With mostly dry weather and a fantastically eclectic Glastonbury musical line-up including Kings of Leon, The Fratellis, Amy Winehouse, Jay-Z, Goldfrapp, Leonard Cohen and The Verve, there was plenty for audiences to smile about - including an all-new PA system design that saw RG Jones extend its contribution in 2007 from the stage sound to the main arena PA.
Engaged last year to provide full control systems and stage monitoring, this year the team was brought in by Chris Beale of CBA and Dick Tee, respectively Pyramid Stage sound co-ordinator and production manager, to supply a powerful, pristine, controlled sound solution and a highly experienced crew for both stage and FOH.
In charge of the South London based company's team was FOH engineer Simon Honywill with Diarmuid McLennan at his side, and system engineer Mark Edwards.
As well as heading up the on-stage operation, Mark Isbister was responsible for pre-production. Monitor world was looked after by Steve Watson and Mark Isbister, alongside Ali Viles; whilst Steve Carr, Ben Milton and Laura Yensen took care of the stage.
Out front, the team rigged dual 15-deep left and right hangs of Martin Audio's W8L Longbow high power line array, each with down-fills and complemented by W8LC stereo in-fills. The arrays - dry hired from Capital Sound with on site support from Ian Colville - were individually EQ'd and aligned using XTA Audiocore software controlling an array of DP226 processors under wireless tablet control to ensure the requirement for consistent levels across the arena, and rapid attenuation beyond it, were fully met.
The PA configuration was designed with the assistance of Martin Audio's Jim Cousins and Jason Baird using the company's latest software. Acoustician Andy Pardoe devised a special bass array configuration which consisted of a row of 54 WS218X subwoofers, arranged in blocks of three (two front-facing, one rear-facing) to provide enhanced directivity control.
RG Jones's long-time membership of the Synco Europe Network was underlined by a new stage monitor system comprising exclusively Synco low profile stage monitors. The monitor system consisted of 20 Synco CW15A low-profile dual concentric 15" monitor wedges, complimented with 2 x 2 x15' STS Synco subs for the drum-fill. System equalisation was achieved using XTA digital EQ controlled by a wireless tablet and Klark Teknik DN360 for grab EQ.
Three delay hangs of Synco by Martin Audio W8LC-based line array hangs, with eight-cabinet cardioid subbass arrays, from R G Jones's rental stock, ensured excellent level and clarity across the 80,000 capacity arena.
Control systems reflected RG Jones's successful deployment of an all-digital signal control solution in 2007. A highly flexible line system provided both digital and analogue feeds to monitors, FOH and the BBC's outside broadcast team, configured as classic festival A/B systems, allowing one band to perform while the next was being line checked and a third set of equipment was being prepared backstage. A mixture of 12 pair and 48 pair multicore systems was interfaced with 96 ways of Klark Teknik active splits to generate the FOH, monitor and media outputs. The system was also designed for fast interfacing with visiting bands' line systems.
One of last year's successful R G Jones innovations, a sophisticated shout system between stage and FOH, saw all stage crew wearing a radio IEM and a push-to-talk radio headset, while FOH and Monitors had switched microphones and wedges, all controlled by a dedicated Yamaha LS9 mixer.
Another solution carried over from 2007 was the all-digital FOH setup, offering engineers a pair of Digidesign Venue consoles at FOH in an A/B flip-flop configuration, with a D-Show Profile serving as FOH matrix, linked to stage via an Optocore DD32E digital fibre-base
