An organiser's life is never an easy one, it is impossible to keep all the people happy all of the time. Amplified Sound is a contentious issue at most festivals and most of us feel we could do better than the man on the sound desk.

Contentious and subjective, the vast majority of comments we receive are entirely happy and congratulatory with and about our sound levels, a few are not. This is the way I plan the Shrewsbury folk Festival:-

1.        I attempt to provide alternative concerts when our high energy bands are playing, so that those people are unhappy with high sound levels have equally entertaining and high quality concerts in other venues.
2.        I employ the highest quality sound engineer that can be found in the folk world, namely Graham Bradshaw. He, in my opinion, has the best ear in the UK for folk music and provides clean, well separated, high quality sound using top quality, state of the art, equipment.
3.        I programme concerts where I know high levels of amplification will be used for the final band with artists who require less amplification.

The observations about artists providing their own sound engineers are correct. But these engineers provide the sound their bands require and the bands feel that their success is partly in the hands of their own engineers. As a festival organiser I have little control over the sound provided by visiting engineers. I am, in fact, contractually obliged to provide the size of rig and sound levels the bands ask for. I can, therefore, be blamed for booking the bands, but that is my prerogative. The festival works in conjunction with the SABC environmental health officers and upper levels of sound are agreed and measured throughout the event.

I do not think a qualification in electronic engineering necessarily makes you an expert in sound engineering Mr Red and I do not appreciate the implication made by your comment "What happened to Folk". Folk is alive and well and prospering at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival … did see that improver's workshop. My aim is to excite, inspire, encourage and stimulate all of those people who want to b part of the folk movement. I have never believed that folk should be "our little club" or that we should celebrate amateurism and the mediocre.