PRESTON, UK – Chew’s Yard, a new dining and entertainment complex built on an industrial site formerly occupied by a window manufacturing company, opened in early May with an audio assist from tube uk. The new sound system includes d&b, Outline, Tannoy and Martin Audio speakers with a Yamaha MRX7-D audio matrix router for control.
More details from tube uk (www.tubeuk.com):
Chews Yard has seen the reimagination of a derelict former industrial premises, transforming it into a buzzing community hub and event space capturing the vibrancy of music, food, entertainment arts and conversation. It is the brainchild of creative energizers Ben Casey, of Chase Developments in Manchester and Christine Cort of CC&Friends, a founder of Manchester International Festival (MIF).
This first phase of development includes a 150-capacity food hall and bar area with offerings from different traders, an entertainment space, a series of industrial workshops for independent businesses and start-ups plus a large outdoor space, all with plenty of potential for staging a diversity of events.
tube uk was asked to design and install the best audio options for servicing these various spaces, delivering both background music and live – electric and acoustic performances, and Melvyn Coote and the team were delighted to be involved.
“It was an inspiring and intricate project that required plenty of thought,” commented Melvyn, “we are very proud to be included as part of Ben and Christine’s vision for the venue, and I really believe that this is a landmark project for Preston that will encourage artists and creatives to use the space for their endeavours as well as encouraging the public to enjoy and engage with so many different activities.”
The challenges were spec’ing budget-friendly audio that was appropriate to deal with the multiple requirements, shows and events, that naturally sounded awesome and delivered the tube-like aural magic expected!
Prior to Chew’s Yard’s full opening, tube had supplied a pop-up month of events in the run up to Christmas 2023, so they already had a good idea of what would work acoustically.
The main eatery space also contains a small acoustic stage, while the events space next door needed to host bands and DJs at the far end, fitting in around 200. The events space stage is temporary and can be moved – manually – for other community activities needing more capacity, so it has truly multipurpose functionality.
An outdoor area wraps around the side and rear of the building with tables and concessions plus another acoustic stage.
Putting the Yamaha MRX7-D matrix system at the centre of the sound design allows any sources in all areas to be fed to / from anywhere else, so if there is background music playing in one section, it can be zoned through to other areas as required, and the live stage feeds can also be beamed around to the different spaces.
The MRX7-D system architecture has been custom designed for Chew’s Yard activities on any given day, and it deals with sources, signals, volumes, EQ levels, delays etc., which are programmed into the main unit. Remote user interfaces / controllers are then added as required.
Currently, control is via an iPad fixed to the wall of the bar for operation by staff and duty managers. A cell phone app has also been added so that staff can pick up a device and move through the different areas, adjusting the sounds as they go.
The distributed speaker system ensures good and appropriate coverage in the different rooms.
The main event space features Outline Audio speakers chosen for their clarity and excellent value, powered by Powersoft amps and with d&b wedge monitors. The entire system is run via Powersoft amps with DANTE incoming from the MRX7-D.
The food area and the events space have Tannoy background music systems and outdoors, tube chose Martin Audio CDD8 and CDD6 ultra-compact weatherised speakers.
A Midas Venice analogue control desk was supplied for the band stage, and with Chews Yard being such an embryonic and experimental concept, they are anticipating that most bands playing there will be self-mixing.
In addition to all of this, tube supplied a stage monitoring system, and a mics-and-stands package.
tube sees this project as a chance to cultivate and nurture local audio engineering talent and offer opportunities for technicians in and around Preston.
“We think it’s the best, most practical and logical idea that also captures the spirit of Chews Yard, encouraging people to develop and embrace new skills and be self-sufficient, rather than us sending an engineer up from Manchester each time to conduct ongoing operating duties. This becomes more sustainable on multiple levels” explained Melvyn.
He and the team were excited to engage in a project that is also enriching to the community in Preston, breathing new life into these cool and interesting spaces which are inviting inclusive and creative environments for everyone’s potential enjoyment.
Installation of the system was headed up by tube’s senior project manager John Redfern during April 2024 ahead of the incredibly successful launch in early May.
