Martin Audio published details on August 10 of the system used for Glorious Day at Hove Lawns on Brighton's seafront. With Groove Armada, Jocelyn Brown and DJ Todd Terry on the bill, dBS Solutions had to cover a long, narrow festival site without pushing unnecessary energy into the neighbouring streets.
The main system used ten WPC elements per side. Ten SX118 subwoofers formed a castellated cardioid array, giving the team directional control at low frequencies rather than relying on level alone to reach the audience.
The closest residence sat roughly 60 metres from the stage, in line with one side of the system. dBS Solutions says it combined the subwoofer pattern with DISPLAY's Hard Avoid function to reduce output behind the main arrays and limit spill toward the road.
A residential and commercial area also lay beyond the far end of the 80-metre site. Two MLAC delay systems were placed along the left side and aimed largely toward the sea; the delay nearest the city was turned further inward to keep high-frequency energy within the event boundary.
The team compared several coverage predictions in DISPLAY and worked with local noise-control personnel before settling on the final optimisation. The project is a useful example of festival PA design treating off-site limits as part of the coverage problem, rather than as a check performed after the audience system has been designed.