Day Out At Manchester Parklife For Audile's Js

The organisers of Parklife have achieved a notable success, completing a 20,000 ticket sell-out a full six weeks ahead of the actual day. Known for The Warehouse Project and the more subterranean Mad Ferret and Now Wave, they have assembled an equally stratified bill of both nationally known names and performers well below the radar of the mainstream music press. In another first, audio suppliers Audile, Wigwam Acoustics and d&b audiotechnik have also pulled off a bit of a coup, providing an equally co-operative route to success.
 
The site at Platt Fields Park, barely a kilometre south of the University of Manchester campus, lies at the heart of a densely populated area. Surrounded by a mix of '60s high-rise and old Victorian terraced housing, it's fair to say the licensing authority were sensibly concerned to ensure the event wouldn't be soured by neighbourhood dissatisfaction with noise. Rob Ashworth, who runs Audile, a lesser known but very successful pro audio rental house in Manchester, was contracted to provide the sound.
 
"From the moment we were first approached it was clear from Vanguardia, who had been appointed as noise consultants, that sound propagation would need to conform to strict and very precise limits. 

"In their experience a line array was the best tool for the job, and they'd found the d&b J-Series to be particularly effective in its control of dispersion. We'd been considering adding J to our stock for some time, so this, along with the widespread interest in the system from our other festival clients, was the catalyst for investment."
 
Fortunately for Ashworth, he had in the past five years forged a close working relationship with Wigwam, based a few miles outside Manchester in Heywood. "We had often sub-hired equipment from them, including loudspeakers from the d&b audiotechnik range. I talk to Chris Hill and Geoff Muir frequently, and had already identified the J-Series as the ideal choice when the time came to invest in a line array. But these are difficult days when it comes to making capital investments."
 
Ashworth's experience is typical of the times: "We wanted a traditional asset finance deal where the loan is secured on the equipment alone, but in the current climate most lenders aren't willing to offer this sort of deal. But Mick Spratt who heads Wigwam Sales had a solution. In collusion with d&b he simplified the finance process, arranging the type of deal we wanted at a favourable rate. From my perspective, seeing a leading audio system manufacturer working with their sales partner in this fashion is not just supportive for a client, it reinforces my confidence in the product."
 
Audile took delivery of their new J-Series system just four days before the June 12 event. "We've already got the system booked for half a dozen major events across the summer," said Ashworth as he pushed an amp rack through the doors. "The J-Series makes sense for us in many ways, not least in its supreme rider acceptability. The other big factor its scalability; we didn't want one of the large stadium systems that are impractical for smaller shows, so J is ideal in that it's powerful enough for the big shows, but will also scale down to smaller gigs like Brixton Academy or Manchester Apollo."

www.audile.co.uk