[ATTACH=CONFIG]196295.vB5-legacyid=4002[/ATTACH]LEGENDARY DANCE ACT LEFTFIELD RETURNED TO BRIXTON Academy at the end of April for Brit Award winning charity Warchild, an event promoted by Ed de Vroome of Good and Proper in association with Cato Music, with a new Turbosound PA.
Warchild provides life-changing support to children whose families have been torn apart by war, using the visibility of musicians and the power of music to raise money and awareness for its vital work. The charity has long-standing relationships with legendary artists, foremost amongst them for invoking a special audience response is iconic dance act Leftfield.
On previous visits to south London’s flagship venue the band has been known to alter the plasterwork of the award-winning 5,000 capacity venue, which hosts Europe’s largest fixed stage framed by the elaborate proscenium arch that is modeled on Venice’s Rialto bridge. After the outstanding results achieved here in late 2010 with Britannia Row’s Turbosound Aspect rig, this particular outing was eagerly anticipated in view of the increased firepower afforded by Turbosound’s new large scale line array, Flashline.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]196296.vB5-legacyid=4003[/ATTACH]Leftfield’s front of house engineer Martin Harrison admits to being more than familiar with Turbosound systems past and present, having toured the now legendary Festival System back in the 80s: “I continued to love the sound of Turbo through the TMS-3 and Flashlight and Floodlight eras, and up to 2010 when we used Aspect to great effect in Brixton Academy. So this system is quite a departure for me; it has the evenness of coverage you’d expect from a line array – really nice transparent top end, the smoothest midrange of any Turbo system I’ve heard, and plenty of effective low end, while retaining that robust quality I’d expect from Turbo.”
Harrison and long-time systems tech Nico Royan were first introduced to Flashline at Turbosound’s West Sussex factory, where a small demo system had been set up for them in the car park, after monitor engineer Mikey Gibbard had urged them to check it out. “We only listened to a small system but I was immediately impressed by the power and coverage,” Harrison recalls, “but what was particularly impressive was the transparency and clarity of the top end.”
Fast forward to Brixton, April 2012. Courtesy of Turbosound’s technical sales team of Dom Harter, Paul McMullan, and Chris Kmiec, rolling easily out of the truck at Brixton’s loading dock came 24 TFS-900H high packs loaded four-up on purpose-built Flashline dollies, 20 TFS-900B subs and six amplifier racks.
Configured in two flown columns of 12 four-way TFS-900H high packs with 10 TFS-900B double 18″ hybrid-loaded subs ground stacked in two high, five across arrays underneath, the Flashline PA complemented the Academy’s décor with an understated and purposeful appearance. The clusters were EASE-modelled, as is standard practice to save time on rigging and aiming.
“I really like the amps,” says Leftfield’s long-time systems tech Nico Royan on his first experience up close with Turbosound’s new PA. “At only 17kg they are really lightweight, they sound great, they have loads of power – and the Lake Controller built in makes it all a very versatile and easy to use system.” Based on the class-leading lab.gruppen PLM platform, Turbosound’s 20000DP puts out four times 5,000 watts at 2 ohms, making it among the most powerful amplifiers on the planet. “The Turbosound-packaged racks are also great, very lightweight again, and very small for the amount of power they deliver,” he says.
Although classed as a large scale line array, Flashline punches well above its weight when it comes to output versus size and weight, capable of putting out 149dB peak output when pushed. “The system on the whole is a very compact and neat little package. Sure, I have to concede the subs do look pretty formidable – my initial thoughts were ‘f**k me, they’re huge’ – but that said they’re easy to handle and you want to just hear the noise they make when you turn them on!” says Royan.
“The rigging system is very well thought out, which makes Flashline very simple and intuitive to fly. Anyone with any experience of flying line arrays should have no problems putting this system up,” he continues.
Once rigged and ready for sound check Harrison had this to say about Flashline’s visual impact: “First of all, the full system in Brixton Academy looked the part; the new shape of subs in particular. Pretty much as soon as we fired it up we knew it was going to work for us. It had all the weight we needed, the ‘gutsy’ character I would associate with Turbo but in addition a greater smoothness in the mid range and the crisp top end.
“The system was pretty close as soon as it was fired up. Nico, who totally ‘gets’ Leftfield and who I trust 100% to optimise the system, did all the tweaking, which was fairly minimal. The most time was spent on time aligning the subs to get the most out of the room.
“Once you can feel there is any amount of bottom end weight to be had out of the system, my job is to make it musical. Leftfield’s programme is very variable from track to track, so it is often a case of ‘zoning’ the bottom end. So, for example you might slightly high pass the bass to leave space below it for the kick, or vice versa. For this band, it needs to be a physical thing – you need to feel the shock wave go across the room at the first bass drum hit, and you need to feel your knees giving way with the bass. The trick is to stop that being overwhelming and turning into mush.
Both sound engineer and systems tech wholeheartedly agree on the subjective qualities of the system’s clarity and coverage. “The top end of Flashline is very notably defined and coherent, and I would be very curious to hear it with more acoustic material,” says Harrison. “We had quite a big system in the Academy and at no point did it ever feel like we were running out of headroom.” Royan adds: “Although we had a few red lights towards the end I have yet to do a show with Leftfield where I haven’t seen red lights on the bass and sub-bass bands of the PA. If it’s there we will use it!
“I have to say I did like Flashline’s smoothness of coverage in Brixton. When I first turned the system on I was really impressed with the response of the PA, and how flat it was without any EQ. It only required a few tweaks to get it right for us. The high end is really clean and crisp, with a bright airy feel that you don’t normally get with line arrays. There is bucket-loads of low end with nice tight punchy bass. The system overall has a real presence, and felt ‘in your face’ – with real definition and clarity even when you push it.”
Brixton Academy has always been a special gig for Leftfield; as James Taylor puts in a review for egigs.co.uk: “Leftfield and Brixton Academy go together like apple crumble and custard.”
“For Leftfield fans the sound system is very important, and they will let you know if you’ve got it right or wrong,” Harrison emphasis. “The smiling faces and comments at the end of the show were the thumbs up we were looking for.”
Audience comments from Facebook and related reviews reinforce the point. Danny Kenny: ‘Quality night!!’ Darren Grayshon: ‘Great night, amazing memories again, music was second to none and the system was superb … Awesome night.’ James Taylor: ‘The Turbosound Flashline sound system used for the gig tonight is beautifully clear throughout ‘Black Flute’. In fact it’s amazingly crisp throughout the evening and for me it’s as good and personal as wearing decent headphones with complete frequency separation. The hi-hat sounds on ‘Black Flute’ are as crisp and close as my own nose breaking, and the punchy bass flexes my rib cage and awakens internal organs.”
Clearly happy punters, and as for achieving the desired result we were intrigued to know whether any of the customary alterations to the Academy’s plasterwork had occurred on this visit to Brixton. “I was gratified early on in soundcheck to see a thin layer of plaster dust had covered the console, and I’m sure there was some remodeling done by the end of the show!” smiles Harrison.
