Merrick stage end—because coverage was only required on either side of the large center section.” Each stack was supported by an SXH218 sub.

TORUS T1230 speakers filled dead spots in corners between the Gil Merrick and the Kop stands and further T1230s and an SX118 subwoofer provided reference sound at the FOH mix position, which was located underneath the stands.

Critical to the success of the optimization was tilt angles. 22live knew that since they would be raking the system back into the stands, rather than have it tip forwards as would be customary, they could dispense with the standard WP grids in favor of straps. After verifying this custom approach with Martin Audio deployed this ingenuous solution, which would also ensure each stack could be deployed swiftly as a single self-contained unit.

Crew boss Glen Little worked closely with extra local crew, who were experienced in dealing with Martin Audio boxes. “The beauty with the weight of the Martin Audio system, was that with four people we could move each stack as a single block, keeping the bottom box strapped to the sub.”

Unlike a typical average home gate of around 19,000 this event drew 25,000 (since there was no increase in ticket price). This double header was clearly a success as the best part of 20,000 returned from the bars within 15 minutes of the end of the match to be confronted by a different scenario, with DJ Jenny Powell leading into the band, who played a full hour long set.

Summing up Paul Timmins said “It was one of those days where everything worked. To have the PA rig built and deployed in just 12 minutes from the final whistle was remarkable.”

Production also had to remain nimble, and responsive to 11thhour requests. “In addition to the live sound we discovered we had to provide a broadcast mixdown from stems to Birmingham FC TV, and at the last minute they also wanted to record it—so we brought in Phil Wright, who is such a safe pair of hands, with his own kit to do the streaming.

“On top of it all, Birmingham City, after a wretched run of form, won the game, the sun came out for the concert andUB40 played a blinding set. Sean was over the moon and I’m happy for the club because they went out on a limb to do this.”

Other key personnel who contributed to the event’s success included experienced tour manager Yaron Levy, with Russ Tite mixing at front of house. Jason McAvoy was control tech, Rylan Machin and Ryan Bass were the two system techs on duty, while other techs were Chris Wilcock and Jack Davis.

UK: Inspired by Star-Trek’s Holodeck, and described by customers as “the greatest VR experience they have ever had”, the advanced audio-visual specification and installation for this attraction was entrusted to London-based Crossover.

Sandbox approached the specialists to fit out the three floors of the iconic Post Building in London\’s Covent Garden—a former Royal Mail Sorting Centre that had previously sat derelict for 20 years.

Selection of the right products was paramount and careful consideration had to be given to the challenges around the acoustics and structure of the building. For sound reinforcement they opted for Martin Audio’s popular CDD coaxial differential dispersion series, as they often have in the past.

Crossover specified several different audio-visual solutions for this unique space, with digital signage driving pavement appeal and allowing easy updates of scheduled information and promotions.

WE KNEW THE PENDANT ADORNS WOULD BE A PERFECT FIT

Inside, it’s the four Holodecks, split over the two lower floors, that are the main area for VR participation. Each area houses a wall-mounted large-format display that provides information to the team about the room and mission that has been chosen. Here, diverse audio and visual elements mesh together to dramatically enhanced the visitor experience within a dynamic space.

Crossover Senior Systems Designer, Juan Garcia, said the client had been looking for a high-quality sound system that could operate as a background and foreground system. “We know from past experience that Martin Audio would be able to deliver the quality requirements within reasonable budgets,” he said.

Fed by a combination of customer-profiled media player, iPod and DJ inputs, 14 CDD6WTX-WR speakers are distributed across the multi-audio-zoned venue. This includes the Mezzanine Presentation Area, which serves as a multifunctional events space, where the audio system combines with a large projection screen, fed from an ultra-short throw projector.

“We love the CDDs’ sound quality and reliability,” stated Garcia. “They provide a great base level of sound to work with,” added Crossover Commissioning Engineer, Lewis Spink. “The CDD range has been a good solution across projects, where you can achieve high coverage in areas with fewer speakers, as this minimises phase relationship considerations.

“We’ve seen the speakers give consistent performance across a number of years in very tricky environments, with no massive discernible differences between new speakers and five-year-old speakers that have endured heavy usage. That’s really impressive, and excellent for us and our clients.”

In the main bar area the CDD6s are boosted by a pair of discreet Martin Audio slimline SX110 1 x 10in subwoofers in order to create more of a club feel.

Since the venue is acoustically highly reverberant—with hard, reflective surfaces, exacerbated by the loud noise of excited customers—a warm, rich background audio system had been vital to preserve the sense of immersion. Therefore, Crossover worked carefully to manage the acoustics involved by not only careful selection of loudspeakers, but also through specification of appropriate acoustic panels, which also enhance the overall ‘industrial’ aesthetic of the interior design.

\”Crossover did an amazingjob deploying our AV requirements into the first Sandbox VR venue in Europe,” statedJake Wilmot-Sitwell, co-founder at VR Entertainment Group // Sandbox VR (UK & Ireland). As a result the integrators were engaged for the second Birmingham site, where they turned elsewhere in the Martin Audio portfolio to specify 10 of the ADORN ACP55T 5.25in Pendant speakers in a distributed system, along with four Martin Audio SX110 subs.

Juan Garcia said, “Since the Birmingham site had ceilings, we were able to mount from, and the power requirement was less, we knew the pendant ADORNS would be a perfect fit; at the same time we knew they would provide a very even coverage.”

HUNGARY: After working with leading Hungarian artiste, Magdolna ‘Magdi’ Rúzsa for more than a decade, Martin Audio’s Hungarian partner, BG Event, is accustomed to rising to unique challenges.

When it comes to the creative element, they strive to scale new heights with every collaboration. Two recent shows at the 12,500-cap László Papp Budapest Sports Arena proved no exception.

Rúzsa requested a 50-metre-long catwalk thrust, linking to a 6m x 6m ‘B’ stage. While her standard five-piece rock band would occupy main stage, there was a very different set up awaiting on the small ‘in-the-round’ secondary stage, where a 10-piece orchestra would perform. To achieve the end result required some clever positioning and time alignment of nearly 200 Martin Audio speakers deployed by the service provider.

Knowing he needed to adopt a radically different approach BG Event project manager Gábor ‘Mazsi’ Bácskay consulted with regular freelance system designer, Marci Mezei, to discuss a system that would require two unique EQ profiles in his mixer, muting and automatically changing time alignment depending on which location was being used. Also, he knew that such a long extension would obviate the need for further delay points in a venue measuring 120 meters distance from the stage to the back row seating.

The main stage PA comprised two hangs of MLA, each 15 elements deep plus an MLD downfill, with two hangs of 12 deep MLA used for outhangs. A flown hang of eight MLX subwoofers was deployed on the left wing, supported by additional groundstacks of MLX, six per side, in an end-fire configuration. “To balance the low frequencies we backed the ground-stacked MLX off by -6dB, which worked much better,” said Mazsi.

But it was on the ‘B’ stage that the magic took place for an acoustic mini orchestra comprising strings, horns, double bass, acoustic guitar, piano and percussion. Three hangs of 14 MLA Compact were flown at the end of the B stage thrust, used as delay positions to support the Main Stage, and then taking over as the primary system when the B stage was in use.

The main stage MLA and subs were automatically muted when the action moved to the B stage, while the side hangs remained unmuted and realigned to the B stage PA. Four more hangs of 14 MLA Compact were distributed along the walkway, two aside. “The MLA Compacts took over from the first row, and by using Hard Avoid [in Martin Audio’s DISPLAY software] we never experienced any feedback problems with the PA whatsoever,” explained Mazsi.

BG Event finessed the PA set-up to achieve evenly distributed coverage throughout the venue by adding 10 Martin Audio CDD-LIVE 8 for nearfills on the second stage, while six MLA Compact carried out similar duties on main stage.

The musicians all took their reference sound from Martin Audio monitors, the foldback comprising a combination of Martin Audio XE300s and discreet DD6’s.

Explaining the monitor set-up Mazsi said, “Having been with the band for 15 years, monitor engineer Ferenc Nagy still adopts an old school approach. He likes to work with wedges—especially [Martin Audio’s] XE series—and while the standard band remains on IEMs, he preferred to provide the orchestra with wedges.”

However, with 60 meters separating monitor world from the B stage he was unable to get clear sight of the band; he therefore received assistance from Miklós Ábrahám, who used a second monitor surface on the same network.

In summary Gábor Bácskay reflected, “When the singer originally came up with this idea, we had to figure out a way to do it. It was a complex situation, but she was more than happy with the result.”