At V2006, SSE's standard package was used for the main V stages at both sites - Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex, and Weston Park in Staffordshire - with the Channel 4 (second) stage at both sites featuring two XL4s at FOH and and two XL3s on monitors. Meanwhile, Capital Sound Hire used XL4s and H3000s at FOH and monitors respectively at the JJB/Puma Arena at both sites.
Skan PA Hire had Midas consoles out across the country, including a Heritage 3000 at FOH for the Eden Sessions at the Eden Project in Cornwall which featured acts including Muse, Goldfrapp, Magic Numbers and Snow Patrol, and XL4s and XL3s FOH and two H3000s on stage at Welsh festival The Full Ponty. Skan also handled the Snickers stage at Download, providing two XL4s at FOH and two H3000s on monitors. "We had about 40 different visiting sound engineers mixing at our stage over the Download weekend so it was important to provide desks that they would all be familiar with," says Skan's Abby Llewellyn.
Canegreen provided PA for all three stages at the Cambridge Folk Festival, with two Heritages and an XL4 at FOH and Heritages on monitors, while at the Christian Greenbelt festival the company provided an XL4 at FOH and Heritage 3000 on stage.
Ampco Pro Rent (APR) provides audio production for around 80 festivals every year, with up to a million people enjoying thousands of artists through its audio systems and the skills of its engineers and system technicians. The company's repertoire includes the 14-stage North Sea Jazz Festival, Pinkpop, Parkpop, the Drum Rhythm festival and the Lowlands Festival, all in The Netherlands, and the company also handles the production of every WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) festival worldwide from Adelaide and Singapore to Taormina in Sicily and Reading in the UK. Dieter van Denzel, production manager at virtually every WOMAD festival, says the company continues to put Midas consoles at the heart of its festival mixing inventory: "At WOMAD, we're often mixing from scratch, without soundchecks and with mostly acoustic instruments on stage, and in that situation it's vital to have all the channels to work on all the time, especially at the start of each set. All the visiting engineers are familiar with Midas and their sound is consistently superb, so it's a natural decision."
Back in the UK, Entec again handled the PA for Guilfest, deploying an XL4 at front-of-house on the main stage with XL3s on FOH and monitor duty on the Rock Sound stage.
(Lee Baldock)
