BALADO, Scotland — For the fourth year running, Adlib Audio supplied a sound system and crew to the King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent at T in The Park Festival, supporting a lineup that included Daniel Merriweather, Jason Mraz, The Pet Shop Boys, the Noisettes, Friendly Fires, Jamie T, The Saturdays and more during the three-day event. James Neale led the Adlib team of five and also oversaw the FOH operation. With Ben Booker keeping monitor world in check, Richy Nicholson looked after the stage and patch, assisted by Otto Kroyman and Michael Flaherty. The operation was project-managed in the Adlib offices by Dave Jones.
This year, the length of the King Tut’s Wah Wah tent was extended by about 30 meters, making it approximately 120 meters long, requiring additional PA and delay stacks to ensure an even sound all around.
The main left and right hangs consisted of 11 flown JBL VerTec 4889 elements and 10 ground stacked VT4880 subs per side. The increase in the tent’s volume also allowed the ground support system to be built higher, so with a bit more elevation on the main arrays, more boxes could be squeezed in — a significant advantage for the audio.
At the back of the FOH tower, two delay stacks, each consisting of three VT4889 speakers, were hung on scaffolding structures that were raised two meters off the ground.
The PA was driven by a combination of Camco Vortex 6 amps (for the mid highs) and new Lab.gruppen PLMs with inbuilt Dolby Lake processing, which powered the subs and the monitor system.
The FOH console was a Midas Heritage H3000, specified as a “safe bet” that visiting engineers would be familiar with it.
System processing was achieved via Adlib’s standard Dolby Lake processors run via a wireless remote tablet, complete with BSS FCS 960 graphic EQs. They used Drawmer DS201 dual gates, and a selection of BSS 402 and dbx 160a and 160SL compressors.
Each band’s spec was carefully examined by Neale in the week before the event to make sure all their requests would be accommodated in an effects rack loaded with classics including an Eventide H3000 harmoniser, a Lexicon PCM 91, a TC M2000 multi-effects unit, a TC D2 delay and two Yamaha SPX 990s.
The monitors —16 ADLIB MP3 wedges and two L-Acoustics Dv subs as drum subs were all controlled by a Yamaha PM5d console. Adlib also provided a full mics-and-stands package.
The biggest audio challenges of the weekend were the tight changeovers, particularly on Saturday and Sunday, where the lineups were full-on. There was barely 30 minutes between getting one band off and the next one on — but they managed it.
The FOH position was 55 meters from the stage, which is not an ideal mixing distance, but it gives the best sightlines, and it got positive comments from engineers.
“T in the Park is one of our favorite festivals to work on,” said Jones. “Everyone is really helpful, it’s such a smoothly run event and all of our crew always enjoy working there.”
For more information, please visit www.adlibaudio.co.uk.
