{mosimage}LIVERPOOL, U.K. – For the fifth year running, Adlib provided PA for the "boutique" Latitude Festival, set in Henham Park, Southwold in Suffolk.
Adlib supported six stages with gear and crew, including the Word Arena, Film & Music Arena, Sunrise Arena, The Lake Stage, the Cabaret Arena and a mobile system that was used for various events around the site.
The eclectic event ranged from bands such as The National to a Q & A featuring B.A.F.T.A. award winning comedy actors from E4's The Inbetweeners.
The 15 Adlib crew members were chiefed by Hassane Es Siahi, who had also recently served at T in the Park the previous week. Siahi also coordinated FOH at The Word Arena, assisted by Kenny Perrin, who also looked after monitors there.
The Word Arena was the second stage of the festival and the largest arena on Adlib's schedule for this year's event. It featured a mix of bands including The National, Wild Beasts, Richard Hawley, The Horrors, Jonsi and The Coral and others.
Adlib provided a JBL VerTec system to provide coverage for the variety of sounds and styles. It consisted of seven VT4889 boxes per side, with another three 4889s per side ground-stacked for infills, plus three L-Acoustics dV-DOSCs per side for center-fills, along with VT4880 subs.
Despite the large lineup, the stage space was tight, and to cover all bases at FOH, Adlib supplied three consoles.
The majority of acts used the house desk, a Soundcraft Vi6. Grizzly Bear's engineer Drew Malamud specified a Midas Heritage H3000 and Brandon Reid from The National requested an Avid Profile.
The house monitor console was a Yamaha PM5D. Adlib also supplied another Avid Profile as a guest monitor desk. Some bands also brought in their own consoles, presenting the biggest challenge of the weekend – finding the physical space to accommodate everyone.
The monitor system consisted of 12 Adlib MP3 low profile wedges,
two L-Acoustics dV subs for the drum fills, with ARCS cabinet and an SB28 on each side for sidefills. These were all driven by Lab.gruppen PLM 10,000 amps, with Camco Vortex 6s for the VerTecs and PLM 140000s for the VerTec subs.
The changeovers needed a considerable amount of coordination. They had to be speedy – 15 minutes was about the longest – with most bands using at least 35 channels through FOH, while the backstage set up space for the next act was limited. However with the onstage patch overseen by Otto Kroymann and assisted by Tommy Bradshaw, the Adlib team rose to the challenge.
At the Music & Film Arena, an Adlib FD speaker system helped visitors listen to art films, which were screened between some live performances. Adlib's Alan Harrison and Aide Bryan used an Avid SC48 console to mix both FOH and monitors, with MP3 wedges for onstage sound.
The diverse lineup at the Sunrise Arena ranged from Tokyo Police Club to Darwin Deez. Adlib's Michael Flaherty managed the sound system, which featured a Nexo Alpha sound system, with left and right stacks comprising two M3 mid highs, two B2 bass cabinets and S1 subs, all ground-stacked, with MP3 wedges. At FOH was another Soundcraft Vi6 console and a PM5D for monitors.
The audio system at the Lake Stage, overseen by Chris Smethurst, was the same spec Nexo Alpha as Sunrise, all mixed from the side stage position via an Avid SC48 desk.
The action-packed Cabaret Arena featured another Adlib FD system with double 15 inch subs and a Yamaha LS9 desk, mixed by Carlos Herreros.
For this and all the other stages, Adlib supplied a full mics-and-stands package to cater for the requests and specs of all artists.
To catch those spontaneous performance moments – from juggling to live art of all descriptions needing a bit of amplification – Adlib's Hannibal Chaabouni roamed the festival site in a van, complete with a set of Adlib AA122 speakers-on-sticks, a 16-channel Yamaha LS9 mixer and a selection of mics.
"Latitude is one of the more unique festivals in which Adlib is involved, and it provides its own challenges, as it should with an event of its size," said Adlib's client manager Phil Kielty. "But thanks to an excellent relationship with Festival Republic and some superb planning by Nick Davies there, it all goes extremely smoothly each year, and we all love it."
Latitude is one of several festivals being serviced by Adlib this summer. The season started with Radio 1's Big Weekend in May, and will culminate with Leeds/Reading on the August Bank Holiday.
For more information, please visit www.adlibsolutions.co.uk.
