Each year Assembly Festival transform approx. 18 venues from their year-round purposes to fully functional theatre and entertainment venues hosting international theatre, comedy and music acts for the duration of the festival, a further 6 purpose built temporary venues are also installed around the city which include container conversions and classic Spiegel tents.
Delta Live have provided audio equipment and audio production engineering services in support of Assembly Festival since 1992 when the scope of works was audio system supply for 6 venues, through to (and beyond) 2025 at which time the scope of works includes 24 venues as the client continues to grow their operations base. Delta’s role is not limited to provision of just the venue audio specification but also extends to supplying rider needs to many of the 260+ shows that happen daily for the duration of the festival when a visiting company or production have audio requirements that surpass the standard venue specifications.
Almost all venues have a different year-round purpose as opposed to being arts venues during the festival, the adaptation of which each hold their own challenges which can range from complexity of production rigging to a need to make substantial re-designs if a visiting production has very specific audio system needs away from the stage such as installation of a surround speaker system or other immersive audio soundscape functions.
Delta must react quickly to fulfil specification needs, a percentage of which will always be covered within the venue standard tech specs, with others needing a couple of extra vocal microphones here or a 30-way RF mic system there. We therefore always aim to be flexible and accommodating as these needs are requested to ensure all shows are given every opportunity to be successful at the festival, especially given that some productions don’t have producer or promoter backing but are self-funded by individual artists or groups who are really in a make-or-break situation for continued success, and as part of our continued commitment with this unique event we offer as much support as we’re able.
We look forward to the challenges that future seasons will present and also working with productions to help them implement new technology they might choose to use or that we have available and of course the evolution of the venues we have had a relationship with for many years of successful festival seasons.