Encore won a close run competitive tender to get the contract and then worked out how to complete the installation and get the best possible sound.
The no flying scenario presented an interesting sonic conundrum, namely ground stacking the J-Series. Careful positioning is crucial to this exercise to preserve the integrity of the line array, but it was a task dexterously achieved by the Encore team, with kick-ass results!
Per side are 3 J8 elements, one B2 and 2 J-SUBS, with a further 2 J8s a side to cover the balcony area, located approximately 10 ft above the stage level on a scaffolding gantry.
Alchemea has supplied the DigiDesign Profile console that controls FOH. This will provide the very latest in digital education to the students and also incorporate a Pro Tools HD system for recording and “Virtual Soundcheck” playback. Onstage, they really wanted a high profile analogue console, preferably a Midas XL3 – arguably “the classic” industry standard console of its era.
These are now like gold dust, but as luck would have it, Encore had extracted one from The Forum a year or so previously, which Tinline decided to fully service and keep at the warehouse “just in case” (Encore also has XL3 in constant use for the Prodigy’s monitors).
“This was totally serendipitous circumstances,” remarks Tinline, “Normally we would specify a digital console for an installation like this, but It was obviously all meant to happen!”
Outboards for the XL3 are 10 channels of Klark Teknik DN360 graphic equalisers, 4 dbx 160 compressors, 4 channels of Drawmer ds201 gates, a Yamaha SPX990 and a Lexicon PCM70 reverb – again all solid industry standard devices.”This is a very smart move to teach sound engineering students about what they will come up against in the real world, when they are doing club tours and the like,” says Tinline, “A lot of so-called ‘technical education’ overlooks facts like this!”
For the monitor system, Encore has also supplied 10 d&b Max wedges, and a full package of mics and stands, including Shure, AKG, Beyer and Sennheiser. These were chosen to offer all the options to visiting bands playing the venue and as good standards for the students to learn.