Having debuted its RCF HDL 30-A rig at Rutland Water recently for Frankie Valli tribute act, Frankie’s Guys, JPS Sound & Light were in action again at the Colesdale Farm festival site near Potters Bar for the now firmly established Zimfest Live – a celebration of Zimbabwean music.
Working alongside Gareth Wildman’s Stage Tec – as it frequently does – John Southee’s Peterborough-based company populated the 12m x 10m Alidome stage with two hangs of eight HDL 30-A active two-way line array modules. These were underpinned with 2x18 RCF Sub 9006-AS on the ground in front of the stage, while across the stage lip were RCF NX 15-SMA reference monitors.
Wildman has known John Southee for the past 20 years, and has increasingly turned to the sound system specialist for his deployment of RCF’s control tool, RDNet. This is a robust management network for RCF devices and an advanced a line-array design tool.
With site management, environmental health and sound containment now hot tickets on every council agenda, this is now vital. ‘This site for example, faces potential issues with high-end houses surrounding it, but RDNet will take care of that. It’s a good selling point for us as we work a lot in stately homes,’ Wildman says.
‘The ability to control the line array is paramount,’ Southee agrees. ‘Our audience zone is set at 75m; you input where you want to fire the PA and RDNet provides a visualisation readout, which is why we have a steep arc. Councils will be requesting this type of assurance more and more.’
His investment in RCF systems began with the smaller HDL 20-A before moving up. ‘We were looking for something more powerful but still compact and with the same degree of control. It was a natural progression, and the HDL20-A is now generally used as side fill.’ And his RCF inventory is still not complete, as he has placed an order for a further four RCF (2 x 21-inch) Sub 9007-AS supercharged subwoofers.
The rig comfortably satisfied the auditory requirements of both the audience and the council, meeting the 58dB threshold at the perimeter fence. And despite being out of practice after such as long lay-off (and having to build up the infrastructure in galeforce winds on the Friday), the technical crew were equally pleased, as a succession of Zimbabwe’s finest, including Jah Prayzah, Poptain, Tamy Moyo, Trevor Dongo and Shasha, among others, took to the stage.
More: www.rcfaudio.co.uk
