Production / Case Studies / VDubs In The Valley
The inaugural “VDubs In The Valley” Festival was designed to provide a truly memorable weekend for fans of the iconic automotive brand. Held in a picturesque riverside location just outside the town of Bridgnorth, Shropshire, the event ran for three days and attendance far surpassed expectations; even in the latter phases of the production planning, it was expected that around 500 people would attend – in the end, more than 1250 visitors came through the gates.
While Revolution Audio may be a south-west based company, the quality of our services has meant our work is now sought after throughout the UK. Indeed, we have provided audio services for a number of events around the Shropshire area, and our reputation became more widely known through our involvement with the Bridgnorth Carnival in 2013. VDubs organiser Garry Aulton had attended the carnival, and have seen the high level of technical production provided by Revolution Audio, knew that he had found a reliable partner for his festival.
We were asked to take on the task of providing full audio production for the Saturday music performances. Featuring a wide range of acts ranging from acoustic to rock, solo artists to large bands the performances ran all through the afternoon and into the evening.
Outdoor events always bring a large number of additional complications and considerations, and so we began planning the event into fine detail many weeks ahead. Revolution Audio Owner and Director Joel Nichols worked with James Doney throughout the planning and production process, with Joel set to engineer FOH, and James to mix monitors from on stage. Both have varied and far reaching experience of various event types, and their combined knowledge was of tremendous benefit to the festival organisers throughout the planning stages.
The specified system consisted of an HK Audio Projector speaker system, with seven-ways of wedge mixers provided by RCF and DB Technologies cabinets. On FOH Duty, our HK System has consistently delivered high-quality results for events and venues of all sizes. Its compact size hides the true output power of the system, and thanks to the horn-loading design and mirror image layout of the sub cabinets, low frequency punch and output level is remarkably impressive over a long distance; critically important for an event like this where the audience area was not entirely defined. Indeed, we had actually specified two further QSC K10 cabinets to act as delay enclosures, but following the tuning of the main HK System, it was decided they were not required and they were re-purposed as “Shoutboxes” for improved communication between FOH and Monitor Mix Positions.
On stage, it was decided right from the start that flexibility was to be crucial. Being a festival application with some details about the performers remaining unknown until the day itself, we knew that keeping changeover time down, and minimising any potential points-of-failure would be key. This actually formed a key basis for the selection of the monitor cabinets. For some performers, we knew it would be advantageous to use a Left/Right configuration of wedges, but unless the cabinets form a true mirror image of each other, gain-before-feedback can easily suffer. With the RCF Art 310 enclosures, the cabinet can be laid down on either side making it easy to use any cabinet as a pair, rather than needing to keep specific left and right versions available. And with the DB Technologies units, the mounting of the HF Driver above – rather than to the side – of the LF Driver removed any complication entirely. All this combined with skilful engineering and microphone selection meant that the 31-Band EQs applied over all wedge mixes remained almost flat for the entire day – a remarkable achievement considering the high levels of acoustic reflection from the back of the trailer used as a stage for the event.
On the subject of mixing, two digital consoles were deployed for the event. A Soundcraft Si Compact 32 was used for FOH, with an Allen and Heath Qu-16 for Monitors. The layout and workflow of the Si Compact makes it ideal for festival applications and allows for very fast sound checks, while the Qu-6 – being such a compact console – easily fitted in the extremely small area available for Monitor World. A wireless router was also attached to the A&H to allow connection of the Qu-Pad iPad application, enabling more rapid ringing out of the wedge monitors from on stage. Signals were distributed between the consoles using a 48-Way VDC analogue split system to eliminate the risk of pre-amp gain sharing, and also giving the flexibility of VDM attached stage boxes that could be distributed around the stage. This in turn allowed faster patching between acts, and less disruptive individual cable runs. The Soundcraft console was linked to the stage with a tour-grade CAT5 line, which along with 16A was dug into the ground. Full site-wide radio communication was also provided between FOH and Monitor engineers.
Finally, Revolution Audio was also tasked with planning and managing power distribution in and around the stage area, for both catering, lighting and sound. Utilising our stock of heavy mains cable and distribution, this was easily achieved and aided through pre-drawn power plans to make sure each member of the production team was familiar with the system.
The event was a huge success overall, and we were immediately re-booked to provide production for an expanded 2015 festival. We look forward to being back in Shropshire and working together with the festival organisers, being part of the event’s continued growth long into the future.
While Revolution Audio may be a south-west based company, the quality of our services has meant our work is now sought after throughout the UK. Indeed, we have provided audio services for a number of events around the Shropshire area, and our reputation became more widely known through our involvement with the Bridgnorth Carnival in 2013. VDubs organiser Garry Aulton had attended the carnival, and have seen the high level of technical production provided by Revolution Audio, knew that he had found a reliable partner for his festival.
We were asked to take on the task of providing full audio production for the Saturday music performances. Featuring a wide range of acts ranging from acoustic to rock, solo artists to large bands the performances ran all through the afternoon and into the evening.
Outdoor events always bring a large number of additional complications and considerations, and so we began planning the event into fine detail many weeks ahead. Revolution Audio Owner and Director Joel Nichols worked with James Doney throughout the planning and production process, with Joel set to engineer FOH, and James to mix monitors from on stage. Both have varied and far reaching experience of various event types, and their combined knowledge was of tremendous benefit to the festival organisers throughout the planning stages.
The specified system consisted of an HK Audio Projector speaker system, with seven-ways of wedge mixers provided by RCF and DB Technologies cabinets. On FOH Duty, our HK System has consistently delivered high-quality results for events and venues of all sizes. Its compact size hides the true output power of the system, and thanks to the horn-loading design and mirror image layout of the sub cabinets, low frequency punch and output level is remarkably impressive over a long distance; critically important for an event like this where the audience area was not entirely defined. Indeed, we had actually specified two further QSC K10 cabinets to act as delay enclosures, but following the tuning of the main HK System, it was decided they were not required and they were re-purposed as “Shoutboxes” for improved communication between FOH and Monitor Mix Positions.
On stage, it was decided right from the start that flexibility was to be crucial. Being a festival application with some details about the performers remaining unknown until the day itself, we knew that keeping changeover time down, and minimising any potential points-of-failure would be key. This actually formed a key basis for the selection of the monitor cabinets. For some performers, we knew it would be advantageous to use a Left/Right configuration of wedges, but unless the cabinets form a true mirror image of each other, gain-before-feedback can easily suffer. With the RCF Art 310 enclosures, the cabinet can be laid down on either side making it easy to use any cabinet as a pair, rather than needing to keep specific left and right versions available. And with the DB Technologies units, the mounting of the HF Driver above – rather than to the side – of the LF Driver removed any complication entirely. All this combined with skilful engineering and microphone selection meant that the 31-Band EQs applied over all wedge mixes remained almost flat for the entire day – a remarkable achievement considering the high levels of acoustic reflection from the back of the trailer used as a stage for the event.
On the subject of mixing, two digital consoles were deployed for the event. A Soundcraft Si Compact 32 was used for FOH, with an Allen and Heath Qu-16 for Monitors. The layout and workflow of the Si Compact makes it ideal for festival applications and allows for very fast sound checks, while the Qu-6 – being such a compact console – easily fitted in the extremely small area available for Monitor World. A wireless router was also attached to the A&H to allow connection of the Qu-Pad iPad application, enabling more rapid ringing out of the wedge monitors from on stage. Signals were distributed between the consoles using a 48-Way VDC analogue split system to eliminate the risk of pre-amp gain sharing, and also giving the flexibility of VDM attached stage boxes that could be distributed around the stage. This in turn allowed faster patching between acts, and less disruptive individual cable runs. The Soundcraft console was linked to the stage with a tour-grade CAT5 line, which along with 16A was dug into the ground. Full site-wide radio communication was also provided between FOH and Monitor engineers.
Finally, Revolution Audio was also tasked with planning and managing power distribution in and around the stage area, for both catering, lighting and sound. Utilising our stock of heavy mains cable and distribution, this was easily achieved and aided through pre-drawn power plans to make sure each member of the production team was familiar with the system.
The event was a huge success overall, and we were immediately re-booked to provide production for an expanded 2015 festival. We look forward to being back in Shropshire and working together with the festival organisers, being part of the event’s continued growth long into the future.
