Joe GallopBritannia Row Productions deployed the L-Acoustics L2 system, control packages and technical crew for the recent edition of London’s Soho House Festival.
After being chosen as the world’s first audio rental company to deploy the new L Series L2 at The BRIT Awards, and following its appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest, Brit Row has now supplied the system to an outdoor, urban environment in West London.
The festival featured performances from Kelis, Sugababes, Tom Grennan, Annie Mac, Pete Tong and Gabriels from 6-8 July. The event was launched to help raise funds for various charitable causes through The Soho House Foundation.
Brit Row was approached to provide its live sound expertise by long-time client, Judgeday production director Dave T and production manager Chris Hayter.
Brit Row account executive Tom Brown was on-hand for support, while Brit Row system designer Josh Lloyd, designed the rig in-line with the event’s strict noise restrictions. For control, Brit Row chose DiGiCo SD5 consoles for FOH and monitor positions.
Lloyd said, “The L2’s design characteristics – such as the full bandwidth directivity, vertical control and auto solvers – really lent itself to this kind of challenging urban environment, which is a big, city-based residential area. Running in cardioid mode, the L2 afforded us the kind of flexibility needed to ensure a consistent sound level.
“The system also benefits from a very directional control pattern. This meant that we weren’t fighting gain before feedback on stage, and it has controllable, high granularity that you can cut off or adjust as needed. It was also amazing doing a festival with just two amp racks on either side of the stage – it makes everything much more energy efficient.
“It was great to hear the system outside too. Soho House Festival has quite a large stage, and the physical properties of the system look small in comparison, but the SPL is so impressive, with lots of low end and punchy impact, that it was an ideal solution. The mix of dance and pop acts on the line-up all sounded great, and the visiting engineers were suitably impressed.”
Brown said, “We have looked after Soho House Festival for many years now. It’s a very large ‘garden party’ in style, so it’s always important to strike a balance between the obvious need for high quality sound and not overwhelming the site. L2 certainly took the event to a new level. It was a pleasure, as always, to be involved and we look forward to returning next year.”