MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Electrosonic has designed, engineered and installed a park-wide audio system for the new Hard Rock Park, the world’s first rock ‘n’ roll theme park, which just opened in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Spanning 55 acres, Hard Rock Park celebrates the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll through more than 50 rides, shows and attractions. Electrosonic’s audio system plays background music in the park’s six zones or rock environments.
The All Access Entry Plaza offers shopping venues and public spaces with a Route 66 theme; Born in the USA salutes the birthplace and melting pot of rock; British Invasion looks back at some of rock’s most influential artists and musical genres; Cool Country explores rock with a rebel yell;…Lost in the 70s recalls the convergence of British and American music, culture and fashion; and Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven remembers rock’s greatest legends in a tropical paradise.
The background music, supplied by PCM Technologies, consists of extensive track lists for each environ; the ability to random shuffle keeps soundtracks fresh for visitors and park employees alike.
As the primary audio system for the park, it may also be used for announcements and emergency paging by zone or park-wide. It is capable of muting audio in certain areas if live shows or performances are taking place.
“We were definitely challenged by the scale of the park although some of the park’s zones are quite small,” notes Electrosonic project manager Tim Wilson. “We installed close to 1,000 speakers, primarily Peavey PR15Ts and subs customized for this application. We also used smaller Peavey Impulse 6T speakers in retail areas and queue lines. All of the speakers are mounted on poles or stands in the ground, on the sides of buildings or in the queue line infrastructure.”
The Live Amphitheater venue, which hosts a changing roster of bands, is outfitted with Versarray speakers. Crest amplifiers are used throughout the park.
The park-wide audio system utilizes “a very complex Peavey media matrix network for the distribution of the audio – it is one of the largest media matrix programming effort we’ve done to date,” Wilson points out. “A large portion of the MediaMatrix product resides in the park’s Command Center while DSPs distribute audio in the field.”
One of Electrosonic’s coolest tasks involved the Rockola brand video jukebox in the retro Great Meals Diner. “It looks like a regular jukebox, but with a monitor in it. You can select from over 500 music videos, which play on the jukebox and on monitors throughout the diner,” Wilson explains. “We took the video output of the jukebox and distributed it to monitors which are customized to look like old TV sets. And we took the jukebox’s audio and tied it to our system local to the venue.”
Wilson says, “I couldn’t have done the Hard Rock Park project without project coordinator Guy Fronte who was onsite the better part of six months. In a lot of applications we are truly the last guys in during construction. Everyone at Peavey, including Hartley and Mary Peavey, was extremely helpful with the installation, too.”
At Electrosonic, Eric Lehman handled sales for the project and John Louis was the engineer responsible for the MediaMatrix programming.
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