| Entec
in New Sound Design Concept at Guilfest
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Entec supplied sound and lighting
production for the BBC 2 Main
stage and the Rock Sound Cave
stages at Guilfest 2005. The
event was held in Guilford’s
Stoke Park, and has become Surrey’s
hugely successful take on the
concept of civilised, family
orientated festivals.
Main stage headliners at the
3 day festival included The
Pogues, Paul Weller and Status
Quo, and there was also a full
programme of performance spread
across 6 stages and arenas.
“The key to a successful
event is always having a good
team” says Sound Crew
Boss Stef Serpagli. Entec’s
audio team included Adam Draper
(Shabi) doing stage and mics,
Dave Guerin (monitors), Gary
Hughes (FOH babysitter) and
Serpagli who was also system
designer.
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They
utilised a d&b Q1 line array system
on the Main stage, and also took the
opportunity to beta test d&b’s
new software module for delaying the
sub bass to provide a ‘virtual
bass array’. Along with the ability
to run the subs in cardioid mode, this
provided a really smooth bass response
throughout the site.
The new delayed sub array software
allows monitoring of the sub and a
new calculation for the lining up
of single drops of sub e.g. across
the front of stage – even when
not equidistantly spaced. This creates
a pattern control allowing the energy
to be contained in the site.
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The additional flexibility
proved invaluable in avoiding
potential noise pollution issues.
Being a residential site, containing
sound was crucial. The FOH level
had to be maintained at an expedient
95dB, so considerable effort
was made to contain the energy
coming from the PA.
Entec had first tried the concept
the previous weekend on a show
at Alton Towers. It worked very
well, so they did it again at
Guildford, where it proved an
invaluable tool in sound containment
and minimising complaints from
nearby residents.
To help in sound focussing,
instead of a single main hang,
they went for two – one
top hang of eight Q1s per side
and a ground stack of two Q1s
per side as front fills. They
also added delays – to
ensure yet more control over
the sound – consisting
of two Q1’s hung on the
back of the FOH tower structure,
plus two Q10s for far out-fills.
“Once we got the delay
times aligned, we were sorted”
explained Serpagli.
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FOH they ran a single Midas XL4 console,
and onstage a single Midas H3000 –
so the changeovers were extremely busy. |
FOH EQ were the new KT DN370’s,
virtually untouched due to the
main system processor being
d&b’s “Rope”
software. They added an additional
DN370 for the engineer’s
instant ‘grabber’
access, again, hardly used!!
FOH effects included an Eventide
H3000 harmonizer, a TC M2000
reverb and a D2 delay, a Lexicon
PCM 91, two Yamaha SPX 990s
and a whole variety of inserts
including a dual Avalon, dbx
160s, eight dbx 160X’s,
three dbx 1066s, five Drawmer
gates and two BSS 901s.
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Most bands brought their own
engineers and had proper riders
and specifications, so Entec’s
brief was to supply a versatile,
top quality system with all
the usual high end audio requirements.
Monitors were Entec APW wedges,
powered by Lab Gruppen amps
& KT DN9848 processors ….
16 mixes in total. d&b C7’s
were used for side fills and
drum subs. Monitor outboards
were KT DN3600s, 6 channels
of dbx compression, Drawmer
gates and an SPX 990. Entec
also supplied a wide selection
of mics.
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Rock Sound Cave
For the rock-tastic Rock Sound Cave
stage, Entec supplied a pokey d&b
C4 system plus a Midas XL200 at FOH
and an XL3 onstage, plus another Entec
APW monitor wedge system, complete
with Drawmer, dbx, Lexicon and Yamaha
outboards/effects and assorted mics,.
This was looked after by Mark Portlock
onstage and Jason Barton at FOH.
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Lighting
Main stage lighting was looked
after by crew chief Andy Mountain
and Urko Arruza, and in the
Rock Sound Cave was Niall Hannell
and Mikey Ray Harkins –
a truly multi-cultural team.
Lighting was flown on sub trusses
rigged in the roof of the 15
metre Orbit stage, shaped to
fit the arch of the structure.
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Main stage lighting was based
around Status Quo’s spec
for the Sunday night (LD Pat
Marks) and included eight Martin
MAC 500s and six MAC 600s, plus
a miscellany of PARs, ACLs and
Moles. There was the choice
of two Avolites consoles at
FOH – a Diamond 3 or a
Sapphire. All the headlining
acts brought their own LDs.
Rock Sound Cave lighting consisted
of Martin MAC 300s and 250+’s,
6 DWE 4-lite Moles, 6 bars of
PAR36’s, and 6 floor cans.
Control desk was an Avolites
Pearl.
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