Facing a third year of providing technical services for the three-day Access The Festival (ATF) EDM dance party at Warwick’s Sherbourne Park, events specialist Sound Access turned to Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision (WPS) for sound reinforcement for the first time.
Organised by DJs Will Darley and Alex Neidhardt, the festival continues to evolve its concept (this year adding a third day) but – mindful that, with three stages in close proximity, and a lot of low-frequency energy to contain – Sound Access owner Joe Baker’s thinking was straightforward…
‘The organisers wanted to upgrade the audio this year because we all felt that the listening experience was the most important,’ he explains. ‘Last year, noise rejection out the back was quite bad with the system we used.
Sound Access had previously collaborated with Martin Audio partner dBS Solutions on several tours including Burn The Floor, where they carried a WPS rig.
‘It was the first time I had used it, and I had the best time,’ Baker says. ‘I never had to change my mix even when we dropped boxes for smaller venues, whereas with other systems you have to work hard to get that consistency.’
When Access The Festival came around, Baker was back in contact with Chris Bogg at dBS Solutions who was happy to cross-hire his WPS and Torus systems for the summer party. Sophia Livett from noise consultants Acoustec set site sound thresholds, which Baker knew he could meet by using the Hard Avoid feature in Martin Audio’s proprietary Display software.
The event featured live performance as well as DJ playback from house, disco and techno specialists. The main Daylight Disco stage was bedecked with mirrorballs and set in a Clearspan marquee, with a stage thrust, enabling dance aficionados to experience the extravaganza from all sides. On the opening night, French exponents, Session Victim and Bomel starred with live sets played out through six groundstacked WPS elements per side, working within the limitations of the marquee structure. With this configuration they could project the sound above the head height but were restricted by the lower-than-expected roof height, and after time alignment were experiencing bounce back of the roof girders.
‘With an accumulation of reflections, we used Hard Avoid; this worked extremely well and gave us the coverage we wanted.’ They were comfortably able to achieve level at the FOH measurement position, with most of the HF firing down into the arena stage itself.
A pair each of Torus T1230 on the outside edges of the marquee, where the audience was bleeding out, filled the gap perfectly and sounded ‘absolutely brilliant’, according to Baker. For the LF, a broadside array of eight SXC118 single cardioid subs provided tight control and the all-important rear rejection in the 15m x 15m space.
‘This was necessary because the sound was firing out across a lot of farmers’ fields and towards a noise sensitive country house,’ he says. ‘We were only talking about notching 2dB at 50Hz, so it was nothing drastic, but without that noise rejection from the main stage we would have had massive problems.’ In the event they were able to isolate this area perfectly from the other two stages.
The smaller Groove Garden stage used a Torus constant curvature groundstacked system, three T1230 elements per side, attached via scaff bars and battens to the estate trees; these were illuminated by LED uplighters to create a great atmosphere.
‘Torus was mounted on chain blocks above head height angled down to prevent any bleed,’ Baker says. ‘The coverage was fantastic even right down at the front. Torus did what we wanted 100 per cent – the quality was fantastic and when DJs did big HF sweeps the sound remained really clear without biting.’
Further Martin Audio XD12 boxes were used for DJ booth fill, with a pair of CDD6s were deployed for front fill and a pair of WS218 subs (in stereo) mounted onstage either side of the booth.
‘You could have a normal conversation as you walked into the tent but as soon as you crossed the threshold it was pumping,’ Chris Bogg reports. ‘The pattern control once you walked into the tent was amazing. Once Joe had done a couple of tours on Martin Audio systems it was a natural step to advance the festival’s sound knowing that we were on hand to provide support if necessary.’
Will Darley agreed that the event had been an unqualified success. ‘Joe and the team did an awesome job designing, installing and operating the sound systems. Altered stage designs and site layout added to the challenge of meeting strict offsite noise limits while maintaining the energy required for dance music. The Martin Audio PA Joe specified this year was especially impressive, and was recognised as a good upgrade by our touring guest DJs. I’m already looking forward to planning 2024’s edition with the great groundwork laid this year.’
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