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Turbosound Aspect Provides Big Sound for Outdoor Arena at Radio 1’s Big Weekend
19th and 20th May saw BBC Radio 1 kick off the open-air music season with its annual Radio 1’s Big Weekend free festival, hailed as the biggest free-ticketed festival in Europe. Held this year in Moor Park, Preston, Lancashire, Turbosound’s Aspect loudspeakers played a huge role in entertaining 30,000 music fans over two days.
Alongside live music from top acts including Razorlight, Scissor Sisters, Kaiser Chiefs, Stereophonics, The Fratellis and Kasabian on the main stage, up to 10,000 festival goers enjoyed the DJ sets being played in the Outdoor Arena each day.
It was the first time Radio 1’s Big Weekend had hosted a third stage and artists including Tim Westwood, Pete Tong and Vernon Kay, Groove Armada, David Guetta, Seamus Haji, Judge Jules, Zane Lowe and Mark Ronson took full advantage of the Outdoor Arena.
Britannia Row was the main audio provider for the event, with Turbosound’s head of R&D Dominic Harter managing the set up of the Aspect system to ensure pristine sound.
The system comprised six TA-890H mid highs, nine TA-890L lows and four TSW-218 subs per side, all ground stacked. QLight TQ-425 subs along with Turbosound monitor wedges were deployed as monitors for the DJs. Amplification was via eight T-25 and 12 T-45 amplifiers, with control by two XTA DP448s and an XTA D2 for any added dynamic equalisation required.
The decision to have an Outdoor Arena – and to use Aspect – was quickly proven right, as it was a stunning success, with a huge crowd enjoying the superstar DJ sets on each day.
“I have never known such an immediate and enthusiastic response to any system from everyone involved as we had with Aspect at Radio 1’s Big Weekend,” says Britannia Row’s Roly Oliver. “The DJs, stage managers, promoters and organisers were all universal in their praise. Vernon Kay even described it on his Radio 1 show as “the best and loudest system ever used on Radio 1’s Big Weekend”. Aspect was an absolute joy to listen to, even with the Force Eight crosswinds!”
Stage manager for the Outdoor Arena was Russell Pate, a heavyweight player in the dance music scene for many years, having managed Back to Basics, Gatecrasher and Heaven, and having been managing director of hard house label Tidy Trax. “Having been involved with large scale dance events for the last 14 years, working with the Aspect rig at Radio 1’s Big Weekend was also something of a recce mission,” says Russell. “I wanted to find out if what I had heard about the system was true.
“I wasn’t let down! Right across the system – the tops, mids and lows – it was stunning. I was truly impressed with the system and also the professionalism of the Britannia Row / Turbosound crew. They certainly made my life as stage manager a whole lot easier and I look forward to working with them in the future.”
Meanwhile, on the main stage a dozen TFM-450 wedge monitors were complemented by two Flashlight TFS-780Hs and four TSW-721 subs as side fills. With such a wide variety of live acts, the versatility of the Turbosound monitors ensured all acts had the best foldback quality possible.
“Turbosound is committed to providing Grade A support to all its rental companies and their clients,” says Dominic Harter. “It was a great pleasure to support the new DJ-based addition to Radio 1’s Big Weekend. I hope Aspect will be a regular part of the line up in the future!”
11th June 2007
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