Capital Sound’s big weekend at Hyde Park, which traditionally brings the curtain
down on the festival season, saw Proms In the Park link up live with the Last Night
of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, while similar events took place in Belfast,
Swansea and Glasgow.

The sound company has now become accustomed to rigging its flagship Martin
Audio MLA at the London site, mitigating its historic problems with offsite noise
escape; working for promoters Festival Republic for the second year they were
probably anticipating an easy ride following the successful system induction in 2014.

But 48 hours before the event the BBC decided to install two “interview’ tepees in
the Guest Hospitality enclosure — a stone’s throw from the right PA hangs and
outfills — and requested the sound to be steered away from this area in order that
artist interviews between acts could go live to air without stage sound intrusion.

Capital’s project manager Martin Connolly consulted with Andy Davies and Nigel
Meddemmen at Martin Audio — knowing this was perfect territory for MLA’s
advanced optimisation control software.

Martin Audio’s two technical support specialists knew they would be able to write a
new profile for the side hang, negating the need to turn specific boxes off.

“The result was startling,’ recalls Connolly. “As you walked towards the array the
coverage sounded identical to the previous optimisation, suggesting that the level
would not be sufficiently reduced at the tepees; but the reality was extraordinary,
the drop in level was huge.’

Other refinements were made to the delay positions, with three rings of 10
positions spaced across the 400 metres from stage to the back of the audience. In
order to maintain sound levels through the audience, there was a smoother front to
back SPL profile with the delays running at only a few dB lower than the main
arrays to give the audience a far more engaging experience at a significantly higher
level. Positionally, they moved the first delay ring 10 metres further back from the
stage, the second ring 20 metres and the third ring 30 metres.

A further new feature was the deployment of ten Martin Audio DD6’s at the BBC’s
VIP stand, the structure of which had changed this year. “Last year we made sure
we avoided hitting the glass doors with sound to avoid reflection,’ says Connolly.
“Therefore, by steering the MLA Compact delay hang nearest the structure away
from the veranda, the sound needed lifting in the HF; deploying a DD6 on each
pillar led to a significant improvement.’ Capital also installed 12 Martin Audio F8
inside the structure — both systems time aligned to the main system but with local
control.

As for the main PA configuration, 16 MLA plus one MLD Downfill were hung on each
side while the sidefills consisted of 12 MLA plus one MLD Downfill. A further 26 MLX
subs formed a cardioid pattern across the stage front to facilitate beam steering.

Playing out through the system were artists including headliners, The Jacksons,
Caro Emerald, Russell Watson, Alison Balsom, The Mavericks, Beverley Knight, Matt
Cardle and the cast of Memphis, Jack Pack, Danielle de Niese and the BBC Concert
Orchestra, with Tony Blackburn, Ken Bruce and Sir Terry Wogan presenting.

Capital themselves fielded an experienced crew comprising Kevin Smith (crew
chief), Toby Donovan (MLA tech). Jerry Eade, FOH and orchestra mix engineer, Rob
Waite, FOH engineer, Jason Barton, show call engineer, Mark Isbister, stage audio
crew chief and Joseph Pearce and Phil Down running monitor world.

“Everything went smoothly and the BBC were happy with the way we controlled the
sound. Once again complaints about offsite noise levels were only a handful over
the entire weekend, and Westminster Council was delighted with the success,’
Connolly said.