19 October 2007

ALLEN & HEATH HEADLINES NEW FESTIVAL

Allen & Heath’s digital and analogue mixers were employed to manage FOH and monitor sound reinforcement at a new UK festival, which included performances from Echo & The Bunnymen, From The Jam, Badly Drawn Boy and The Bluetones.

Organised by promoters, the GUM & GLUE Co., Falmouth Bay Events Square Live was held in the Cornish port over the August bank holiday weekend, providing two evenings of diverse musical entertainment.

The Exeter branch of Sound2Light Productions was chosen to provide all the sound, lighting and staging equipment, with support from Cornwall-based Allen & Heath. The new iLive digital system – comprising an iDR10 stage rack and iLive-144 control surface – was selected for FOH, with a 32-channel GL2800M dedicated analogue monitor console.

Reflecting on their first event with iLive, Sound2Light director, Richard Jordan, commented:

“Initially I was nervous about taking on a new product as the main festival console but it was also a very exciting prospect. It’s going to be a great console for touring, as it takes up so little space and yet offers enormous flexibility and power. We’ll certainly consider it in the future.”





Badly Drawn Boy from FOH, managed by iLive

A&H’s technical manager, Carey Davies, was on hand to provide support:

“One or two bands were committed to scene memory but for most it was a case of quick line check, faders up and go. The ability to name and colour the channels and to reassign them on the fly across the fader strips proved a big hit with the engineers in helping dial in a quick mix.”

Headlining on the opening night was post-punk cult band, Echo & The Bunnymen, Mercury prize-winner, Badly Drawn Boy, supported by electronica 6-piece, Carmen Rosa, and folk soloist, If Wen.

Nick Allen, engineer for Echo & The Bunnymen, said: “iLive wasn’t on my radar but it’s got a good sound, easy operation, and I found very little cause for complaint. It surprised me actually, because quite often when we play festivals the desk I’m given is a Yamaha PM5D, and if I were to choose between them, I’d go for the iLive.”

Echo & The Bunnymen headlined the opening night

Saturday’s line up opened with blues reggae outfit, Sowena, followed by Manchester indie rockers, Outsider, and commercial success story, The Bluetones.

The Bluetones’ engineer, Dan Bartley, commented:

“In the short amount of time I’ve worked with iLive it seems very easy to pick up, and by our second number I’d pretty much sussed it out. It’s a good surface to work on and a very smooth system.”





The GL2800M monitor desk managing the Bluetones

The event culminated in an energetic headline set from legends, Rick Buckler and Bruce Foxton ‘From the Jam’, who recently took iLive out on their UK tour. Engineer, Edd Higdon, was pleased to see extra functionality following the release of Version 1.1 of the software:

“It has a few more effects possibilities, such as the ability to fine-tune delays, which I find very useful with the band. It’s all starting to really come together.”

With sound levels limited to 85dB at the back gate, Sound2Light employed a Camco-powered Nexo Geo S line array, custom-designed to achieve 105dB at FOH and dropping at the back of the square to satisfy demand.

Allen & Heath’s loan of a GL2800M console formed the core of the monitor system along with Sound2Light’s Audio Analysts stage wedges. Instead of using the standard iLive stage box route, channels were patched into the GL2800M with outputs coming out of its passive split and sent to the iLive at FOH.

Second night headliners, From The Jam, from FOH