Installations

The nightclub biz is booming. And there are plenty of reasons why. No matter where you go in the world, people like to go out for a few drinks, perhaps a bite to eat and some social interaction — particularly when it’s accompanied with great music. And in any successful nightclub installation, great sound is an essential part of creating just the right ambience and feel, whether in an intimate lounge, disco, supper club or live band venues playing rock, pop, country or R&B. With that in mind, we decided to look in on seven recent club installations, each presenting their own set of needs and challenges, yet all that found success through the combination of a skilled, experienced integrator applying just the right audio system to meet the needs of that particular application.

Elements for Success Combine at the Parkway Presbyterian Church

Not every church is a megabuck, 140 dB rock ‘n’ roll concert-level installation project. And that statement certainly contains a lot of truth. Every installation and situation is different, but in every case — large or small, loud or soft — matching the right gear to the job is an essential part of achieving a successful upgrade project.

Pretty much since the invention of radio, recording artists have always jumped at the chance to perform live on the air. Yet where they actually perform is afterthought — if it’s a thought at all. CBS radio’s Sam Cappas, a regional director of engineers, had an idea about creating a live performance space worthy of the talent that comes to play.

Bringing High Performance Audio to Every Seat in the House

Throughout the world, live theater — once considered a dying art — continues to blossom and rise in popularity. This phenomenon is not strictly by happenstance, but through the evolution of live theater, which incorporates all forms of technology — lighting, staging, visual effects and state of the art audio — into creating reality on the stage.

Sound system designers for the house of worship market face some tough challenges. By their very nature, churches — whether traditional or modern — are often not designed for the sonic needs of today’s high-SPL worship and frequently built into acoustical spaces such as storefronts or warehouses that were never intended for music appreciation. At the same time, church services typically combine a wealth of spoken word portions that require superb intelligibility with music that can range from delicate instrumentation and quiet vocal solos intended to go with quiet contemplative moments to turn-it-up-to-10 hymns that instill the soul (and the sanctuary itself) with the sounds of praise.

The Greeks regarded Orpheus as the father of music. (Hermes may have invented the lyre, but Orpheus perfected it.) The Orpheum chain of vaudeville theaters, built in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, reflected the confident and optimistic aura of the West Coast during those years, with the opulence and musical perfection Orpheus might have appreciated. The Orpheum Theatre on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles (about seven blocks from the Staples Center and the L.A. Convention Center) is a spectacular example. A high vaulted ceiling supporting ornate crystal chandeliers, exquisite plaster work, lush velvet seating, deeply curved unsupported balcony — and all eyes drawn to what might lie behind the classically framed proscenium arch.

Sophisticated Control Tames the Old West Sound

In 1920, Walter and Cordelia Knott moved to the then-sleepy southern California community of Buena Park to farm 20 acres of rented land. They eventually founded a fried chicken restaurant, which by 1940 was serving as many as 4,000 meals a day and is now the world’s largest chicken dinner restaurant.
To offer waiting customers something to do and to pay homage to the pioneering spirit of his grandparents, Walter developed Ghost Town, eventually the first of Knott’s Berry Farm’s six themed areas. Today, that land is part of 160-acre Knott’s Berry Farm, America’s first theme park and the 12th most-visited amusement park in the country.

Rebounding from recession, business in Las Vegas is back on a growth track, with a resurgence in tourists, conventioneers and club-goers joined by an influx in residents who are drawn, not just by the casinos, but also by a revitalized downtown with an emerging arts scene and influx of high-tech startups.

Once named as one of the “ten best cities for families” by Family Circle magazine, Henderson, TN is a small town that’s just 18 miles northeast of Nashville. While officially part of the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area, Henderson still retains a small town feel, yet with that kind of proximity to Music City USA, residents there are very attuned to sonic quality — especially as part of their worship experience.

Years ago, the question of whether theater was dead was constantly brought up by detractors on every front. And if live theater remained trapped in the genre of stodgy parlor dramas, any predictions of its demise would have seemed credible. However, today, quite the opposite is true, and the application of advanced technologies in staging, lighting, visual effects and high performance sound systems have done much to keep theater not only alive but growing.

The pace of technology upgrades in the house of worship market seems unstoppable. And why not, as congregations — both traditional and contemporary — take advantage of modern audio, lighting, video and broadcast systems to help spread the message. With the rise of high-energy praise bands and choirs, these days, a ‘60s Lowrey organ and a couple of well-worn Shure Vocal Master columns don’t cut it when presenting contemporary music services.