Over 40 world music acts performed in three spaces over four days. Opening act in Hall One, The Sage Gateshead's variable acoustic main house, was Robert Plant and his band Strange Sensation.
For the venue's head of sound, Dan Adams, the event has been particularly exigent. He temporarily gave up his usual role and became production manager, handing the audio reigns over to Paul Astbury who can ordinarily be found at the South Bank Centre, where he is himself head of sound. With these changes in mind, you might be forgiven for thinking that to then road-test the latest in entertainment technology concurrently with WOMEX would be utter madness.
However, this is exactly what the production team at The Sage Gateshead did. Part of the reason Adams felt he could get away with this ambitious project was the positive relationship his department has with local Stage Electrics business development manager, Ed Gamble. It seems Gamble has been an essential but unofficial part of the production team for some time. On Adams' request, he secured a plethora of brand new technology including the new KV2 VHD PA system, the Avab/ETC Congo Console, Martin's Mac 700 moving heads, and Look Solutions' Unique hazer.
Perhaps the bravest move was to replace the in-house PA in the main auditorium on the eve of the opening night with a brand new PA, having never heard it before! KV2 Audio had made some pretty bold claims about its VHD system at its launch at the PLASA Show in September. However, many were sceptical that all the assertions made were demonstrable.
Andy Austin-Brown, director of technical projects for KV2, and his assistant loaded in and hung the VHD in less than 45 minutes. Astbury, at front-of-house, initially seemed unconvinced of the system's capability. Nevertheless, when a CD player was plugged directly in, with no processing or room EQ, the system filled the auditorium with crystal-clear sound; there was not a dull spot in the room, and Astbury relaxed.
Austin-Brown says: "The VHD has been designed to offer lower distortion and higher dynamics than any other product. Because the speakers have less than 1% distortion, the dynamic range has increased from 30db to 60db."
However, with this level of accuracy you can hear every electronic fault on a dodgy backline or mic. Austin-Brown confirms: "The VHD system offers the engineer a blank canvas on which to produce his artistry, there is no PA on earth which sounds good with a bad engineer or a faulty piece of equipment in the loop."
With just two VHD 2.0 mid/high enclosures per side, one stacked and one dead hung (to reach the top balcony), four quad 18" subwoofers and two 2.15 double 15" subwoofers, the system was dwarfed on stage by Robert Plant's side-fills!
Plant's engineer was initially reluctant to comment on the system; however, after the show he did say: "If this venue was looking to buy a PA, I would happily recommend this one."
Another piece of technology that proved itself invaluable in Hall Two during WOMEX was the Avab/ETC Congo Console. Lighting technician and programmer Jonathan Morson says: "I had one morning's training on the Congo; it's deceptively simple and intuitive to use, which at times caused my mind to rebel - you think you must have missed something vital, even though what's plotted works well!"
Morson particularly likes the ability to fly the Congo live and the quantity of groups and pallets that can be stored and accessed easily. His dislikes are few, although he did find the encoder wheels a little too sensitive, especially when he was tired and dexterity started to drop off.
Back in Hall One th
