For the York-based technical services company it was an easy decision to make. Their managing director Kevin Wilson said, "I had been aware of the NEXO pedigree for a long time and our first chance to use a system came in front of 17,000 people in Trafalgar Square - with assistance from NEXO's UK distributors Fuzion and A.C. Lighting."
Pride had struggled to achieve even coverage at past festivals, and following complaints about the sound distribution, Camel Event Production had been tasked with the challenge. "It was Peter Sharman, our head of audio, who suggested we audition NEXO - and we were not disappointed," said Wilson. "The system surpassed all our expectations."
The 11-year old company diversified into sound and staging from an original base in lighting. They ran several conventional PA systems in their hire fleet before deciding to step up to line array technology. At last year's PLASA Show in London they managed to narrow their choice down to two. "But Fuzion had been really helpful - and the GEO simply sounded better. Besides, I wanted to be associated with the NEXO brand and GEO heritage." Size and weight were also prime considerations.
Finally, given the number of corporate events and award ceremonies handled by the company "the discretion of the system was of paramount importance." And so with the memory of Pride still fresh, Camel placed the order with A.C. Lighting following a demo of the system at the company's northern office.
As Camel frequently find themselves working in acoustically challenging spaces Wilson knew that the predictability of the GEO's dispersion would prove to be a further valuable asset. "The ability to accurately direct the array's output to the desired locations is essential when trying to overcome acoustic anomalies induced by the venue. With the GEOSoft2 array calculator it is also great to be able to accurately calculate how system configurations will perform in different venues prior to arriving on site.
"With just basic venue measurements GEOSoft2 allows us to design a suitable system and affords us the reassurance that we can provide even coverage for the whole audience before we arrive on site."
This was the case at The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, which provided the venue for Camel's GEO S premier earlier this month. Two hangs of 11 GEO S805 Vertical Tangent Array Modules and one S830 down-fill were flown on each side together with four CD12 subs. This formed the main thrust of a full NEXO rig at an event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts which featured an appearance by Sir Paul McCartney, their lead patron. The array was augmented by another pair of NEXO CD12 subs ground-stacked each side and a number of PS8 front fills.
A further benefit to Camel is the ability to run the system from Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers on the Camco EtherCAI computer network (along with their new Yamaha M7CL digital desk). "This network links the component parts which enables the whole system to be maintained from the front-of-house position via a wireless network transmitter that sits in the amp rack," Wilson explains. "This allows the system tech to see at a glance the status from a laptop. It's a very exciting development and the relationship between Camco and NEXO was part of the reason I went down that route."
The GEO S rigging/derigging speed is also impressive as are the transport logistics - with nothing more than two Sprinter vans required to truck the full system. All of which leads to a reduction
