Both Turbosound and sound rental company Britannia Row have a long history with Gilmour that stretches back to Pink Floyd days and loyalty in the Gilmour camp to both companies is strong.
"There are a lot of people involved here who have been with David from day one," says production manager Roger Searle. "But no one is so set in their ways that they're not prepared to change things. David has a way that he likes to work, so that's the way we do things and if he's happy, we're happy."
Searle had some influence over the decision on choice of sound system. As he puts it: "I stuck my twopenneth in. We got a great result from Aspect on the Shadows, and given that David and Hank Marvin are kind of in the same league as guitarists, and that Aspect suited what we did with the Shadows really well, I felt it wouldn't be a bad system to have on this tour."
But the decision wasn't made lightly. Front of house engineer Colin Norfield and Britannia Row's Mike Lowe spent a day at Turbosound's factory testing Aspect against Floodlight and Flashlight, which they had previously used. And the verdict was a resounding yes to Aspect.
"Colin's been happy with the system so far," continues Searle. "We've had great sound reviews from the fan sites, which is something I've taken a lot of notice of over the last few years, because the fans are the consumers. They probably know more about the sounds of various bands than the bands themselves, they come up with some critical stuff sometimes and also some good reviews - when they love it they're not afraid to say so. They spend their hard earned money to come and see the show and if they're not happy, they're going to say so!"
Aspect has a multitude of attributes that make it ideal for concert touring. Amongst them is its easy set up. Gilmour's set up comprises of a two wide four deep hang with two hi's and two double 15s at the top raked up to point at the balcony with four highs and small ground stacks for the main arena. There are also TQ-440SPs for infill all driven by Turbosound-badged MC2 amplifiers and controlled via two XTA DP428s. Turbosound's European sales manager, Dominic Harter explains just how quick it is: "The main left and right hangs can be flown in about 15 minutes each, and then the rest is up in no more than half an hour.
"On this show [at Heineken Music Hall] there's very little in the way of processing or measuring. We time align the PA using clicks and pink noise and then Colin EQs it the way he wants it to sound. I'm really pleased with it."
Turbosound's involvement with a project doesn't end at the sale of the system. There has been someone from the company at each of Gilmour's shows. "This isn't just a case of the manufacturer turning up with a big smile," says Harter. "We're actually on the crew so that we can give direct feedback to the factory and to make sure that everyone here is happy with the way the system is performing."
"I've been using Flood and Flash for years," adds Colin Norfield. "The brief with this was that the sound had to be very clear and very hi-fi. When I went to Turbo and listened to Flash, Flood and Aspect I remembered that we always had a great sound with Flashlight. But this was so much better and it seems to be a lot easier to work as well. It's very nice.
"I like to make a mix transparent, so you don't realise it's there and your focus is kept on the stage. And Aspect throws nicely. Everyone says the advantage with line array is the big dispersion, but if you do a venue where the stage is wide and the venue is long, line array won't hack it."
Aspect certainly seems to have ticked all the boxes for Britannia Row and the Gilmour crew in particular. Colin concludes: "This sy
