LEEDS and READING, U.K. – Liverpool-based Adlib Audio supported the NME/Radio 1 stages at the Reading and Leeds festivals this year. The brief for these tented venues included the provision of sound for outdoor areas left, right and to the back of the tents, and for the standard system inside as well.
Adlib sent a crew of six to each site, with Marc Peers crew-chiefing Leeds and James Neale doing the same in Reading.
The PA systems were nearly identical for both sites, allowing the line-ups to flip-flop between locations. Adlib's two crews worked together to share show files, notes, patch and settings information, right down to the mic lists, which helped the artists' second nights to run smoothly and keep the sound and mixing consistent.
With a standard setup inside, and three large video screens outside the tent – one on both sides and one at the back – optimizing the sound became more complex.
The main system included eight L-Acoustics K1s per side, each column flown off a mast structure, complete with three d-V underhangs. Some serious bottom end was offered up by eight SB28s and four K1 subs a-side, all on the ground. The SB28s were in two stacks of 4, run in cardiod mode for additional effect and coverage.
Six ARCS were used for in, out and center fills, and at the back of the FOH tower, they installed three dV-DOSCs left and right for delays covering the back of the tent.
Outside, the left and right video screens were each accompanied by a stack of six Kudo speakers, positioned to be level with the downstage edge of the inside PA hangs. These were ground-stacked on their flying frames, sitting on a scaffolding structure. The rear video screen was serviced with three Kudos per side (six in total).
The FOH consoles were Midas Heritage H3000s, spec'd by the client and chosen for user familiarity and reliability. Headliners Pendulum, The Klaxons and LCD Soundsystem all brought in their own consoles.
For monitors, Adlib supplied Yamaha PM5D consoles, another company festival standard.
Sixteen Adlib MP3 wedges and two d-V drum subs provided monitor coverage, together with Nexo Alpha sidefills. A 4-way Sennheiser G3 IEM system was also available, together with a full mics-and-stands package.
All the L-Acoustics elements were powered by LA8 amps, with Lab.gruppen PLM10000Qs driving the wedges, networked with the onboard Lake processing.
Working alongside Peers in Leeds were Richy Nicholson (monitors), Mike Flaherty and Tommy Bradshaw (patch), with Tony Szabo (FOH) and also Pete Seddon taking care of the outside elements.
In Reading, Neale's team consisted of Ben Booker (monitors), Phil Down and Dave Davies looking after the stage, plus Otto Kroymann and Simon Fuller, who co-ordinated the FOH.
With 11 bands a day, the schedule was packed. All bands had their own engineers, and some additional monitor consoles also turned up – sometimes unexpectedly – and had to be integrated into the system, keeping the Adlib crew on their toes.
For more information, please visit www.adlibsolutions.co.uk .
