Sister companies Richard Brooker Sound Design and Canegreen Commercial combined their talents and resources to create an effective (though complex) sound solution on the river Thames this July.

Westminster City Council, the Millennium Commission and Lambeth Council organised the event that included a Royal opening and multi faith dedication of the two new Hungerford Golden Jubilee footbridges. The event commemorated the building of the elegant new footbridges, with actors from musicals Mamma Mia and My Fair lady performing pieces from their shows to the gathered crowd. Local dignitaries and religious leaders attended the opening including, Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra and Ken Livingston, Mayor of London.

The challenge for the sound team was to take feeds from the public speakers and performers on two sites and achieve good coverage in four areas, which effectively involved installing four PA systems for the event. The overall system was designed by Richard Brooker, of Richard Brooker Sound Design and implemented by Canegreen Commercial, carrying the sound to VIPs on the bridge and public on both banks of the river.

Richard Brooker is associate sound designer for the productions of ‘My Fair Lady and ‘Mamma Mia’ and was chosen for this job because of his experience in theatre sound system design and understanding of their sound, as well as his experience with outdoor systems.

Richard explained;
“Our brief for this event was to ensure the clarity of sound was constant at every point on the site, transferring the theatrical feel to the outdoor environment. Bringing this type of sound to an alien environment presented a number of challenges, but we had a good team to make it work. All those involved with the event wanted to ensure that not only the invited guests had clarity of sound but also assembled audience in the other areas could follow proceedings, they wanted passers-by to stop and take in what was going on. ”

The stage upon the bridge was flanked left and right by bleacher seating for the VIP’s, posing the problem of distributing sound evenly around the crowd without restricting their site lines. This was overcome by placing UPM speakers adjacent to the audience. The bridge system consisted of 12 EAW KF760 line array speakers, with 6 Meyer UPM1 and 1 Meyer USW1-P sub bass speakers on either side of the stage. Tom Marshall and Miles Marchment managed this system on the day behind an Aztec 24 + 8 console.

Richard explained;
“The positioning of speakers for the bridge stage had to be thought through very carefully to ensure all assembled guests were covered. With the audience to the sides of the stage, positioning speakers between them was the most effective solution to ensure minimum overlap of the sound.”

Three hundred VIP’s watched the proceedings from a boat beneath the bridge, into which the sound was beamed via a live microwave radio link. (Screens were placed on board to accompany the sound equipment on the boat to ensure the assembled guests could follow proceedings.) Sound was distributed around the boat via a main stereo pair consisting of Meyer UPA-1P SP speakers with EAW self powered subs positioned at the front of the boat, with two delay lines feeding Meyer UPM1’s position further down the boat, controlled by a Meyer MPS3 stereo processor, with Damien Dyer behind an Allen & Heath Mix Wizard 12/2dx Console

The third system was a concert style system, which was placed on a stage on the south bank of the river, adjacent to the Festival Hall and from which the cast of Mamma Mia performed. This featured a traditional sound system, overseen by Richard Ryan behind a Midas Venice 8M and 4 st console; with 6 Meyer MSL4 and 2 Meyer 650R2P SP sub woofer speakers on either side of the stage. Delays were also used for this system consisting of 2 Meyer UPA-1P speakers, with 2 Meyer UPA-1P speakers also acting as stage monitors. This system was designed to give an exciting focal point from the Royal Festival Hall and the eastern footbridge, to involve more passers by.

Richard explained how challenges steered his design ideas for the system;
“One of the elements we had to take into account for this show was the overlap of sound. As the sound was carrying from one system into another’s space and so delays had to be designed to ensure the sound was clear with no echo.”

The last system was placed around a giant video screen, which was positioned in the Jubilee Gardens, adjacent to the bridges. From this point members of the public could get a good view of the bridge while also being able to follow proceedings on the stages. Graeme Devenish engineered this system with a Soundcraft Spirit Folio desk, driving a stereo configuration of 6 Meyer MSL4 speakers and 2 Meyer 650R2P sub woofer cabinets, again utilising a radio link for feeds from the main performance areas.

All four systems were driven by Lab Gruppen amplifiers (other than the self-powered cabs) and were controlled and monitored with XTA DP226 digital speaker controllers and BSS Soundweb, allowing accurate fine-tuning throughout the rehearsals and event.

Linda Nivans was production manager for the event, she explained;
“The combination of Richard Brooker and Canegreen Commercial meant that between them they had the right experience to deal with the sound for this event. They were a pleasure to work with, dealing easily with the ever-changing brief. When Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra was being introduced to guests on the bridge, they turned down the sound around her so she could be heard while maintaining the sound everywhere else, which was an example of their attention to detail. The event went excellently and we have had great responses from everyone involved.”

Andrew Frengley, director of Canegreen Commercial who managed the logistics of installing the system explained;
“That was tricky, but it worked!”

The construction of Hungerford Bridge’s new Golden Jubilee walkways has re-drawn the map of London, opening unparalleled access between some of London’s most exciting areas, including Soho and Leicester Square, and the South Bank. The building of the two brighter footways has masked the bridge positioned between them, which was designed in 1845 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and later converted into a railway bridge for Charing Cross station. All present on the day agreed the bridge is an excellent addition to London’s architecture. They also agreed the event had been a success, with the sound system providing an ‘audio bridge’ between the different areas enhancing everyone’s enjoyment of the day.