Audio Plus worked closely with Funktion-One to design an audio spec for Sonic, which presented some unusual challenges. Audio Funktion made sure that the aural spectacle matched the visual extravaganza at Arcadia. And Audio X supplied the sound to WOW, which, like Sonic, formed part of the Silver Hayes area.
Sonic was built by Silver Stage, using its SaddleSpan modular truss framework. Structured in a three-pronged-shape - essentially a Y with a short stem - it presented an intriguing space for festival goers and a rather challenging environment for the audio specialists. Tony Andrews worked with Audio Plus' owner Stefan Imhof and project manager Mark O'Neill to create a solution, which ensured the entire space was covered in a consistent spread of Funktion-One-quality audio.
The stage occupied the short stem of the Y, providing views from beneath its arms and outside in the central V formed by those arms. Coverage was needed for both arms of the structure and in the central zone - which had the potential to stretch back as the audience grew.
Left and right stacks of six Funktion-One F221 bass enclosures and eight Funktion-One Resolution 5 loudspeakers, positioned on either side of the stage, covered the canopied area. Two delay stacks, consisting of three F221s and five Resolution 5s were placed at the edge of the tent, in the central zone. While three Funktion-One BR221 bass reflex speakers delivered in-fill bass frequencies.
An inventory of Funktion-One RM18 point source monitors and BR118, BR218 and BR221 bass reflex enclosures, as well as stacks of Funktion-One F218s and Resolution 4s formed part of a high-performance monitoring system - all using MC2 E100 amplifiers and XTA processing.
If Sonic was unusual, Arcadia was unconventional, to say the least. It was formed by a giant 30 ft high spider structure, which came alive at night with video, lighting, lasers and flames animating the darkened landscape and high fidelity audio filling the air. The audience formed beneath its three legs and body, and all around the metallic arthropod.
Audio Funktion deployed 30 Funktion-One Resolution 5T loudspeakers and 18 Funktion-One F221 bass enclosures in a six-point hexagon layout of outer stacks. These were powered by MC2 E100 racks, with XTA 448 control.
For inner-fill, six Funktion-One Resolution 4T speakers were flown from the spider structure in three different positions, along with a total of six ground stacked Funktion-One F218s. Six outer-fill positions at the rear of the main stack used Resolution 2SH loudspeakers - the skeletal mid-high section of the Res 2. And the ARC Bar, situated on the outer edges of Arcadia, was reinforced with two Funktion-One Resolution 4E speakers and four F218s. Power came from MC2 E45 and E25 amps, with XTA 448 control.
WOW was split between outdoor daytime performances and evenings in the WOW tent, which demanded two different set-ups. WOW Outdoors used three Funktion-One Resolution 3 loudspeakers, together with eight F121 bass enclosures. WOW Tent employed six Funktion-One Resolution 9 speakers, eight F221s and two Resolution 2s for infill. Full Fat Audio and MC2 amps were used with XTA processing.
Reflecting on Funktion-One's involvement at Glastonbury 2013, Tony Andrews said, "We find ourselves involved and associated with the people who are pushing the creative side of the festival - they're focused on performance and audience satisfaction. The people on the fringes tend to be the ones who are willing to experiment with new ways of doing things, which makes it interesting for us. Inevitably, there were challenges, but we're really happy with the way things worked out."
(Jim Evans)
