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Ibiza Rocks at Manumission with Adlib and Harman Pro UK

Adlib Audio is supplying world famous superclub Manumission with a full on sound system for their 2005 summer party programme in the Balearics, which diversified with the launch of ‘Ibiza Rocks’ every Friday night at Privilege – the worlds largest capacity club venue.

Ibiza Rocks is a collaboration between Manumission and The Barfly, tapping into the growing ‘convergence’ audience of clubbers, up for indulging in both dance and indie/rock music whilst sizzling in Ibiza’s summer sun. The Friday night is in addition to Manumission’s legendary and decadent Monday club night at the island’s hotspot.

The ‘Manumission Music Box’ is also Ibiza’s first dedicated live music venue. Its inaugural season has featured some of the most exciting bands of the moment including Babyshambles, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Maximo Park and many others.

The arty and theatrical Fisherspooner were Manumission’s resident main stage show artists this season, and others playing the big stage have included dance gurus Mylo and Faithless. The launch of this radical new direction facilitated the need to change and upgrade the sound system in the main venue.

Manumission cast the net for suitable calibre installation companies, and Liverpool-based Adlib Audio – with a wealth of experience in club installations under its belt - won the contract to supply a kick-ass sound system.

Manumission wanted a fantastic sounding system that fitted their budget. The idea was to impress top calibre touring artists who’d be happy to play the club without having to bring in any of their own production.

Adliub’s Andy Dockerty decided that JBL VerTec line array was the route to go. With Privilege being such a vast space, it basically needed an arena-sized system to achieve the power and coverage for live music as well as the raw energy and thunderous low end demanded by dance music and DJ performers. “The job demanded all the dynamics of both live & DJ requirements, along with really flexible ‘zone & control’ options – way above and beyond the average arena show,” he states.

Dockerty worked with Harman Pro UK’s Max Lindsay-Johnson on the project. The first site visit revealed many challenges including the acoustic nature of the multi-surface room which also features a massive central swimming pool, throwing another complete set of sonic curved balls into the equation.

Another challenge was in designing a sound system that worked for Manumission in addition to Privilege’s other club nights. The DJ booth is on a raised platform above the middle of the pool and in front of the main speaker arrays for most events, so they surrounded the booth with Perspex screens to allow DJs to hear more of their monitors and less of the front stacks.

Dockerty chose speaker arrays and positioning to achieve an above average level of control in the space, so that different sections of the space could be opened up or contained according to the venue capacity required on each night. It was this requirement that dictated the basic system design.

The system also included several other Harman brands from the Adlib rental and touring stock - Crown amplification, BSS system processing, Lexicon FX and DBX compressors.

The full system is a mix of all three sizes of JBL VerTec line array VT4889, VT4888s and VT4887s. The main hangs, either side of stage are 16 VT4889s, complemented with Adlib Audio DF4 (double 18 inch) subs. The Adlib subs have proved an excellent low frequency cohort to play with the VerTec system and this is no exception. These are all powered by Crown Macrotech 5002VZ amplifiers.

The first delay hangs are behind the pool, covering the rear dancefloor and VIP area, consisting of 16 JBL VerTec VT4888 (midi) enclosures, plus 10 JBL AS6128V double 18 inch subs. The VerTecs are powered by Crown Macrotech 5002VZ amps and the subs by Crown I-Tech 6000s.

Adlib says: “In conjunction with a series of 5002s, this seemed an ideal opportunity to specify and try the Crown I-Tech 6000s, knowing they were good amps. The 6000 has proved itself to be an incredibly good sounding amp, delivering low end frequencies traditionally associated with big power supply amplification”. They add that now being completely happy with the amp, for future projects they intend to utilise more of the onboard DSP functions.

Adlib think the AS6128V sub is incredible – not just for the dance market as it also handled the dynamics of the live situation superbly. “We’re encouraging Harman to make it a touring product!”

The second set of delay hangs – covering the rear balcony - are 16 JBL VerTec VT4887s – the smallest VerTec enclosure – joined by four JBL V subs and four ADLIB bass bins with double 15s.

There are many JBL SRX range cabinets and control 29’s in other bar and under balcony areas all aligned as part of the main room system. The new SRX700 cabinets are used as infill cabinets to augment the main system, and they “work in that context extremely well,” comment Adlib.

All of the arrays are managed by BSS FDS 366T Omnidrive Compact Plus processors located at the amp racks rather than the FOH position.

During set up, some modifications to the building infrastructure were necessary to accommodate the new installation, including upgrading the mains and adding a generator for the larger nights.

ADLIB supplied a Soundcraft Series 5 FOH desk, complete with DBX compressors including the well loved 160s, 160a and 1066. The FOH effects rack also includes a Lexicon PCM 81 reverb, Yamaha SPX 1000 and 990s, TC D2 delays and Drawmer gates.

Monitors are 20 AA152w ADLIB Active wedges and four ADLIB FD2 side fills, powered by C-Audio, managed by dbx Drive Rack processors and remote graphic EQ. The monitor desk is a 32-channel Soundcraft SM20 and the insert rack includes dbx IEM processors & compressors.

In the Manumission Music Box, there is another JBL VerTec system consisting of eight VT4888 elements, complete with six ADLIB DF4 subs. The console is a 48 channel Soundcraft Series 5, with dbx compressors and Drawmer gates, a selection of effects and another pair of BSS 366T Omnidrive Compact Plus processors.

The system was babysat for the season by ADLIB’s crew chief and monitor minder James Neale, with Danny Castree and then Steve Pattison also working on the system.

Harman Pro UK’s Andy Duffield undertook the extremely stressful job of trying to ensure that all the necessary kit reached Adlib’s warehouse in Merseyside in time to be prepped prior to shipping to Ibiza. This included the 20 new I-Tech amps, 5002VZs, additional VerTec cabinets and a large quantity of Crown Xs amplifiers, “probably the best value for money in the whole Crown range,” affirms ADLIB’s Andy Dockerty.

Dockerty concludes: "It has been a pleasure working closely with Andy and Elliott at Manumission and helping develop the world’s greatest superclub. It’s also been great to facilitate some of the world's largest live artistes. Being such a massive departure from just DJ-based entertainment they had a steep learning curve. After sorting some initial venue infrastructure problems, we collectively believe that the system installed has been a major success. We look forward to developing our relationship and production values with Andy, Elliott and the rest of the Manumission team next year..

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Ibiza Rocks at Manumission with Adlib and Harman Pro UK

16th September 2005

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