Stuart WoodRG Jones Sound Engineering supplied sound for this year’s Glastonbury Festival, deploying Martin Audio systems across four major stages.
Martin Audio’s MLA sound system was used for the main stage, where headliners included Stormzy and The Killers. Its Wavefront Precision Longbow (WPL) system made its debut on the new IICON stage, featuring an immersive 6.1 channel surround sound system.
The MLA system used for the main stage covered an audience of 150,000, while respecting offsite limits. A total of 72 MLA comprised the four main hangs, with eight delay positions in an inner and outer ring for maximum coverage.
38 MLX subwoofers stretched across the entire width of the stage to provide sub-bass support and control to the entire system.
Kenny Kaiser, FOH engineer for The Killers, commented: “I’ve been touring with MLA for the last five years, but I’ve not had much experience with it outdoors and I was a little scared. But this system was phenomenal, everything was there, and MLA still has a very long lifespan in my opinion.”
Martin Audio’s MLA technology enables very fine control of how each array covers its designated audience area. Acoustic cells housed within each cabinet are independently controlled by their own amplifier and DSP channel, a total of six in each MLA.
This control allowed RG Jones to specify exactly what SPL and frequency response was required across the audience, with the intelligent software automatically controlling the array to produce that result.