D.A.S. Road series debuts at UK festivals

7 September 2011

UK - Given the unpredictable nature of the British climate, festival stages provide one of the toughest environments for sound reinforcement systems. The confidence of Wellington, Somerset, based rental company APR Audio in D.A.S. Audio's new Road Series stage monitors meant they had no qualms about giving the loudspeakers their world concert debut at three major UK festivals: London's Feis, the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and the Hop Farm festival in Kent.

APR's technical director Andy Reed comments, "We had never used D.A.S. before, but Sennheiser UK's Nick Pemberton suggested we have a look at them. My monitor engineer, Fabrizio, checked them out and suggested, 'Take these on; they're going to be great.' I took him at his word and they've performed way above our expectations.

"We chose them because they're light, they're active, and they're absolute dynamite," says Reed. "They sound fantastic, the power is incredible, there's no weight to them at all, and we get very high volumes with no feedback at all. We're also taking very little out on EQ, which saves a lot of messing around."

The Road Series proved their versatility by being used with a wide range of artists at each festival. These included Thin Lizzy, Christy Moore, Clannad and The Cranberries at Feis; every act on the John Peel stage at Glasto, including GlasVegas, Miles Kane, Example and Warpaint; and most of the Main Stage acts at the Hop Farm, including Tinie Tempah, Eliza Doolittle, and climaxing with that notorious perfectionist Prince.

"We were told that Prince was very pleased with the stage sound, which was fantastic," notes Reed. "At Feis, Thin Lizzy's guys thought they were outstanding - they said the stage sound was unbelievable. And on the John Peel Stage, it was the best stage sound we've ever had. The stage technicians were equally pleased. On a festival stage, it's important to have really light and compact monitors. When you've got a lot of acts, you don't want to have to keep moving big heavy wedges. But with the Road Series, it was very easy."

The Leftfield stage at Glastonbury also featured D.A.S. equipment, in the form of a line array consisting of enclosures from the company's Aero Series 2 catalogue. Supplied by SouthWest Audio of the UK, the self-powered system was comprised of 12 Aero 12A two-way, mid-high line array elements, four Aero 8A 2-way, ultra-compact enclosures, and 12 LX-218A subwoofers.

(Jim Evans)