RG Jones retains Martin Audio set-up for Glastonbury 2013

RG Jones turned to the Martin Audio W8 Longbow system once again for the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2013.

The Longbow hangs are now a familiar sight – book-ending either side of the iconic Pyramid – having fulfilled similar duties for the previous four festivals.

The set-up featured dual inner and outer PA hangs comprising 14 W8L Longbow elements per side, with two W8LD Downfills at the base – making 64 boxes in total. This year, RG Jones changed the subwoofer design from the Martin Audio WS318X (3 x 18in) subs fielded in 2011 back to 54 of the WS218X (2 x 18in) enclosures used previously, which still maintained an electronically curved, cardioid broadside array configuration.

With the subs delayed incrementally from the centre outwards, the overall wavefront was tuned to fill the Pyramid Stage area, and ensure that spillage beyond the site perimeter was minimised.

“We have tried various configurations of the bass array and this solution, with two enclosures front facing and one reversed, works particularly well; the rejection from the stage is great and it enables us to bend, shape and steer the sound,” said specialist sound company RG Jones’ project manager Ben Milton.

Two clusters of four W8LC Compact Line Arrays, situated at each end of the crash barrier, provided nearfield infills, and four delay masts each comprising a further 16 x W8LCs were positioned 100m back from the downstage centre, split into an arc.

“This solution worked great,” Milton continued. “The organisers wanted to leave nothing to chance when it came to maintaining levels and this was virtually a carbon copy of the 2011 system. We had plenty of opportunity to walk the field and conduct measurements, to ensure the accuracy of the system.”

One advantage was the additional zoning that could be applied for tighter control. “All the tops were on individual circuits so we could turn them down very discreetly if necessary and sculpt the system. When the sun goes down the air temperature changes and we back off the top boxes, and as it cools we can bring them back up again.

“We now have bands and their technicians fully confident in the system and happy to use our racks, stacks and control. It makes for a great British synergy – a British production company using a British PA system – at the greatest of British festivals.”

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