We weren't sure ourselves until July 2020 when we were approached by one of our regular clients to provide a service for a socially distanced event for up to 1000 people.

At first we thought it was wishful thinking, having 1000 people attend an event was surely against the rules, but further talks led us to understand the promoters had been in touch with the local council and they had found a solution that might  could work.

At the time the rules were clear, no more than 6 people could socialise together outside, but if the venue was set up in such a way that each group of six were segregated from any other group by at least 3 metres then the council were happy. 

The only downside was that there were also rules on the volume of the music. The council required the volume across the site to be at a level such that each group of six could communicate without the need to shout at each other. This meant rethinking the way outdoor concert sound is installed.

OUR SOLUTION

Normally for a venue of 100sqm we would install a large line array or ground stacked sound system either side of the stage with enough sub-bass to cover the whole venue. In some cases, we would add speakers on delay towers further down the venue to ensure the clarity of sound all the way to the back, but this is for the sound at high volumes, this system just wouldn't push sound more than 20 metres at the volume requested by the local council. But what if we had more delay towers?

Our solution to the problem was using the principle of delay towers and expanding on it. Generally, a delay tower would have several speakers attached to it, but if we scaled down the tower to a single pole with one speaker on it then the volume produced would be lower. Increasing the number of speakers on poles and spreading them out would offer the same coverage as a conventional delay tower, but at a lower volume.

The next issue was ensuring that the sound appeared to be coming from the direction of the stage. This was done by adding a small amount of delay (measured in milliseconds) to the audio signal going to the speakers (hence the term delay tower). Adding more speakers makes the delay calculations a potential problem. Nobody notices a sound system set up correctly, but a badly delayed system will bring complains from everyone.

We opted for the easy fix and set up the delay speakers in arcs, meaning each speaker in the arc is exactly the same distance away from the stage and can be set to the same delay time. Then, we can add another arc of speakers further down the venue with a different amount of delay and so on. 

We planned to do this with three different arcs of speakers each with 6 speakers on poles forming the arc. This coupled with the small line array hung from the stage, we would be able to provide a system that had control over the volume from front to back of the venue.

We went back to the client and offered our package, which included and 8m x 6m covered stage and a basic lighting rig. They agreed our terms and we signed contracts. The terms were quite clear, we were working on a week by week basis, and the authorities could shut us down at any time with further restrictions, but for a year that looked like it could spell the end for many, anything for us was better than nothing.

Equipment

Now all we had to do was put our plan into action and get the site rigged in less than two weeks. We needed at least eighteen speaker we could leave our in the elements for 8 weeks that could also handle the sound we wanted to produce. This was not something we currently had in stock, most of our stock was either too large or was not capable of producing the quality of sound required, but Martin had a trick up his sleeve.

Back in January of 2020, we provided two stage with production for the Chinese New Year Celebrations in London's WestEnd. For this event, we'd had some new speakers on demo from the British manufacture BishopSound. For those of you not familiar with Bishopsound, they are a small independent speaker manufacturer who design and build great sounding speakers at affordable rates. So impressed were we with the dual 8" line array system on demo we decided to not return it. We came to an agreement with them a few days later and bought the system. We had no idea at the time what the year had in store.

Having bought the line array and choosing to use it for this event as the main front of house system, it seemed silly not to ask BishopSound if they had any other speakers that would suit our needs to pack enough punch and also leave out in the wet. Andrew Bishop kindly replied to my email saying he had just the product I needed. The poly-carbonate 300w Gamma 10" speaker which was ready to pole mount and came with a foam lined metal grill that wicks the moisture away from the drivers (even in the heaviest rain). Andrew just happened to have eighteen of them left in stock and offered us a deal and we had them delivered the next day.

It was a gamble using speakers we hadn't heard of or road tested for a sound design none of us had ever tried out. All the design and specifications worked on paper, but could we get it to work in the field?