RG Jones equips Pyramid stage for fourth consecutive year

RG Jones Sound Engineering provided audio production on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage for the fourth year running.??The London based company supplied a Synco by Martin Audio PA, a custom designed Synco sub-bass array and Synco stage monitor systems. Additional crew and matching equipment came from Ampco Flashlight of Holland.??The PA was a Martin Audio W8L Longbow rig, with a total of 64 cabinets flown in 16-deep dual inner and outer main PA hangs per side, and a further 64 W8LCs flown in four delay positions, all timed using Smaart. And visiting sound crews were unanimous in their praise for the Longbow system, which kept the Pyramid Stage buzzing throughout the three days in which U2, Coldplay and Beyoncé headlined.

In fact the evergreen system has enjoyed high visibility this summer, with the simultaneous Take That stadium tour.
?A cardioid broadside sub-bass array of 36 Synco triple-18” woofers, custom made for the Synco Network by Martin Audio, had been refined over the past three years, in conjunction with noise monitoring specialists RPS Planning & Development, to help keep the sound contained to the Pyramid Stage area.

The sub bass was arranged in a combined cardioid and broadside sub array — electronically curved, with the top and bottom enclosure front facing and the middle pointing backwards. With a third of the subs facing backwards in a cardioid configuration this effectively reduced the broadside array’s output on the stage itself.
?FOH was handled by Project Manager Steve Carr of RG Jones and Hugo Scholten, with Mark Edwards as system engineer, supported by PA rigger Remco Verhoek and Martin Audio R&D -Director Jason Baird supporting the system design effort.

“We needed to ensure that the arrays were deployed correctly and optimally angled downward, to minimise spillage beyond the site perimeter,” said Baird.
“During the weekend it was just about keeping the system EQ’d and timed to ensure that it performed optimally with the changing weather conditions.”

To maintain coverage within the off-site sound limits, the top four W8L Longbow and W8LC boxes in each hang were controlled individually. “Thus we were able to turn them down independently of the rest of the array … which was crucial,” he said.

And by delaying the subs incrementally from the centre outwards the overall wavefront, could also be tuned to fit the shape of the Pyramid Stage field.

?At the front-of-house mix position, a pair of 48-channel Midas XL4 consoles handled the core mix duties along with an Avid Venue Profile, all supplied by RG Jones. ??The stage was headed by Mark Isbister with Alistair Viles, Matt Sussex and Tim Wann, and monitor engineers Steve Watson and Ben Milton. A pair of Yamaha PM5D consoles streamlined stage operation, along with the team’s usual Yamaha LS9 ‘shout’ board.