Following the debut of its MLA loudspeaker system at Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage, Martin Audio chalked up another first with the use of its MLA Compact at the Henley Festival. The event’s long-term PA contractor, RG Jones Sound Engineering, had returned from Glastonbury and headed straight to a Tour de France event in Trafalgar Square before arriving in Henley.

While the festival organiser had reversed its decision to relocate from the site on the banks of the Thames that has been its home for three decades, allowing RG Jones to call on pre-existing site data; on the more arduous side, the theatrics of Arcade Fire at Glastonbury had filled the grilles of the systems subs with pyrotechnic residue, prompting a respray.

Given the tight turn-around between Trafalgar Square and Henley load-in, this was an unwelcome task for the warehouse crew since aesthetics form an essential part of the Henley brief – all cables need to be invisible and enclosures in soigné condition for the formally attired Henley audience.

For RG Jones senior engineer Simon Honywill, two essential ingredients had changed: the specification of the MLA Compacts, replacing last year’s use of the large-format MLA, meant that more elements could be deployed to increase control while reducing the footprint, and secondly, the experienced technician was able to take on system tech duties for the first time, as artists almost exclusively brought their own sound engineers.

A 30-year veteran of the event, Honywill remembers festival focusing on classical music, with its Floating Stage using the old Henley Regatta judges barge. Today, a full-blown Edwin Shirley concert stage is anchored to the river bed, and the programme represents the biggest cross section of acts imaginable performing over the five days (Floating Stage headliners were Bryan Ferry, Joss Stone, Burt Bacharach, The Jacksons, Rebecca Ferguson and The Overtones).

Another RG Jones senior executive who has seen the event evolve is Account Manager and company director, Andrew Williamson, who was detailed to the festival as soon as he joined the company 23 years ago. He again appointed Jim Lambert as production manager, with the two men working alongside John Harris, the overall site production manager.

With the constant flotilla of boats moving along the Thames to form a shimmering backdrop, the Floating Stage remains the key destination, as up to 5,000 people a day throng to the Festival. However, the riverfront physics are less friendly. While the coverage length extends well over 100m– beyond either side of the grandstand  – the FOH mix position is only 20m from the waterfront, immediately against the front of the grandstand, a useful legacy from Henley Regatta.

‘With such a shallow but very wide site, it is very difficult to ensure even coverage right up into the corners of the grandstand,’ Honywill says. ‘It’s always been an issue, from right back in the mid 1980s when I first got involved. With MLA Compact, however, we are able to optimise the system to deliver very even SPL and frequency response right up under the lip of the grandstand roof – not possible with a conventional system without delays.’

Andy Williamson recognised the difficulty of pointing the system far into the furthest recesses, given the low overhanging roof: ‘But it was a complete success,’ he says, 'the system was uniquely able to achieve that.’

Overseen by RG Jones’ Damion Dyer, RG Jones deployed four eight-deep MLA Compact hangs on the Floating Stage – an inner left and right and an outer left and right, with a mono signal feed to the outer hang. Four of the reconditioned MLX subs formed a portrait mode stack either side ‘which we bent electronically through 120°.’

Reducing the MLA footprint further, RG Jones then turned to MLA Mini for left and right in fill, with four (plus an MLX sub) flown each side. In addition, they used a four MLA Minis as a centre hang and a further four for front fill, using the factory preset provided specifically for that purpose.

In addition, RG Jones fielded more Martin Audio kit in the form of W8LM Mini Line Array and WS218X subs in the Salon, along with some DD6 for in fill, and W8LMs groundstacked in the Indigo dance tent, with MLX subs.

‘There is no other PA system than MLA  – the others are all dead to me,’ Honywill  says. ‘MLA Compact was tidier and in this situation gave us greater control due to longer line length over the big system – and Compact itself is only 1dB less sensitive than its big brother.’

More: www.rgjones.co.uk
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