Following the cancellation of its Scotland date, Rewind Festival’s long-term sound suppliers, Capital Sound, were in action at Macclesfield (Rewind North) and Temple Island Meadows, and with the exception of an additional delay tower at Rewind South, fielded identical Martin Audio MLA PA rigs under the supervision of Production Manager, Keith Morris of Riverside Productions.
Set on the banks of the Thames, the 40,000 capacity Rewind South featured an all-star line-up of ’80s pop icons, with Jimmy Somerville’s Big Band-tastic Boogie and Wet Wet Wet headlining.
Capital Sound fielded a highly experienced technical team with FOH Engineer and Supervisor, Mike ‘Bunny’ Warren mixing the largest section of the show supported by Systems Tech, Toby Donovan.
The site itself is flat and open, fanning out at the rear, where an arc of three delay towers at the 65m point provided coverage.
The main PA fielded 15 MLA array elements above a single MLD Downfill box on each side, with eight MLA Compact enclosures, at stage left and right, for outfills. For front fills, Capital Sound provided an additional 12 Wavefront Precision (WPS) line array elements.
Handling the low-end frequencies were 19 MLX subwoofers in broadside cardioid, set in a castellated pattern across the front. This provided a lot more controllability, according to Capital Project Manager, Martin Connolly. “It removes the amount of sub energy bleeding back onto the stage, which is particularly off-putting for those wearing in-ears,” he remarked.
According to Capital Sound, the Martin Audio rig proved popular with the guest engineers. “As usual the MLA at Rewind South was simply one of the clearest systems I have ever worked on with seemingly infinite headroom for the show and so much sub, while the highs and mids just effortlessly responded and brought the mix to the forefront,” Aswad FOH Engineer, Chris Cowlin commented. “The coverage of the system was seamless, and I didn’t have to apply any system EQ—so whoever set this system up is definitely at the top of their game. I don’t get to mix on MLA too many times in a year but when I do, it’s always an easy and very fulfilling gig.”
