Although small, the Half Moon in Putney was the venue for U2’s first ever sell-out show, the place where Kate Bush first performed publicly and provided the stage for KD Lang’s debut, as well as for the likes of Bo Diddley, The Who and The Rolling Stones. But the sound system that had been installed almost a decade previously and was nearing end of life…

Head engineer James Beck has been working at the 220-capacity for all of that time and more. It was when Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason came through in 2018 carrying Martin Audio’s MLA Mini loudspeaker array that the vast improvement in sound quality arrested his attention.

‘I was well aware of the Martin Audio brand, and when I heard this I was super-impressed. It had already been in our mind to upgrade, as I’d never been completely happy with the old system, and I felt this iconic venue deserved better.

‘The first thing we bought was four LE200 wedge monitors – and that blew everyone away compared with what we had. So then we started talking to Martin Audio about upgrading FOH.’

Enter one of the manufacturer’s partner companies, Solotech, whose Project Manager Louis Williams was happy specifying the brand knowing that ‘around 60 per cent of our venues’ have been equipped with Martin Audio.

‘We removed an old flare rig and put in a pair of FlexPoint FP15s, left and right of the stage, and a pair of SX218 double 18-inch subs. We’re also using FP8 for side fill to give the door area a bit more coverage. A further three FP8s give the smokers some nice sound as well.’

The main system is powered by a pair of Martin Audio VIA5002 amplifiers with all signal routing and EQ managed via a dedicated Martin Audio DX4.0 processor. Williams is convinced that this was the correct specification. ‘FlexPoint loudspeakers are a perfect match for the venue,’ he says. ‘They are the right size and at a great price point. It’s a massive improvement to what they had before.

‘The new system is like night and day,’ Beck agrees. ‘Bands have noticed the improvement, customers and engineers are super happy. The headroom, the size of the boxes and clarity are all absolutely amazing.

‘With acts starting out, touring acts, and the odd superstar like Ronnie Wood rolling in it was important for us to have a really good sound system. It also needed something that was durable because we have acts seven nights a week. When people come to a venue that’s been going for 60 years, they expect a good time, which is why we needed something that would fulfil that, sound wise.

‘FlexPoint sounded great straight out of the box, and meets all the criteria.’

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