hi, i have a live sound assignment due in which i need to research possible equipment to be used in a large festival such as glastonbury or reading festival. i need to include speakers, monitors, mixing desks etc.

crowd will be around 500, 000

separate monitor engineer is needed

thanks any help or opinions would b apreciated

Soundcraft spirit folio mixing desk, Samson 170 amps & as many JBL control 1s as you can fit in the back of an artic?

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There's nothing we can't face... Except for bunnies

Big crowd that.

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TAKEN.BALL.GONE.HOME

It may take some time to read, but you can find out what the Red Hot Chilli Peppers tour with in
Dave Rat's Blog

Quote MarkPAman:

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It may take some time to read,Dave Rat's Blog

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That's that option out the window then...

Altec A1 powered by Vortexion amps, only game in town for this sort of thing. Bass is done by expanding steam thru large horns, the modulation is on the input side of the flash boilers so you have to align for the delay that introduces.

Mics from STC.
Desk from WEM.

EQ for system tuning is by 1/4 wave acoustic stub, normally built with sliding plugs for tuning. Spectrum analysis for system EQ is done with sand and a wave plate.

Delay stacks run by mercury acoustic transmission lines or just possibly correctly terminated spring lines.

Its the steampunk festival rig!

Seriously, go and hit the major hire companies web sites, they sometimes have a news section that gives a little detail on what went out for their flagship gigs.

That crowd size is unrealistic for any festival in the UK, and probably the world, the logistics become beyond difficult at that level.

Regards, Dan.

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Audiophiles use phono leads because they are unbalanced people!

I think Woodstock may have hit that high(The original one before my time). Kinda ironic considering the assignment;) None of the technology we have today would have existed and the first response would be pretty dang close....

At any rate, yea half a million is a LARGE crowd. Have fun with that, and don't hold your breath to run a festival of that size in RL anytime soon;)

Seablade

Just issue the crowd with an IEM system. No noise polution and the sound will be perfectly in sync with the visuals for everyone in the crowd.

Now where can you hire 500,000 IEM recievers and buy 1,000,000 AA batteries nice and cheap?

Quote Wonkey Wabbit:

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Just issue the crowd with an IEM system. No noise polution and the sound will be perfectly in sync with the visuals for everyone in the crowd.

Now where can you hire 500,000 IEM recievers and buy 1,000,000 AA batteries nice and cheap?

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If the noise restrictions come in and lower, which they probaby will.. wonkey's suggestion might not be so far fetched!

They already have headphone dance tents in europe where eveyone has their own headphones and music player and have a dance in a big tent!!! Weird...

500,000 people, audiance spread at about 45 degrees, with only 1 squ m each (very small IMHO) to stand in, puts the back of the crowd about 1200 m from the stage!

Quote ac2007:

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hi, i have a live sound assignment due in which i need to research possible equipment to be used in a large festival such as glastonbury or reading festival. i need to include speakers, monitors, mixing desks etc.

crowd will be around 500, 000

separate monitor engineer is needed

thanks any help or opinions would b apreciated

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Did your university set you this question with that amount of people? It's a little concerning. As said, 500,000 people is just stupid. 100,000 is more in keeping in the UK, but that's probably across the site rather than the crowd for the main stage though.

At the risk of sounding unhelpful, have a look at SSE Hire or similar's website. I could give you the answers you're looking for right away as I've worked those gigs, but have you even done any research? That's what university is about!

Feel free to PM an I will lend you a hand, but I'd like to hear what you're thinking before I simply give you the answers to a uni assignment.

Just to add, Glastonbury and Reading are very different festivals in terms of size and layout. The systems differ greatly, particularly this year with a new sound co. doing Glastonbury.

Cheers... John

Edited by John G (18/03/07 03:05 PM)

Hi, I am doing a similar assignment with no required crowd size. Defiantly not going to do 500,000. I was thinking more 30,000 and less.

I have looked on quite a few major hire companies websites and forums that included the riggings of Download Festival, Leeds and Reading Carling Festival, and much smaller festivals which i have been involved with which was down to a size no greater than a thousand people. This is so far what i have come up with.

Nexo Geo T seires set-up, virtually copying Carling set-up of 24 T4805s, and 2 T2815s, with 12 CD18 subs. Each side. For smaller events i would go more low key like with JBL line array system, and even smaller Turbo sound.

Amps required i am still refining my search for.

Mixer i am really keen on ALlen and Heath ML5000 and ML4000 for the FOH and montiors respectively. But i would like a few more ideas there. Also the i-live-144 control

Monitors were looking at Meyer UM-100P or RCF 4PRO 3002 SMA

Could you suggets or advise anything else as it would be advantageous.

Vimion
vermae@mac.com

You wouldn't mix on GeoT with an ML series....!

Midas Heritage or something expensive and digital would be nearer the mark - or a choice of either, if it's a big festival.

@ JohnG - do you know who's doing the Pyramid this year then?

Definitely big boys toys at the 500,000 mark!

You should familiarize yourself with line array speaker systems, and delay stacks (you wont go to that many big festivals and not see them these days), think l'acoustics, high end JBL, D&B, etc.

Desks will probably be a Midas H3000 or similar if analogue, and if digital, then Yamaha, Digco or Digidesign are all good bets.

At a decent sized festival you will probably find two or more multicore systems running(40+ returns, 24+ sends from FOH), different companies have different systems in place. (multicore could also be digital)

Monitoring on stage will most likely include a combination of floor wedges, large side fills and drum fills (full range) and in-ear monitoring.

Powering the system is also a serious consideration. A few 13 amp sockets wont do the job!

Thats a few pointers that might help you some of the way, but this is a potentially massive topic.

If you're doing half a million people better get some of those Meyer parabolic sound beams...

Well, just make sure that you reference all this properly- I will look when I mark it!

Andy

^^^ Haha Gutted Mate ^^^

Well, it amused me. To be honest where its a good question and people share interesting experiences think these threads are potentialy very valuable. Problem comes with the 'can you do my assessment for me' followed by the usual how rubbish is music tech education rant. In short- kep the discussion coming!

Out of interest, did you set the amount of people at 500k or is that a mistake?

The only festivals I've seen of that size (and that's total festival) were Isle of Wight, Woodstock etc, where loads of people jumped the fence

I remember they said 90k people watched Rolf Harris at Glasto a few years ago, 2002? That was a BIG crowd, biggest ever in front of one stage in this country apparently?

Well, there have been gigs this size and I once (and only once!) worked at one that had a lot more. I remember standing on stage and seeing people to the horizon. When the crowd left afterwards, the dust they created made it look as though the whole city was on fire. There were some 16 (or there abouts) delay towers, fed by eight delay lines. By the time the sound reached the back, it must have been bloody aweful. It was bad enough at the mix position!

The computer controlled systems of today can give such a clean sound for larger gigs, but mega gigs like this, in the bad old days without digital control and line arrays always sounded pretty dreadful, far from the front with the sound being blown around.

500,000 people means up to one kilometer distance and that means three seconds of delay to the back.

No- did not set a crowd size- was left to students to decide.

didnt the stones play to like 1 million people in brazil?

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Live Sound and Studio Engineer

Sorry if I'm a bit late, but if you want to see something powerful, maybe try Peavey's Versarray series? On the side is a link to a pdf that shows a way you can set it up (Something like 50kw of power JUST FOR ONE SIDE!!)

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Ice Cold Entertainment DJ/Live Sound Services Ashland, KY, USA
Coming Soon: Presonus 32.4.2AI, QSC KW153/KW181 FOH, EV ELX Foldback

Quote Sam York:

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I remember they said 90k people watched Rolf Harris at Glasto a few years ago, 2002? That was a BIG crowd, biggest ever in front of one stage in this country apparently?

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Knebworth crowds regularly exceed 100,000 (Robbie, Oasis, Genesis, Queen, etc). Those acts only had one stage. Even Jarre managed to get 100,000 into Docklands for each of the two nights he played there in 1998. One stage also.

It's possible that it was the biggest recorded crowd attending a single stage at Glastonbury.

Stu.

Very large live gigs in the UK are rare the largest recent one I can think of was the Runrig's Loch Lomond gig in 1991 which was huge in scotland, other than that Robbie Williams, 100,000 per Night Knebworth park events are about as big as it ever gets. The new Wembley holds about 70,000 for concerts like MUSE, last Summer and Reading, Leeds, V Hyndlands Park are all up to about 50,000.

Even Edinburgh's New Year celebration was cut way back after over crowding set in with 250,000 on the streets in the Nineties.

The half million crowd gig is just not a UK thing, you need the right sort of civic square in a city to manage that sort of thing, look to Russia or China possibly France if you want to find a space that could cope with space and transport for a crowd that size.

Quote Wonkey Wabbit:

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Just issue the crowd with an IEM system. No noise polution and the sound will be perfectly in sync with the visuals for everyone in the crowd.

Now where can you hire 500,000 IEM recievers and buy 1,000,000 AA batteries nice and cheap?

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Hey, might be onto something here Wonkey boy....

Except, you broadcast the concert on FM radio and get everyone to bring radio receivers and headphones.

That way they wouldn't even need to attend the show!

Think of the green house gas emissions that would be saved!

Bob

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www.bickerton.co.nz

Who's going to be playing? Disaster Area?

Quote:

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Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, are generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the history of the Galaxy, but the loudest noise of any kind at all.

Regular concert-goers judge that the best sound balance is usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles from the stage, whilst the musicians themselves play their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stays in orbit around the planet - or more frequently around a completely different planet.

Many worlds have now banned their act altogether, sometimes for artistic reasons, but most commonly because the band’s public address system contravenes local strategic arms limitations treaties.
- Douglas Adams

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New album 'Fantasy Bridge' available now!
Making of Fantasy Bridge Diary

Heh that is likely to be the book on tape I listen to, to keep myself awake on a 36 hour trek across the US to my gig this summer.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Seablade

Who, probably surprisingly, is allergic to seafood;)

Midas H3000...and shed loads of V-DOSC, or Meyer Milo...

or on the other hand some JBL Eon's!

stage, cause its a festival, have a PM5D and a H3000 x 2, l'acoustic FM's/logic LM20's, ARCS and dv sub's for sidefills, and loooads of in ears!

all powered by lab's im a l'acoustic typa guy

Edited by elspencio (07/04/08 08:59 PM)

I do say Sir, the title of the book you are searching for is:

Live Sound Reinforcement by Scott Hunter Stark
ISBN 0-918371-07-4

Enjoy!

miKe

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"It's all gone quiet." said Rhubarb
"Not nearly quiet enough." said John Cage

Just found this forum, I love it!

I am thinking of building a rocket ship to mars
I have some fireworks , a compass and a divers helmet
Any input would be appreciated

Quote Anonymous:

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Just found this forum, I love it!

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Do you walk around wearing an "unregistered" badge smartypants?

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My head hurts!

Seem to recall the Genesis free gig in Rome in 2007 was to around 500,000 people, might be worth looking into that. Showco in Dallas TX used to do their sound if my memory serves me right.
Regards,
Mark

Just to point out very gently that the the original post requesting help was made 3.5 years ago.....

..... I suspect the world's moved on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lXXvUIEy2o

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We come in peace...we leave in pieces...

The great thing about Pantera is that if no one liked their music anymore they could always open a second hand guitar amp shop and sell off their 100 amp heads and matching 4x12's- unless of course Metallica have the same idea