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John Greaves, Audio Specialist at Audiosure, the Martin Audio distributor, explained the various factors which led to the elaborate audio system design. “We were trying to achieve an extremely high-quality, distributed, multi-zone, multi-purpose, state-of-the-art audio solution which would allow each area of the gym to have audio functioning either independently or collectively, at the touch of a button,” he said. The Audiosure Solutions team worked closely with Craig Harris and Mark Bracco from Audiobility, specialists in control automation, to help turn Body Action Gym’s vision into reality.

The Audiosure Solutions team had to be cognisant of the fact that the gym sits across three floors of a multi-storey building, which is shared with corporate offices. This posed a slight issue for the team, as the audio system needed to deliver club-level sound when guest DJs were playing, while at the same time leave the occupants of the offices above free from disturbance. Greaves added, “Structural transference was the gym’s biggest concern, so we needed to make sure that we isolated the speakers and subwoofers from any concrete surfaces.” This was achieved with the use of rubber mounts and steel suspension rope, and helped prevent any vibrations from being transferred through the concrete to the adjacent floors.

WE ARE BIG FANS OF BLACKLINEX BECAUSE IT OFFERS EXCEPTIONAL SOUND QUALITY AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE.

To achieve the optimum result they turned to the prestigious Martin Audio portfolio. The main gym area now consists of 16 Blackline X8s mounted to custom column clamps, as well as six Blackline X118 subwoofers suspended from the concrete slab. The entire solution is controlled by a dedicated Martin Audio DX0.5 speaker management system, allowing complete control of processing functions such as EQ, crossover and system protection. Each of the studios are equipped with a pair of powered Blackline XP12s, providing 1300W of class-leading sound from an extremely compact enclosure. The XP12s are all pole mounted from the ceiling, utilising the aforementioned rubber mounts.

The surrounding areas, including the indoor boxing area, outdoor CrossFit section, outdoor running track and basketball court and kids’ areas, were also equipped with sound, and careful selection of appropriate wireless microphones—from Belt-pack Transmitter Systems to Headset Microphones for the trainer—was applied, while similar attention to detail was given to the lighting.

Greg Payne, Director at Audiosure, described the whole project as “an absolute pleasure.” He added, “From conceptualisation to completion, the outcome was exactly how we had planned it. Audiosure is privileged to distribute some of the world’s leading brands, and being able to incorporate these into this project meant that the result was pure perfection.”

And John Greaves also added his praise of the Martin Audio solution. “We are big fans of BlacklineX because it offers exceptional sound quality at an affordable price, it offers very neat mounting hardware and an aesthetically pleasing enclosure design. The BlacklineX powered enclosures are wonderful because of their built-in DSP, limiters and again the same points as above.

“It was a compelling solution because the Blackline X8s are small and neat enough to be distributed all around the venue, while being impressive enough to cover the space effectively, with great sounding audio.”

Purse recalls that the main issue had been the risk of disturbing communications to the boats in the harbour. “We did some propagation tests and applied Hard Avoid to prevent leakage back to the artists onstage, and at the imaginary rear wall at the boundary of the audience area, 70 metres back. In fact we stored a number of presets in the background of the software, to cater for various different scenarios.”

Dave Taylor takes up the story. “As it was an open site, we needed to take precautions against possible wind interference, but in the end, this was not needed.” Sound thresholds were imposed by acousticians Electric Star Live, with the initially set maximum of 96dBa Leq (15 minutes) later relaxed to 98dBa for the main acts (and dependent on the style of music).

COVERAGE WAS EVEN RIGHT ACROSS THE SITE, AND THE SUBS SOUNDED FANTASTIC, ESPECIALLY ON THE DRUM AND BASS.

Taylor confirmed that hangs of 10 Martin Audio MLA elements per side were supported by 15 MLX subwoofers in cardioid broadside sub array, to ensure rear rejection, and four MLA Compact, ground-stacked on each side of the stage, acted as side-fills.

Dave Taylor himself mixed the drum and bass acts, with the exception of Biffy Clyro (whose sound was in the hands of experienced sound engineer, Jon Burton). Stated Taylor, “Coverage was even right across the site, and the subs sounded fantastic, especially on the drum and bass. It was thumping hard, yet we were still only at 70%. There was plenty of horsepower in the system and I had the tops turned down 4dB. There was always ample headroom in the system.”

The promoters ensured that this event was a real spectacle, with pyrotechnics, lasers and big screen video supporting the muscular Martin Audio PA. It looks certain that now the venue has been re-established, the event will return on an even larger scale in 2022.