This year's event was particularly special as it celebrated 725 years of the first college in Cambridge and the 800th anniversary of the University itself and, with a Britain and its rich history theme, the event featured a wide variety of entertainment, from civil war recreations to the most contemporary performers.
Supplied by South London-based Subfrantic Production Services, the four systems had to cope with a remarkable array of audio. "The line-up was eclectic, to say the least," says Subfrantic proprietor and general manager Steve Davies. "For example, the main stage featured modern acts like Simian Mobile Disco, Shut Up And Dance, Marina and the Diamonds and beatbox legend Beardyman through to morris dancers and some strange stuff with banjos."
Subfrantic installed a five-way Aspect rig on this main stage, ensuring that the sound was loud, clear and with plenty of bass, but with as little bleed as possible outside the tent.
Four Aspect TA-890H and four TA-890L were ground stacked on two TSW-718 subs per side, with eight TFM-450 as stage monitors, all controlled by LMS-D26 units which were networked to a laptop at the front of house position.
"This made the process of tweaking the system so much easier than running backwards and forwards to the stage," says Subfrantic operations manager Sean Murphy.
"When the project went to tender, we were quoting against a different manufacturer's system and, although the client had never heard our Aspect system before, he trusted us and was blown away by the difference between what he was used to and what we supplied. It was extremely impressive, happily delivering 125dB at the FOH mix position with very even coverage and minimal spill.
"Monitor engineer for the main stage (and SPS regular) Steve Down also said that that he always enjoys working with the TFM-450s, as they make his job really easy."
The event had three further stages - the Notting Hill Carnival stage featuring reggae, soca and drum 'n' bass acts; the Old Court stage with string quartets, choirs and a big band and finally the Blitz Blackout Dance Room, which was themed on a Second World War blackout.
"Although Notting Hill Carnival and Old Court were dramatically different in the styles of music they featured, after much thought we decided to put the same system on each, using two stacks of Floodlight with TSW-718 subs," says Down. Monitoring on both stages was taken care of by TQ-310s. The 40-capacity Blitz Blackout Dance Room utilised two TQ-445 and four TQ-425.
Amplification for all four stages was by MC2 T and E series amplifiers, with control from Turbosound LMS-D24 and D26 units.
"It couldn't have gone better for us," says Down. "We had an excellent team who stayed positive all the way through a very long day and night, which didn't load out until 10am. As always, the best sign of how well an event goes is how happy the client and the artists are. We had nothing but positive comments from everyone, including Beardyman who said it sounded great."
(Jim Evans)
