Category: Martin Audio

Sue Su reports from the China Flower Expo in Shanghai, which has spent several months operating as a Covid field hospital

The Covid 19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the music industry in recent years, not least being on the international festival circuit, where many established events were forced to close.

Rock in Japan, the country’s largest festival was no exception, and suffered the same hiatus in 2020 and 2021. However, this year, it was finally ready to make its return and it did so in very different fashion. The five-day event was reborn as an urban style festival in a new location, having moved to the Soga Sports Park in the attractive coastal resort of Chiba from its previous home of Hitachinaka.

However, the change of location had been a major concern for those managing and promoting the shows. For Soga Sports Park is located near residences and in a densely populated shopping area—hardly ideal for holding a loud rock show. Additionally, it was the first time that a festival had taken place here. The potential of noise pollution problems caused huge headaches for the production team.

“We had to adopt a completely different the approach,” stated Shuzo Fujii, president of MSI Japan, the sound production company. “Up until now, we have always focused on how far we could throw our MLA loudspeaker array, but this time we had to think in an opposite direction.”

THE RESULT WAS A MAJOR SUCCESS, NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE UNIQUE DISTRIBUTION DESIGN BUT ALSO BECAUSE OF THE CONTROLLABILITY OF MLA SYSTEM. ONCE AGAIN, I WAS ABLE TO APPRECIATE THE WONDERFUL CAPABILITY OF THIS LOUDSPEAKER.

Visitors attending the plethora of county and horticultural fairs that take place during the UK’s outdoor season, deserve the same quality of audio as hardened music fans revelling at the UK’s premier festivals.

BSB Sound owner Martin Bickley, whose company specialises in providing PA for all manner of outdoor shows, was looking for a fresh approach to deliver first class audio for the annual Shrewsbury Flower Show as the previous design of public address system was no longer suitable due to the mounting bases for the loudspeaker masts becoming unsafe. He therefore approached a long-term associate, Robin Dibble, who also happens to be one of the Martin Audio product support team.

The show is one of the country’s premier events of its kind, attracting top exhibitors from all over the UK to the site on the banks of the Severn. After a site visit to investigate the event and its requirements, Dibble specified two hangs of Martin Audio’s WPL array cabinets to be flown from towers, with a spaced broadside array of SXH subwoofers between. This he knew would provide not only high-octane audio but evenly distributed, site wide coverage.

To supply the equipment, Bickley contacted Bristol based Martin Audio partner, SWG Events, who were pleased to sub-hire their powerful and ground-breaking Wavefront Precision WPL optimised line array. The two towers were also provided by SWG, whose head of audio, Simon Purse, assisted with the set-up.

“We needed to ensure we had consistent quality and intelligibility over the 150m throw distance whilst keeping levels contained on site, with a 74dBA limit at the borders of the event site,” noted Dibble. “The site itself is in a natural bowl and the results of any events in the show ring during the day needed to be broadcast with absolute clarity by the commentators, while in the evening both military and contemporary bands took over the stage, followed by a laser display. This is where the subwoofers—a broadside array of 12 SXH218 (2×18”) enclosures—came into their own.”

The DISPLAY 2 files were prepared by Robin Dibble and loaded into the amps ready for use by Purse, with some tweaks on set-up days. “The main challenge,” Dibble continued, “was getting accurate site information because of its unusual shape, and the fact it was the first time we had worked here. So we undertook terrain mapping with SketchUp, adjusted with on-site surveys during set up.”

Sound was mixed from a desk in the commentary box, set 50 metres behind the speakers, and Robin Dibble, who took responsibility for the overall site design, was more than happy with the outcome. “This event was all about achieving consistency of coverage rather than pushing level. It worked extremely well and sounded fantastic.”

Martin Bickley agreed. “Shrewsbury Flower Show is a favourite event for us at BSB Sound and is bigger than many realise, typically with over 10,000 people sitting on the bank enjoying a wide variety of entertainment from the main show ring.

“The results were a revelation; the improvement in consistency and quality throughout the audience was a real eye opener. All the BSB Sound team were impressed with the results, and we are looking into the possibility of purchasing a WP based system of our own on the back of the equipment’s performance at this event.”

Solotech makes a mighty statement at Victoria Park with premier line array

There can be few production companies more familiar with the challenges of east London’s Victoria Park site than sound specialists Capital Sound (part of the Solotech UK Group).

Often working alongside Loud Sound they have supported many of the music events and festivals at this location for more than a decade. It was here in the summer of 2011, first for Deadmau5 at the LED Festival, followed by other back-to-back events including Field Day, that they proved that even within a densely populated residential area, they could achieve enviable levels within the performance area without disturbing the neighbours.

It was at these events that Capital debuted, and established the unique controllability of Martin Audio’s award-winning MLA technology, and a further propagation test at Hatfield House duly led to its adoption at another challenging site, Hyde Park, for BST, which persists to this day.

But such demands place pressure on their inventory and he adds that they are fortunate to be able to utilise the growing Martin Audio network when it comes to pulling in extra inventory. “Martin Audio also provides great support where we need it and has done a fantastic job staying involved. But as the user network has grown, we have managed to rely less on manufacturer support and more on partner support.”

Once again, for reasons of efficiency, the organisers tweaked the layout of the two main stages (named Riot and Roots), while out around the perimeter the Radical (Stage 3), Rise (Stage 4) and Rebel (Stage 5) areas belonged to Martin Audio.

Solotech makes a mighty statement at Victoria Park with premier line array

There can be few production companies more familiar with the challenges of east London’s Victoria Park site than sound specialists Capital Sound (part of the Solotech UK Group).

Often working alongside Loud Sound they have supported many of the music events and festivals at this location for more than a decade. It was here in the summer of 2011, first for Deadmau5 at the LED Festival, followed by other back-to-back events including Field Day, that they proved that even within a densely populated residential area, they could achieve enviable levels within the performance area without disturbing the neighbours.

It was at these events that Capital debuted, and established the unique controllability of Martin Audio’s award-winning MLA technology, and a further propagation test at Hatfield House duly led to its adoption at another challenging site, Hyde Park, for BST, which persists to this day.

Yet proof of concept is continuously evaluated, and this year further modelling was undertaken against another premier brand, before MLA rightly took its familiar place on the East stage in Victoria Park, at AEG Presents’ now consolidated All Points East.

IT SOUNDED GREAT, AND WE COULD ACHIEVE THIS SPL, WITHOUT BREACHING OFFSITE LEVELS.

Solotech senior project manager Martin Connolly confirmed that, under evaluation, the same measurements had been achieved as previously. “It’s good to have scientific data, but then we have proved the point over and over again with MLA.”

This year the coverage pattern was tweaked in accordance with the slight reorientation of the stage away from the sensitive flank. Meanwhile, on the West stage was Martin Audio’s newer Wavefront Precision technology, embodied in the mighty WPL.

The main hangs on East stage comprised 13 MLA and a single MLD (downfill) box on each side per side, with side hangs of nine MLA stage right, and eight on stage left. Frontfills comprised eight Martin Audio XD12, with a castellated cardioid broadside array of 20 MLX subs along the front.

Further back, five delay points were set, populated by a total of 46 MLA Compact, with six MLX subwoofers in a cardioid design on the last two positions. Finally, stage sidefills comprised four SXHF218 subwoofers, and a pair each of Martin Audio TORUS T1215 and T1230 constant curvature boxes.

It was left to the Solotech crew, comprising system tech Dan Fathers and FOH tech Xavier d’Arifat to ensure Gorillaz, Chemical Brothers, Tame Impala, The National, Nick Cave and Disclosure, along with their respective tech crews—were given the best experience possible.

Meanwhile, headlining West Stage—situated further back on the site, and surrounded by trees—Idles enjoyed a very different audio experience, as Martin Connolly explained. “After the huge success of BST at Hyde Park where it was featured for the first time, we took the decision to run WPL [as the main PA] on the West Stage, along with WPC—and the new SXHF218 subs in a castellated cardioid array.”

Here, levels of up to 104dBa were possible, including 103dBa for Fleet Foxes and 102dBa for Caribou. “The implementation of WPL was a huge success,” summarised Connolly. “It sounded great, and we could achieve this SPL, without breaching offsite levels.”

Main hangs comprised 12 WPL per side, while side hangs consisted of 10 WPC (stage right) and 14 stage left, further augmented by eight WPS. The broadside array of subs comprised 11 SXHF218, while the two delay masts each supported 12 WPC.

Monitors on West stage comprised 12 Martin Audio LE1500, four SXHF218 subs and a pair each of TORUS T1215 and T1230. Joseph Pearce was Solotech’s system tech and Jackson Akers, tech at FOH.

As at BST, the company was working alongside experienced production manager Mark Ward (of Proper Productions). Confirming the success of the event, Ward, said “The combination of Solotech’s expertise and Martin Audio’s advanced control technology has proven time and again that challenging sites such as Victoria Park and Hyde Park, once considered almost unworkable, are entirely viable when it comes to staging proper events.”

Held annually over two days along the banks of the Shinano River in Japan’s Nagaoka City, Nagaoka Fireworks Festival resumed in August after a three-year break. The spectacular show was accompanied by Martin Audio WPC and WPS line arrays, which were adopted as the main sound system.

The Festival was inaugurated as far back as 1879 and since World War II has been held annually on August 2-3, with the hope of achieving world peace. In 2019 it boasted a record 1.08 million spectators around the world, making it one of the three major fireworks festivals in Japan.

Although the main audience area spans approximately 500m x 200m, the height of the sound system is limited to under 3m in order not to block the view of the fireworks. To meet this requirement, multiple small systems were installed and distributed over the entire audience area.

MIC LLC and Yokinsha Co. Ltd. both brought 12 WPC and four SX218 subwoofers to the event, while Niigata Shomei Giken Co. Ltd. brought 16 WPS and six SXCF118—set at 50m intervals. The requirement for the system was to broadcast background music, commentary from the MC and emergency announcements, bringing clarity and high intelligibility across the entire audience area during the fireworks display.

Describing the event, Mr. Endo of MIC LLC, the audio general producer, said, “I have tried various systems from many manufacturers over the years, but the Martin Audio system was the only one that was able to provide a consistent experience for visitors over the wide audience area, during the explosive sound of fireworks. The reason why we were able to mix WPC and WPS without any discomfort was due to the uniformity between the various Martin Audio products.”

Cinch presents Creamfields Northcelebrated its 25th anniversary in style in the village of Daresbury—its home since 2006. The site in Cheshire again played host to the dance world’s premier brand, and with it a selection of global DJ superstars over August Bank Holiday weekend.

The biggest EDM event in the UK, hosting 250 artists over the four days, it comprised up to 12 stages, two of which were serviced by Capital Sound (a Solotech company) who have a long history of supporting the event, both in the north and south.

Headliners this year included Calvin Harris, David Guetta and Hardwell amongst others, all performing alongside the likes of Becky Hill, Bicep Live, Eric Prydz, Patrick Topping, Pete Tong, Martin Garrix, Jax Jones, Scooter and Armin van Buuren.

All the performances were DJ playback, and as is customary, each of the stages changed name on a daily basis. Working alongside Production Director Ian Greenway of LarMac Live, Solotech were responsible for ‘Stage 3’—a large TFS structure—and the outdoor stage 8 ‘Runway Stage’, which saw the introduction of a new ‘concept stage’.

THE COVERAGE WAS EXCEPTIONAL, FROM THE FRONT TO THE VERY BACK.

Stage 3 began as a Silent Disco as did all opening stages on the Thursday, changing to ‘Catch And Release’ ‘Stmpd Records’ and ‘MK Presents’ on the successive days. The key nights were Saturday when Martin Garrix headlined and on Sunday where MK revved up the audience hosting his own Arena line up.

Solotech fielded 11 MLA elements with an MLD Downfill at the base on both sides of the stage; further front fills were provided by four Martin Audio DD12, while an array of 13 MLX subwoofers in cardioid ran across the front. Set back in the rear of the compound were two delay masts of 10 MLA Compact enclosures, ground stacked on risers. Overseeing this for Solotech was system tech and crew chief, Olly Fallon.

Stage 8 came alive as Paradise on the Friday, transforming into Trick on the Saturday and Solid Grooves on the Sunday. This stage was designed as a unique self-supporting, eight-leg truss structure, from which a WPL PA was flown. The upstage goalposts (left and right) supported WPL, and delays consisted of two hangs of eight WPS, were flown from the last goalposts of the truss structure.

Rayne Ramsden, crew chief and system tech on this stage, reported that as the first time WPL had been used in this context it was a fantastic success. He said he had received a number of compliments from crews and crowds alike. “The coverage was exceptional, from the front to the very back,” he stated, adding that dance fans surged in to extend the area back some 40 metres beyond the FOH position. “Even with that extra capacity WPL catered for the extended throw distance with no trouble at all,” he confirmed.

The complement of speakers that made that possible were hangs of 13 WPL with a further three WPL fills down on each side of the stage upstage from the main PA hangs. These were supported by an additional four DD12 , providing extra front fills, and a broadside array of 13 MLX subwoofers, providing the all-important LF extension.

Solotech senior project manager, Martin Connolly, described the event as an outstanding success, and the experiment with the eight-legged free-standing structure as a revelation.

Ian Greenway added, “We know Solotech well, and their willingness to adapt and overcome at Creamfields is more important than ever as we start to migrate to newer and more unique structures. With two Creamfields festivals a year now, we’re looking forward to further developing the relationship.”

In fact Creamfields marked its 25th year by launching a second edition—Creamfields South, which was staged early June at Hylands Park in Chelmsford and attracted 50,000 dance music fans.

Photography by Andrew Benge.

Having routinely specified Martin Audio’s MLA Compact PA for festival shows where sensitive offsite noise has been an issue—along with the smaller MLA Mini on corporate events—Bristol based SWG Events has continued its long tradition.

Best known for servicing a number of stages at Glastonbury with Martin Audio solutions the production company recently provided sound reinforcement for the second year to the Hampton Court Palace Festival, having worked for the production company that runs HCPF on other shows.

In addition to the single large stage, which featured two main hangs of eight MLA Compact and six MLX, they also provided BlacklineX on a small bandstand in the East Front public picnic area prior to the show.

This year’s all-star line-up included UB40, Elbow, George Benson, Jack Savoretti, McFly, Kacey Musgraves, The Human League, Michael Ball & Alfie Boe and Crowded House. To provide even coverage for audiences up to 3,200-capacity SWG Events supplemented the two main MLA Compact hangs with DD12s for centre and left/right outfills, with eight WPM for front fills and six Blackline X8 for balcony fills. A monitor package in the shape of 16 of their new XE500 was powered by Martin Audio’s iKON iK42 amplifiers.

Aside from the quality of the music, the orientation of the stage—enabling the Palace to provide a spectacular backdrop—was the icing on the cake, as SWG Event Technology Specialist Ian Williams explained. “The idea is to create the illusion that the audience felt they were inside the palace rather than just in front of it. We illuminated it and handed control over to the lighting designers so it could be used as a spectacular backdrop.”

With Williams himself project managing, leading a team comprising Matt Pope, Ryan Bass and Kieran Jordan, the shows functioned like clockwork. Engineers simply plugged consoles into a pre-time aligned, pre-optimised system, and were provided digital inputs for left, right, sub and fill. “Our system technicians then worked to keep the optimisation as current as possible, working with the engineers to find ideal times within their sets to load in new profiles to the rig”, explained Williams.

SWG’s long successful tradition with Martin Audio equipment, now enters its next stage with their recent purchase of WPL. Williams commented, “We’ve already done a number of shows with our new system and we have received some great comments from engineers that have used it.”

If there is a single festival that defines the English summer, it has to be Henley, which this year celebrated its 40th anniversary with an eclectic mix of music, comedy, art and grade A fun.

Production managed by John Harris, Henley is a festival unlike any other, with the main stage placed in the River Thames, backed by a fleet of boats of all shapes and sizes. The site features a variety of other venues ranging from intimate comedy to cabaret and dance bands.

RG Jones has been providing audio at Henley since 1983—most of it based around Martin Audio PA—and in a relationship surviving that long, the level of trust and commitment is obviously at its highest. Over the years, the style of the event has changed somewhat from the original, fully classical programme to what is now a much more commercial line-up, but with no less determination to deliver an unforgettable experience. This year’s artists (on the main Floating Stage) were as diverse as Sir Tom Jones, Craig David, Katherine Jenkins, Jack Savoretti, The Script and Pete Tong with the Ibiza Classics Orchestra.

The Floating Stage sound system was manned by the experienced Mark Edwards, using an established design by Simon Honywill. The site is very unusual as it is around three times wider than it is deep, and three arrays each side of the stage structure are required to deliver the requisite coverage; the outer arrays feature nine deep hangs of Martin Audio’s MLA Compact, the forward facing comprise seven deep MLA Compact, and the inner coverage this time was provided by four deep Martin Audio Wavefront Precision Mini (WPM), plus some W8LMD frontfills. “It’s a tricky system to get right,” says Honywill, “as some seats are extremely close to the stage. But years of working on this site go a long way to guaranteeing a first-class audience experience.”

Elsewhere, top comedians were doing their very best to keep everyone laughing in roasting temperatures in The Comedy Club – Andy Parsons, Milton Jones, Maisie Adam and Russell Kane were among the fantastic line up. For RG Jones, The Comedy Club was operated by Sam Liddiard and featured a Martin Audio W8LM/WLX system.

Rosie Tarrant could be found in the Bedouin Bar with a Martin Audio DD12/SXC118 system for a varied mix of world and folk music, and in the Jazz Tent Olly Wickes was tasked with a stream of different acts—handled more than capably by an MLA Mini system.Finally Dan Langridge was anchored in The Riverside Restaurant, mixing the resident dance band on a W8LM/WLX system.

A highlight of this year was the appearance of Boney M in the Big Top.With a fantastic 9-piece band and a raft of backing singers supporting original member Liz Mitchell, they smashed through their massive list of enormous hits to the rapturous delight of a crowd of very up-for-it festival goers.Mixed by Simon Honywill on his first serious Martin Audio TORUS adventure, the sound engineer stated, “the result was one of those one-off joyous things which make you realise why you still do this for a living.” Complete with stage invasion, this extravaganza was a huge success.

Another big success was Honywill’s partnership with LIPA student Sheridan Burns, who came under his tutelage as part of Henley Festival’s new RISE programme. The Festival was set up in 1982 as a charity, its mission being to stage a music and arts festival for the local community. To coincide with its 40th anniversary, they set up RISE to support emerging talent, both in front and behind the spotlight—and Burns was selected by RG Jones to fulfil their RISE quota.

As for TORUS, speaking of his first experience with the system, Simon Honywill stated, “This is a great product; it has great flexibility while maintaining the musical, signature Martin Audio sound that I love so much.

“We had to redeploy the system into a 270° DJ system after Boney M finished … and it totally rocked!”

John Harris also added his own plaudits, both on TORUS and the sound set-up in general: “Henley Festival is proud of its long association with RG Jones and is excited to see and hear the developments in technology that they introduce to our stages.”

Background music systems have been shown to have a huge influence on people in just about every situation. However, an area that has been overlooked is the effect that the quality of the music has on human behaviour.

Research has highlighted the way that music can affect consumer habits in a retail environment, employee focus in a workplace and relaxation in a hospitality setting. The first studies into the effects of music on shoppers were published more than 30 years ago and these results have been confirmed and refined time and again since then. Findings by PPS PRL[1] showed that two-thirds of UK adults say that the type of music a shop or business plays influences what they buy. The same survey also found that classical music encourages restaurant diners to order expensive items on the menu and that more than two-thirds admit to leaving a venue after realising that no songs were playing.

Further research, published by JAMA Network [2], notes the implications that music can have in other hospitality settings, such as hotels and spas. This research shows that music can make a positive change in health-related quality of life, which highlights the important role that a commercial audio system plays in therapeutic settings such as spas.

A slightly more contested area is the use of audio in the workplace. This is a subject that has seen a large amount of research, with results that have often been contradictory. Some papers have found that listening to music with lyrics while reading or working can decrease concentration or cognitive performance (Shih et al., 2012 [3];Liu et al., 2021 [4]). On the other hand, a number of studies have shown oppositely that natural-occurring sounds such as white noise, or highly composed sound such as classical music, can be beneficial for increasing focus and can even improve learning outcomes (Davies, 2000 [5];Chou, 2010 [6];Angwin et al., 2017 [7];Gao et al., 2020 [8]).