Ok here goes, ‘cause im sure you all want to know. I was one of the production mangers for this event and my key role for this was to supply the sound systems for the hardcore tent & Drum & Bass arena. We already knew we where going to have sound issues and had a number of meetings with the local environmental health who were to monitor the sound levels on the night.
We started the build on Thursday bringing in a 50k Nexo Alpha sound system for the hardcore tent and a 50k EV-LAV system for the drum & bass. We conducted a few sound checks on the Friday night and visited local residential areas to check for noise levels. We found we could run the system at a reasonable level at that time of night. Ok?
Saturday night comes doors open, environmental heath grab me to see what measures we have taken to control the levels, which at that time of day was ok. Event runs on for a few hours with no reported problems, then I get a tap on the shoulder around midnight and the environmental heath invite me to travel to the nearest residential area. We then monitor the sound levels, around this time about 1am, traffic is very minimal and we could clearly here the event, (hardcore tent) I then called the sound engineer for the big top who reduced the level of sound until the noise pollution was 'except able'. We had no idea this would reduce the sound level so much, my hands where tied, if we had maintained the level they would of shut the event down and probably cuffed me too! Believe me I spent 2 hours with the environmental heath while on the phone to the sound engineer trying to get the best level of sound but it was truly a lost battle these guys where not going to budge.
It does bug me because the sound system was designed to give you the best sound quality and level for your enjoyment. I’ve already seen some people calling the sound system 'shit' but it was far from it. The issue was out of our hands & the promoters. As for the drum and bass arena we thought we would have problems with this too, but in fact there was no sound pollution from the rollerworld, so when I got back for Andy C set we let the subs breath, before this time we had limited the system, hence the low volume for the first few hours.
We specialise in high quality sound systems, including the EV-LAV system. The promoter heavily invested in this for your enjoyment. It was just for this event we got stung with the noise police, we did everything we could to maintain the level, but lost :( That’s all I can say on this I hope you understand the events that went on for the sound levels.

Cheers for the info

Should be possible to do another event inside Rollerworld in the future.

That's good to hear :-)

Fair Do's

Nice for for the explanation!

yeah wicked for the explanation but u had no volume comin from the main speakers, it sounded like it was only comin from the djs and mcs monitors surely u could have put a couple of watts threw the main speakers and turn the monitors down... althou was a good nite

No complaints here,lol, I played in the eastenders bar at the same time as that other Andy, MC's TnT & SK smashed it head to head with G1 & the system in there was live-O the monitors "were" the rig. Small room, no delay. Real industry room... Ronnie Size popped in and skib :) couldnt have gone better...............................

I played in the eastenders bar

How hot was it in there *shock*, lovin the bouncy castle fan which was used to move the air around lol.

i wondered what that blowy thing was... about as much use as a chocolate teapot, proper hot in there

Firstly a few questions - i paid £31.50 for the MAIN HARDCORE LINEUP. Unfortuantly due to our sat nav going spazz on us we didnt get there till 12.30 and at this time the sound volume was bad but bearable. You could still stomp in there and clearly recognise the tunes. However with NO base whatsoever (and yes we moved right up next to the speakers and could hold a conversation with each other without raising our voice). Music didnt sound right and we were told engineers were fixing it so we left and wandered around.

Found the Hardcore Techno and Up & Coming room in the time complex but where was the banished/oldskool stage which was meant to have cally cage?

Repeatedly went back to the hardcore tent to see if the sound was sorted and it wasnt so we went into the Up and Coming room - the smallest room in the venue, which ironically had the best atmosphere, best sound system and best tunes. As much as i enjoyed stomping in there its the only part i enjoyed and im not happy paying £31.50 for up and coming DJ's....

By the time we returned to the main hardcore arena for Scott Brown the sound system was even worse!!! You could not recognise what song was on whatsoever. I felt sorry for Scott Brown - all those up for it ravers looking completely confused and wondering what the fuck is going on because they all they can hear is a load of distorted noise.

I will also never understand why promoters use soundsystems with speakers only at the front. Do you not realise if you are at back behind a tent full of people the music has to travel through that whole crowd of people!! Resulting in distorted and not enjoyable tunes. To get the full sound you need speakers at the back and at the sides too. How else are you going to achieve a surround sound effect which really makes Hardcore fucking stomping!

If you knew there could of been issues with environmental health then why not run sound checks with THEM before the event was due to open on the evening before. Im sure they would of been happy to arrange that as would of saved them hassle from any complaints from locals.

I don't suppose any reimbursement will be made to those that paid £30 (even more if you went VIP) and went just for the main Hardcore Arena. I am not into drum and bass so i was there purely for the main Hardcore Lineup - that is what i paid for and that is not what i recieved.

(As far as aware the lineup didnt even match the programme cards - didnt recon come on when darren styles and hixxy were meant to?)

The promoters have been running enough events over the years now for noise pollution to be a relevant factor in planning a new event.

Yep i had a proper bad night by the way and i see the event as a complete waste of 76 quid!

agreed with the two previous posts, yea Hixxy and styles were on when Recon was, and recon was on when hixxy and styles was on, i paid vip, extra tenner, - no queue, a lanyard program and a vip tent in which the eastenders bar was actually better, i think i used the vip tent for beer, water and for a piss, if you wantd spirits - no chance

Weeeell, freeformation was aces ten (h)

Weeeell, freeformation was ace (h)

Oh please dont rub it in - was orginally going there with a different group of mates but lift feel through ... thought global energy would of been a worthy replacement and worth the overpriced door tax - how wrong was i.

fs stop your moaning ppl,all the events hixxy and that put on u all moan like wains because 1nst in a blue moon somthing like this happens,asking for refunds and so on,its only money,i still had a class night,so did most folk and for recon he was flyin bk from the l.a, just happend his flights were a bit late happens to the best of us,no realy fair to start picking faults

and there use have info from the sound system company,fair enough things could have been done before hand,but no matter what,some 1 was going to moan on the night about it

I think most of the sound was coming from the dj monitor speakers - I had to turn mine around to let people hear music and seriously overload the system.

Environmental health were going mental, the sound guys did everything they could and I could clearly see the htid staff were fuming about things.

The system was great but I've come across this situation many times, it's very unfortunate.

was a gud nite just ruined by the sound system in the hardcore arena!! Better off keepin it in the rollerworld arena I reckon!! x

Ok here goes, ‘cause im sure you all want to know. I was one of the production mangers for this event and my key role for this was to supply the sound systems for the hardcore tent & Drum & Bass arena. We already knew we where going to have............

aww bless i bet you were in a right stress!

well i had a wicked night regardless. some people ay

well the sound system wasnt great but tbh im hardcore so i just got on with that it was certain people that were there picking on me (i know that sounds silly but it wasnt believe me )i had about 8/10 lads pushing me around trying to pinch my phone and stuff got away eith my inhaler (lol)
everytime i moved they follewed i was well scared n didnt dare stomp near the end

this is the reason y i didnt have a great night i didnt do anything to be treat like that and to feel really uncomfortable in a rave

hardcore main erena everytime,

the hardcore arena was a flop but the gabba was stompin just a shame us hardcore heads got pushed out into a tent because of DnB whats that all about we were there first