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UK: Solotech returned to Brockwell Park in South London recently—for three successive weekends of festival activity—fielding their flagship WPL on main stage for the first time.

After populating the event in previous years with MLA, it was time for an upgrade to their recently expanded WPL inventory. This provided site coverage for a variety of events that included Wide Awake, Field Day, Cross The Tracks, City Splash, Mighty Hoopla and Lambeth Country Show over the long duty cycle.

The Festival site attracted an aggregate of more than 300,000 people in all, and Solotech—working alongside production manager Frankie Tee of EnTEEtainment and technical production manager Amy Harmsworth—fielded no fewer than 62 WPL elements on main stage—driven in the optimum 1-box resolution from Martin Audio’s multi-channel iKON iK42 DSP amplifiers.

The main hangs comprised 16 elements per side; side hangs were split six WPL (stage left) and 12 WPL (stage right), while the final 12 WPL modules formed a single central delay hang (the second delay tower deployed in previous years, was deemed unnecessary, thanks to WPL’s extraordinary throw capability).

“IT’S A TRICKY SITE, AND SO WE NEEDED THAT 1-BOX CONTROL BECAUSE WE WERE MOVING FROM MLA TO WPL—WHICH IS REALLY GOOD AT STEERING AUDIO.”

Further boosting the sound were 18 SXHF218 in a castellated broadside cardioid sub-array, with frontfills comprising 12 Martin Audio WPC and four XD12.

Moving from the second stage last year to main stage system tech duties was Ali Hellard, who has extensive experience working with WPL. It was his task to optimise the sound and ensure there were no offsite breaches while maintaining levels at FOH. As Solotech account manager, David Preston noted, “It’s a tricky site, and so we needed that 1-box control because we were moving from MLA to WPL—which is really good at steering audio.”

Hellard confirmed that with eight stages (plus fairground rides) the site needed to be heavily monitored for sound escape, with around seven measurement points around the perimeter. Onsite limits were set at 103dB (C-weighted) for morning slots, 105dB(C) for afternoon and early evening and headliners 108dB(C). This was easily achieved while meeting offsite thresholds.

He observed that the reggae-oriented City Splash had presented the biggest challenge in view of the heavy demand on LF. To that end the castellated sub array approach was his chosen option. “Tonally, I tend to prefer arranging them in stacks of three with one reversed,” he said. “However, on a sensitive site, castellated is much better from a pattern control point of view.”

The cardioid also helped mitigate noise propagation behind the PA, where it was needed with that entire area designated Hard Avoid® in the Martin Audio software, a proprietary feature that actively reduces direct sound and sound leakage to an area by up to 30dB.

In summary, both he and David Preston reported on the high number of favourable comments from guest engineers, noting the PA’s “clarity, transparency and presence.” Preston couldn’t have been happier. “This has been a very busy summer for Solotech and so we have increased our WPL inventory in order to service the large number of events.”

Brockwell Park main stage audio crew comprised: Tim Paterson; Tom Woolsey; Ali Hellard; Kieran Niemand; Dave Pickess; Luan Nikita; Isabella Di Biase; Tim Grasse; Elliot Heal.

In addition to its commanding presence in the Expo Arena Matsuri at this year’s Osaka Expo 2025, Martin Audio loudspeakers also feature exclusively in the UK Pavilion where audio system designer and spatial sound consultant, Dave Parry—a long-time fan of the brand—has equipped the visitor experience, working for experiential master planner and exhibition designer, Immersive International.

The initiative was led by the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, whose aim is to promote trade and understanding between the UK and Japan. The design, build, maintain and deconstruct contractors are ES Global.

Having won a competitive tender, Immersive International were charged with delivering end to end concept design and strategy, including interior spatial design, animation production of the content, and mascot design (the playful children’s character PIX). This interactive, story-led journey—which takes visitors through four immersive rooms with a single narrative—is brought to life by inspired projection mapping, spatial sound and interactivity. Stated Thomas Ludewig, Immersive International Head of Architectural Services & Innovation, “The idea was to showcase the UK as an attractive place to visit, study or do business with, to a predominantly Japanese audience.”

Dave Parry’s long relationship with the Immersive International team—then as Pixel Addicts—dates back nearly two decades when they collaborated on the ground-breaking Matter nightclub at the O2. “We trust Dave completely, having worked together for over 15 years,” said Ludewig. “He continued to support us throughout the oversight and management phases which saw the designs progress to delivery onsite to ensure his vision and aspirations were achieved for the final installation.”

Inspired by children’s building blocks, the animated PIX cartoon character accompanies visitors throughout the 20-minute experience. This developedfrom the pixel visual language, inspiredby the fact that when small blocks or ideas come together, great things can happen.

The zones themselves consist of The Undercroft and Lobby, the Exhibition, PIX Lobby and PIX Room and the Finale, for all of which mission critical audio was key. Dave Parry drew on a variety of Martin Audio solutions, sensitive to the requirements and constraints of each space (working within a truss-based interior, and to a brief that speakers should be architecturally concealed).

The narration was combined with a soundtrack composed by We Sound Loud. “An important part of their workstream was developing an adjusted version for the sensory mode as well as producing the audio descriptions, that are available in both Japanese and English for those with additional needs visiting the Pavilion,” Ludewig pointed out.

Brazil: After a career spanning over six decades, Brazilian music legend Gilberto Gil is midway through a farewell tour titled Tempo Rei. This is taking him through sports palaces and stadiums in nine Brazilian cities—including the 42,000-cap Ligga Arena in Curitiba and the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro—and is scheduled to run until November.

At all but one of the shows he has been playing through an evergreen Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker array, provided by partner Gabisom Audio Equipment.

Responsible for the sound system design, optimisation and recording is Martin Audio devotee, the eight times Latin Grammy award-winning Daniel Carvalho, who has regularly mixed through MLA—a popular presence in Brazil since it first appeared at the famousRock In Riofestival.

“Farmasi Arena [aka the Jeunesse] is not an easy venue,” he admits. “It has a long reverb on the low end and the shows there are known for delivering a muddy sound. But with the low leakage of MLA, side lobe reverberation is much lower in volume and the clarity of the vocal penetrates the field comfortably with the electronic processing. With normal systems, production uses a delay for upper balcony but with the long throw of the MLA system we were able to do without.”

“IT’S AN AMAZING FEATURE THAT MAKES MLA GAME CHANGING,”

The PA comprised 17 MLA and an MLD per side, and 17 outfills (also with a single MLD). A castellated subwoofer array of 34 MLX speakers and eight MLA Compact front fills completed the set-up. “Many musicians and producers commented that it was the best sound they had ever heard in the house,” noted Carvalho. “We certainly had no complaints.” This despite being unable to fly the subwoofers due to loading restrictions, as they have been doing in other venues.

Most of the array optimisation was prefigured in Martin Audio’s DISPLAY software. “I use the DISPLAY 3 (with WPL in place of MLA) to gain some insight of the horizontal coverage and azimuth of the arrays. In places, it just required some minor EQ and level in the delayed arrays to align with the main PA. I could then walk around with the venue software and Smaart computer and tune it all.”

The ’Hard Avoid’ feature was deployed to great effect. “It’s an amazing feature that makes MLA game changing,” he says. “It’s more than a cardioid in the way it keeps sound off the stage. With the PA at full volume Gil asked during sound check: ‘Is the PA really on?’ The volume before feedback we can get, together with the castellated subs makes the stage clean and the musicians comfortable. As Brazilian MPB (Brazilian popular music) songs are noted for having very quiet moments, the Hard Avoid feature makes everything possible in large venues.”

Gilberto was supported by an exceptional backing band including many of the Gilberto family (sons, grandsons, daughter and extended family)—with a string quartet and horn section. He also introduced some surprise guests at the Farmasi, like Caetano Veloso, Anitta, Marisa Monte and lulu Santos.

The shows here extended over four days, with 17,000 people witnessing the legend each night. Describing the experience, Daniel Carvalho, said, “From the very first moment it was clear to all that the sound was at another level.

“Gil is 83 years old, and his voice came through loud and clear on top of a big band with a lot of percussion, horns and guitars. All Brazil’s greatest artists respect Gil and came to the show—many commenting on how impressed they were with the sound; they could hear everything clearly to the point that it sounded like a CD.

“Gustavo Mendes, Gil`s FOH sound engineer, was so impressed [with MLA] that he shared the same concerns as I: ‘How can we do a show without this system’? Each time we walk the venue to listen, it is so impressive the way it sounds the same at each seat. Maths really is like magic.”

And his final word? “This system was so far ahead of its time that nowadays we see other brands trying to do what MLA was doing an incredible 15 years ago.”