Some pics of my 'other' job - just for fun.

[Rockingit]

These three were Friday night at Lowlands festival (Holland). Roughly 100kW of lights on that stage.



And this was V Fest Chelmsford the next day. Also did Stafford but no pics.

 

[trev]

Let's have a review of the festivals then
Were you driving the rig or did you design and build?

 

[Rockingit]

Let's have a review of the festivals then
Were you driving the rig or did you design and build?

Festival rigs are only ever a turn-up and drive (with normally some extra's of your own toured) unless you're a headline act in which case you get a bit more clout. In this case, out with Ben Howard, it's a case of programming your show using what's already there (kind of).

As to the reviews: Holland has more genuinely tanned tall blondes than Essex, friendlier and more inclined to appreciate your talents. Lowlands is arty, chilled, edgy and generally wonderful, V Fest is still just the commercial hell-hole it always has been. The Stone Roses still haven't got any better either. Mind you, at least at Chelmsford I managed to sneak into the free champagne bar which sadly didn't seem to exist at the other one. We had to settle for some not-so-shabby groupies back on the bus at Stafford. Ho-hum.

 

[Paul.M]

Are you doing Leeds v fest, if you are pm me a couple of tickets .

 

[Dean Williams]

my 'other job' is mobile discos. Home - COSMIC DISCOS if im allowed to post that.

just out of interest, how many watts are the speakers, if im not mistaken, they're ribbon speakers where a number of smaller ones are linked together.
ta

 

[Rockingit]

Dean - I'm a lampy not a noise boy, but modern PA stacks are 'line array'. Basically, all very ultra-tech but each cabinet will have a dispersion pattern of typically 100-120 degs horizontally, but only 3 or 4 degs vertically. So, the principal is that by adjusting the rake on each stack you can hit very specific areas of the crowd but with minimal interference of waveforms (something like that, anyway). Each cabinet has it's own amp channel (typically around 2000W low impedance) so cumulative power plus the accuracy is staggering. Rarely do they get run at anywhere near full whack - in fact, that's the idea - the ability to clearly hear but without being dangerously loud, and the level at the back of the crowd is more or less the same as the front (as the array is configured, obviously). Each 'stack' is normally around 500 kg in weight, and I think individual cabinets vary price wise from around £4k up. A full system like those in the pics would set you back easily a quarter million by the time you've bought all the amps (£3-4k each), crossovers, system controllers, distro's etc. And expect to pay another £100k for a professional digital sound console.

 

[baldelectrician]

Very interesting

Are you in Inverness next weekend perchance?
Off to see a 'old persons band' as the wife calls it.

 

[Rockingit]

No, that's me done now for a while. I might be off to do a long stint in Qatar over the autumn, tbc, and I've also just been offered a tour out with Marc Almond over the same period if that falls through.

 

[SW1970]

Hey Rockingit, I was at Lowlands! The heat was severe on Sat and Sun. It was 34 outside Alpha when Foo Fighters started last night; I was at the front in the pit and it must have been 40+. They cut the gig by 30 mins because it was so hot. Dave G was asking for the lights to be turned down. They were all completely soaked in sweat by the end of the first number. Total respect to these guys! A legendary gig.

 

[Rockingit]

We were on the Grolsch stage on Friday, but it's one of the few festies that I think I could be tempted to pay for as a punter. Glad you enjoyed it, that's how we roll..............

 

[alarm man]

now thats what i call a job.....not envious one bit...:33:

 

[Rockingit]

now thats what i call a job.....not envious one bit...:33:

And in tomorrow's exciting instalment....the diary says I'm off to make someones CCTV work before starting a bathroom refit. Oh well, we take our fun where we can find it!

 

[alarm man]

And in tomorrow's exciting instalment....the diary says I'm off to make someones CCTV work before starting a bathroom refit. Oh well, we take our fun where we can find it!

aye,but its bruce springsteens house..:wink_smile:

 

[Dean Williams]

Dean - I'm a lampy not a noise boy, but modern PA stacks are 'line array'. Basically, all very ultra-tech but each cabinet will have a dispersion pattern of typically 100-120 degs horizontally, but only 3 or 4 degs vertically. So, the principal is that by adjusting the rake on each stack you can hit very specific areas of the crowd but with minimal interference of waveforms (something like that, anyway). Each cabinet has it's own amp channel (typically around 2000W low impedance) so cumulative power plus the accuracy is staggering. Rarely do they get run at anywhere near full whack - in fact, that's the idea - the ability to clearly hear but without being dangerously loud, and the level at the back of the crowd is more or less the same as the front (as the array is configured, obviously). Each 'stack' is normally around 500 kg in weight, and I think individual cabinets vary price wise from around £4k up. A full system like those in the pics would set you back easily a quarter million by the time you've bought all the amps (£3-4k each), crossovers, system controllers, distro's etc. And expect to pay another £100k for a professional digital sound console.

line array, thats what i meant. don't know where ribbon came from!! beats my 1000w disco sound output slightly then

 

[Rockingit]

beats my 1000w disco sound output slightly then

Nothing beats a bit of A-ga-do-do-do

 

[Rockingit]

Especially for Dean - been taking some piccies out on this weekends job (Olly Muirs & Pixie Lot). I'm here on a rigging call rather than sparky/lighting, so in short if it's hanging out of the sky then I've put the motor there that it's hanging from.


This is a stack on the ground before flying. They get hung 2 or 3 at a time.

On custom cradle arms attached to 2 x 1T chain winches (that I put there)

Each individual cabinet (on this make/type) is what's known as a 4 way active system - so that's 1 x channel for High, 1 x High Mid, 1 x Low Mid and 1 x Low. Each frequency band has it's own separate channel of amplification. The drivers inside the cabs are typically either 8 or 16 Ohms, so that by using a link in/out system you end up with them working in parallel down to 2 Ohms which is the maximum (minimum) impedance that a professional power amp will go to.

There is then also a separate system again for the subs (20Hz > 100Hz ish normally) which usually just sit on the deck.

This is ONE amp set up driving one side of the stage - so that's 18 ch's of 2-3000W low impedance each. The composite audio signal comes in as a conventional analogue line then gets split by an incredibly complex and expensive box of digital algorithms into whatever frequency bands the system needs. In todays case, 5 ways (I think). Each of those 3 racks will run from a 32/1 ceeform, so that's 90A's roughly a side if they're flat out (never are).

Also on my list of jobs.

Jobs done. Hammock slung underneath the stage. Next for some overpaid and undertalented people to make a mess above, then we remove it all.

And the big picture end product:

 

[Geordie Spark]

Especially for Dean - been taking some piccies out on this weekends job (Olly Muirs & Pixie Lot). I'm here on a rigging call rather than sparky/lighting, so in short if it's hanging out of the sky then I've put the motor there that it's hanging from.


View attachment 14329 This is a stack on the ground before flying. They get hung 2 or 3 at a time.

View attachment 14330 On custom cradle arms attached to 2 x 1T chain winches (that I put there)

View attachment 14331 Each individual cabinet (on this make/type) is what's known as a 4 way active system - so that's 1 x channel for High, 1 x High Mid, 1 x Low Mid and 1 x Low. Each frequency band has it's own separate channel of amplification. The drivers inside the cabs are typically either 8 or 16 Ohms, so that by using a link in/out system you end up with them working in parallel down to 2 Ohms which is the maximum (minimum) impedance that a professional power amp will go to.

There is then also a separate system again for the subs (20Hz > 100Hz ish normally) which usually just sit on the deck.

View attachment 14332 This is ONE amp set up driving one side of the stage - so that's 18 ch's of 2-3000W low impedance each. The composite audio signal comes in as a conventional analogue line then gets split by an incredibly complex and expensive box of digital algorithms into whatever frequency bands the system needs. In todays case, 5 ways (I think). Each of those 3 racks will run from a 32/1 ceeform, so that's 90A's roughly a side if they're flat out (never are).

View attachment 14334 Also on my list of jobs.

View attachment 14336 Jobs done. Hammock slung underneath the stage. Next for some overpaid and undertalented people to make a mess above, then we remove it all.

It's all changed since my day. We used to stack 2 rain forests worth of wooden boxes at each end of the stage. The only thing that flew was the lighting rig & by God those lamps used a helluva lot of gas !!!

 

[Rockingit]

those lamps used a helluva lot of gas !!!

Well, we're still a ridiculous waste of diesel, but not anywhere near as much as we used to be. The lighting rig today only has 12 ways of dimming for some crowd blinders - the rest of the rig is intelligent lights. So instead of 3 artics full of 1kw CP62's (PAR64s) there's half a truck of 50 x 1.6A moving heads that only really draw power when they're 'doing' something as the lamps inside are various flavours of halides all on internal ballasts and draw peanuts once struck. The audio boys have nearly managed to catch up for power needs, and on the really really big shows with delay towers etc often do.

Video tends to need a lot of power, especially when it comes to OB or on-site edit wagons as they all have 3ph aircon in them due to all the processing machines kicking out heat.

I've just had a wander over to the gennies, and there are two big hushgens working in synch, each doing about 60A per phase - although in fairness the stage is reasonably electrically quiet at the moment.