The fabulous line-up for Huawei Joburg Day held earlier this year at Emmarentia Dam
included Freshlyground, Jeremy Loops, Locnville and Gangs of Ballet. For South
African music lovers, sound is critical and this year Sound Stylists came to the party
with DiGiCo and were commissioned as the full technical suppliers of the event.
The owner of Sound Stylists, Kevin Glover, is no stranger to Joburg Day and
remembers the early days when the festival was hosted at Gold Reef City. A capacity
crowd in those days was 2 500. “This year we supplied the full infrastructure from
power to lighting, audio and screens,’ said Colin Loock, branch manager at Sound
Stylists. Glover was stationed at FOH, looking after each of the band’s FOH engineers
while sound engineer Shaun Hershel took care of the monitors on stage. Loock
managed the stage with the rest of the team.
The sound included a DiGiCo SD10, which was used for monitors. “They were fantastic
as always,’ said Loock. “At FOH we had two SD8s, used between the different acts,
with an S21 in the middle. We fed the two SD8s into the S21. All MC microphones and
background music were run through the S21 to free up the SD8’s so that bands could
come and do their pre-patching, line checks and load up their shows. It also meant
that the engineers could add their own eq, effects and layout to their desk and thus
giving peace of mind and far greater levels of comfort. Someone from our side was
also always on hand to assist with any of their requirements.’
Each of the SD8’s ran a Digi Rack via an RME Madiface as the signal runs were just
over 100m, so BNC wasn’t really an option. The SD10 was running two SD Racks, and
all input signal was then fed through XTA DP8000’s. The SD10, therefore, had both
band inputs and Shaun flip flopped between them. Ideally, it would always be nicer to
have two monitor desks as well however this was impractical from a space point of
view. With this arrangement, it gave each of the engineers the ability to run their own
gain structures without having to affect anyone else. It also allowed the upcoming
band the opportunity to do line checks before their set. The aim was to have as short
a turnaround as possible in order to allow the band the maximum set time. A Digico D
Rack was then used on stage to distribute the various audio signals to the main PA,
front fills, delays and out hangs through the matrix on the S21.
Two sets of backline were also provided in order to achieve this so while the one band
was playing, the 2nd band was setting up and getting comfortable with the gear.
Emmarentia Dam is within a residential area, and with this in mind, Sound Stylists
had to comply to keep within the DB levels. “DiGiCo helped from a control point of
view,’ added Loock. “Because we had our main hangs, out fills, front fills and delays
all controlled from DiGiCo’s powerful matrix system worked fantastically.’
One thing that impressed the crew was the quality of the audio that was achieved
through the S21. Glover states, “It was the first time I had the chance to dig into the
guts of the desk and the features, flow and ease of operation really stood out.’
The show ran flawlessly, and the band’s engineers enjoyed working on the system.
The next edition of Huawei Joburg Day will be held on 9 September, at Crocodile
Creek Polo Estate, Lanseria.
