A village of custom-created performance spaces and entertainment zones, Farr Festival recently returned for its 2018 edition with the help of Funktion-One systems used across the festival site.
Woven around a wooded slice of countryside, just half an hour outside London in the county of Hertfordshire, Farr Festival is a wonderland of themed spaces equipped with the best in acoustically designed sound systems.
Dave Millard, founder and owner of Full Fat Audio (FFA), has been an intrinsic part of the event since its early years nearly a decade ago. In addition to running FFA, he holds a sizeable stock of Funktion-One loudspeakers, which he pairs with his own amps to create sound systems that are a perfect match for Farr’s bespoke aesthetic. Working with supplier support from Zion Audio, Millard uses this Funktion-One/FFA pairing to produce systems for all five of the festival’s stages and spaces.
Millard’s admiration for Funktion-One stretches back many years. He explained: “I’ve been using Funktion-one since about 2001. I mean, I was using Tony Andrews and John Newsham’s designs when it was Turbosound. It’s just something that appeals to me – it’s something that I get.”
The first of these stages to be encountered by festivalgoers was the House of Dinosaurs. Here comedy, games, yoga and spiritual wellbeing could be practised and enjoyed, as music was delivered by 2 Funktion-One Res 2s, a pair of Funktion-One F115 bass enclosures and 2 Funktion-One BR218 bass reflex speakers. These are powered by Full Fat Audio FFA-8004 and Full Fat Audio FFA-10000 amps and controlled by NST Audio D48S matrix processors that feature DSP capability.
On the Campfire Headphase stage, a programme curated by Inverted Audio magazine was delivered via 8 Funktion-One F1201 loudspeakers, 4 at the stage and 2 pairs of delays. Bass came from 4 Funktion-One BR121 and 6 Funktion-One BR118 bass reflex speakers. Power was supplied by Full Fat Audio FFA-8004 andFull Fat Audio FFA-10000 amps, with NST Audio D48S provided the processing.
The DJ Mr G hosted Ma Dahu’s stage tucked away in the woods was powered by 4 Funktion-One Evo 7EH speakers, 6 Funktion-One Evo 6SH speakers and 12 Funktion-One F215 Mk2 bass enclosures were joined by 16 of Funktion-One’s ground-breaking new bass enclosure – the F124. PSM318 DJ monitors onstage completed the package, with Full Fat Audio FFA-8004 and Full Fat Audio FFA-10000 amps and NST D48S processors ensure a high fidelity audio chain.
Millard says: “Mr G specifically wanted the biggest and baddest bass. The F124s give such depth to the bass – it’s such an abundant sound that’s so immense but not aggressive. The tonality of it is such a pleasure to use and you put it under any other Funktion-One speakers and it just sounds so natural and powerful. It’s quite magical.”
For The Shack, located deep in the site’s woodlands, audio comprised 8 Funktion-One Evo 7EH speakers, 6 Funktion-One F215 Mk2 bass enclosures, 12 Funktion-One BR121 bass reflex speakers, 4 Funktion-One Evo 6SH and 4 Funktion-One AX88 for fills, and 2 Funktion-One PSM318 DJ monitors. Power and control came from Full Fat Audio FFA-8004 and Full Fat Audio FFA-10000 amps, alongside NST D48S processing.
Over at Adventures in Success sound comprises of; 4 Funktion-One Evo 6EH speakers, 4 Funktion-One F215 Mk2 bass enclosures, 12 Funktion-One BR121 bass reflex speakers, Funktion-One F101 fills, and a Funktion-One PSM118 with Funktion-One BR118 combo for DJ monitors comprise the audio. Full Fat Audio FFA-8004 and Full Fat Audio FFA-10000 amps and NST D48S comprise the processing.
Millard says: “By using end fire bass and bass beam width control, we could control the low frequencies successfully without compromising the crowd experience. The use of point source with very precise vertical and horizontal control is all part of our system spec. The bleed between the stages was minimal, which meant they could be enjoyed independently.”
