High Rise - New Year's Eve

After being cancelled due to COVID in 2020, High Rise was back in business for NYE. DBSR provided stage tech and patch support along side some F.O.H support to the excellent team from Bristol-based NSL Productions with Phil, Ben and Bee heading up the main stage. A d'n'b stage was also housed inside the boxing gym, both stages featuring VOID systems. Other stages featured custom point source systems such as those from Firmly Rooted Sound System.

n(o-o)ne event at Loco Klub

To mark their debut in Bristol, Manchester based big-rig owners, Ten Centuries, installed their system in Loco Klub beneath Bristol Temple Meads train station. The four way system consisted of a folded horn with an entirely smooth horn throat known as the Terra Horn which can reproduce LF down past 30Hz!  The dual 10 inch kick bins provided some thump and the horn loaded mid and high boxes brought the clarity. All together a very good sounding system.

Re-Release at the Blue Lagoon

For their third gig, Re-Release were staged at the Blue Lagoon just outside central Bristol. A packed evening of classic hits with a room full of energy. As with any good event, some gremlins were encountered but overall the gig went off without a hitch with the room filled and the lyrics flowing.

Looking forward to being there for our repeat gig in a few weeks time.

Re-Release at the Cider Press

On Saturday the 16th, the cover band "Re-Release" made their return to the stage after an extended hiatus due to COVID. Playing the Cider Press venue on Gloucester Road, they had a both musically and technically perfect night with only minor audio gremlins, to be expected on any first gig after a long break. Our responsibility involved ensuring that the system was set up and sounding it's best with good coverage over the venue. Equipment was limited to two 15 inch HK tops. Headroom was good and threw a good distance for their size and provided enough punch to negate the need for subs (though these will be added to the system in the future).

Tokyo World

Once again working alongside AF Live, 7 stages with a myriad of different systems deployed where built for the weekend's festival. A mixture of L'Acoustics (K3, K2, Kara, Arcs and KS28s) on Tokyo and World stages, Kara supported by SB28s on Mutiny stage, Kiva supported by SB118s on Trilogy stage plus d&b audiotechnik and Funktion One on the remaining stages. All round an excellent experience with a good lineup and superb weather.

Summer of Love

Working alongside AF Live who provided all technical aspects of the show, 3 stages of sound were created to house a variety of different music. Main stage hosted DJs, MCs and some dance acts whilst other stages hosted soley DJs, one of which encapsulated in a 360 degree configuration with stacks of Kiva atop two-high SB118s.

Love Saves The Day Festival

An annual, multi-stage festival hosted at Ashton Court in Bristol provides a good opener to the season. Working alongside BES systems, multiple audio systems were deployed across site ranging from small active systems to array cluster systems (see image).

The largest system depolyed comprised a NEXO geo system supported in the LF by three dual 18" cabinets per side for a full and punchy sounding system

I, personally, was on site to deploy, tune and run the system whilst liaising with DJs for a smooth running of the two day show.

Spring Classic Festival

Working with BES, who provided full technical production, Spring Classic was a two day event featuring multiple artists across three stages over the weekend.

This was an excellent opportunity for me to build on experience in my role as patch engineer whilst getting under the hood of large-scale stage production

Volksfest

An excellent local festival supporting local bands from in and around Bristol. A smaller stage yet with all the creature comforts of a full lighting and audio package provided by BES.

Mixing mons on this event is always good fun whilst providing the necessary challanges to advance skills in problem solving and artist request management.

Being a relatively small stage presented the typical challenges of providing monitor mixes to artists surrounded by significant bleed from other instruments, amps etc.

Glastonbury - The Information

My second year at the festival having been once before as a monitor engineer on the Croissant Neuf stage in GreenFields.

A simple yet effective system for this one, point source on sticks spread around the arena to provide amplification for speeches and talks happening across the weekend from various panels.

Placed in the Silver Hayes area of site presented it's own issues with significant noise bleed from adjacent stages meaning a heavily optimised system was required to provide adequate coverage of the arena and maintaining intelligibility

Silverstone Circuit

A corporate event following the distinct madness of Glastonbury provided a slightly more laid back experience.

BES provided lighting, audio and video packages for the VIP area of the circuit which featured live streaming coverage of the race alongside live performances in the breaks from acoustic artists.

Bristol Balloon Fiesta

A small gig yet always a good time. The stage, run by Jelly Records, hosted various up and coming artists from around Bristol for atendees to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta.

This event gave special opportunity to expand skills in getting the most from a small system and permitted focus on intimate vocals, alternative microphone techniques and low-stress mixing allowing experimentation

WingFest Bristol

An annual chicken wing festival in Bristol where BES supplies multiple stages with technical packages along with site lighting and power.

The main stage plays host to DJs, live artists and competitions.

The system seen here comprises of NEXO Geo M10, MSub15 and RS18. This was adequate for the size of venue and the nature of the events taking place.

Alexander O'Neil

Central Warehouse played host to legend Alexander O'Neil supported by Laid Blak. This was a full production event from supplier BES with myself being monitor engineer for the support act.

This was an excellent gig and a lot of experience was gained with the ability to be a part of the workflow for large touring artists, albeit scaled down to a relatively small venue.

Tropicana

During the early months of 2024, BES was the resident supplier of audio and lighting at the Tropicana venue in Weston-Super-Mare. We provided a NEXO Alpha system for the space alongside a lighting package.

The venue offered everything from hosting Bingo Lingo events to full band performances.

This was a great opportunity to try out new ideas and test theories in this rather challenging acoustic space. There were certainly some challenges to overcome but overall a great stint with some good times

The Gallimaufry

I had the opprtunity to take the reins on a renowned Bristol venue, The Gallimaufry. During the system revamp, a new DSP network design was necessitated offering the chance to get under the hood of installed audio.

A very different approach to live audio with many new factors to consider such as end user experience and operability. It's remarkably easy to design a system that's going to be used by other engineers but a different feat entirely to design one for those who may have little to no audio experience.

Also being a live music venue, I had the opportunity to become a regular engineer for band nights which served as another opportunity to test new ideas in the field and have some fun with sound.

Pazzo

Building on skills from maintaining other sound systems and venues around Bristol, Pazzo offered the chance to start from scratch.

This meant selecting the correct cabinets for the space, designing a DSP network from scratch using a new platform (BSS Soundweb) and installing.

This is a system I'm very proud of as it marks the first system I was able to see from the conception through to delivery.

The system installed consists of:

Void Cyclone 10s, 55s and 4s with discrete subwoofers in each room to add warmth and fullness.

Driven by MC2, Powersoft and Crown amplifiers and controlled by a BSS Soundweb with companion iPad control app for the end user.

Bob's Barn - Winter Wonderland

Continuing the install theme, BES were subcontracted to install an audio system for the temporary structure 'Bob's Barn' in Hyde Park for the annual Winter Wonderland event. 

This dual purprose sound system served as backround music during the day, transitioning to acoustic acts and DJs by night.

Due to the nature of the venue, I opted to use simulation to estimate the optimum locations for cabinets whilst maintaining a low-profile image

This multi-level system had to be simple to use so it was decided to go back to old school analogue consoles with matrix outputs for zone control.

Gloucester Drone Show

Moving back outside, the Gloucester Drone show presented many sonic challenges to overcome. Not only was the audience plane  wider than it was deep, sightlines to the arena had to be preserved meaning that no cabinets could be flown.

Once again opting for simulation software, the arena was modeled for optimum loudspeaker placement to achieve the most even coverage possible with the cabinets available.

When deployed, the system performed as expected with only a few minor tweaks necessary to cabinet angles

System comprised of 24 NEXO Geo M10 boxes, 6 Geo MSUB15 subs and 6 RS18 dual 18" direct rad subs

Northampton Drone Show

BES were contracted to follow the drone show to Northampton where the venue would be a large car park which, in terms of sound, had a throw requirement of ~100m.

Using simulations, a number of possibly configurations were tested, arriving at 12 boxes of Geo M10 per side, PS15 out and lip fills and 6 RS18 subs along the front of stage.

This system performed better than expected and provided opportunity to expand my system tuning and alighment skills

VolksFest 2025

I once again returned to VolksFest, this time as a FOH engineer on the rather lovely SQ6. In previous years, the system provided had been a typical line array. However, due to constraints outside our control, this had to be substituted for the Alpha system.

This turned out to be an improvement as the Alpha, being a 4 way point source system, met the requirements of the space with juice to spare.

This was a very enjoyable event, despite the weather, and was yet another excellent opportunity to try out some new ideas.