Martin Bruce-up their act

Music Marketing Services turned to Martin Audio for their sound reinforcement needs when they specified the audio and video systems for the new £1.3m Australian theme bar/restaurant and discotheque, The Walkabout Inn, in Birmingham's Broad Street.

The operators, Regent Inns plc, set a budget of £180,000 to allow MMS to put a first-class package into the three-floor environment, allowing independent sound sourcing or switching between the different zones.

The frontage of the old wharf, which has now been extended right down to the Birmingham Canal, has been turned into a daytime cafe serviced by six Martin Audio ICT 300s, run full range.

Inside, the restaurant sports 12 EM 75s. underpinned by six EM 250 bass cabinets, and the stage system is served by two Wavefront 2s, with enclosed WS2 bass cabs providing extended low frequency throughout.

The upstairs 150-capacity Gold Coast doubles as an overspill lounge/function room, featuring six further Martin ICT 300s, run full range with an M1 system controller, while the subterranean Surfers Paradise discotheque, licensed for 400, sports four Wavefront 3s over the stage with four WSXs serving the bottom end, run as a three-way system. This is infilled with four W2s, while the peripheral and bar sound is supplied through six further EM75s.

Being of Australian origin, it appalls me that the premise for most of the openings of Australian theme bars is that the owner once went to Australia, quite enjoyed himself, and thought that if he decked his pub out with pictures of the Sydney Opera House, and said 'strewth' a lot, then everyone would flock to his venue for an authentic taste of 'Down Under'. You don't expect the cook in your Chinese restaurant to be called Gladys and hail from Battersea, neither do you expect to be received by a West Indian bloke when you go out for a curry, so why does Australia get singled out as an easy option by anyone looking for an angle? I'll be inspecting the Walkabout Inn, and I'll take a very dim view of the management indeed, if I don't encounter genuinely vapid Home & Away extras staffing the establishment — you know, the ones that walk past with a surf board in the coffee shop scenes. Also I don't expect to be palmed off with bog standard British food masquerading as Aussie grub, by cleverly naming the likes of bangers and mash, Dingo Dogs and Red Back Spider Spuds.

Martin Audio. (Contact Details)

EV accolades from the piers

When Chelsea Piers opened in May 1995, it ushered in a new American approach to fitness centres. The complex is 1.2 million square feet of everything you could possibly require in the world of sport and fitness. The list of facilities is astounding: soccer fields, ice skating rinks, a banked running track, baseball batting cages, sand volleyball courts etc. When other gyms offer a wall to practise your rock climbing, Chelsea Piers ship over a little known Andean mountain for the purpose; while likewise, 30 acres of coastal Perthshire has been relocated to satisfy the golf hungry yanks.

Given all that, it should come as no surprise that the Manhatten-based complex has purchased hundreds of Electro-Voice speakers to meet their sound requirements, including 254 5x100, 200, and 5-40, 60, and 80 loudspeakers distributed on existing overhead grids throughout the five piers. Furthermore 24 Delta-Max units are clustered over the ice rinks. Some 70 EV amplifiers were also part of the contract to match the speaker installation. Everyone loves the full-fat protein enriched sound.

Unfortunately, despite Chelsea Piers being such a fitness fanatic's fantasyland, it hasn't lured Mr. Motivator back over the Atlantic long enough for the Home Office to revoke any visa he might have.

Mark IV PAG. (Contact Details)

Sysco's ballroom bally-hoo

The Systems Company (Sysco) has been designated Approved Audio Supplier to Park Lane's London Hilton. Sysco had already installed the sound system for the main ballroom (scene of the Disco International PLASA '96 awards ceremony), and the appointment follows a successful tender to refurbish meeting rooms above the boardroom.

The meeting room brief called for unobtrusive ease of operation and adaptability. The three rooms, two of which can be combined to produce one larger space, are used for conferences, business meetings, product launches, and small functions. Sysco's sound system provides for stand or table mic reinforcement, cassette recording/playback of events, and CD background music. Easy to use controls are secreted in custom-built wall panels, and the Altec 409 ceiling speakers have finishes integrated into the room decor.

Sysco. (Contact Details)

Sabine movie with the times

Movie theatres have plenty of space, current technical capabilities, and they're virtually empty during the week. So why aren't they used for alternative purposes?

Interesting you should ask that because United Artists Theatres, the world's largest movie theatre chain, is a step ahead of us, renting out their buildings for seminars and teleconferences during off-peak hours. Now they're solving the peculiar sound challenges that go along with it.

The company has invested in A/V systems that travel to 35 locations worldwide, accommodating overhead projection, satellite downlinks, laser disks, and wireless keypads for audience participation. Included in the system are wireless microphones for the seminar speakers — and the Sabine FBX-901 Feedback Exterminator.

This is not your typical speaking venue. United Artists' auditoriums have huge speakers located in the front of the room, behind perforated movie screens. A seminar speaker roaming around with a wireless microphone could have created a feedback nightmare, but Craig Winterhof of RIA Corporation, a sound installation company, told United Artists about the FBX, emphasising that it provides automatic feedback control.

Tim Rust, Director of Technical Services for United Artists, recognized the FBX's benefits and included it in their system. "The FBX provides a certain comfort level for us, knowing the unit is there and does exactly what it says it does," Rust said. "It also helps reassure our customers. They know they won't have a problem when they walk in front of the room."

Personally I can picture a theatre full of starchy business types kicking back with a bucket of popcorn in one hand and two gallons of coke in the other, listening to surround-sound cost reports, possibly with red and blue 3D goggles on just to bring those figures to life.

Fuzion Plc. (Contact Details)

Sale of the Century

An 8-bus, 40-frame Crest Century GT mixing console has been sold to Essex County Council-funded live venue, The Square in Harlow. The order was placed through LMC Audio Systems by Richard Nowell Sound Services.

The venue's Head Engineer Nic Foote, who also works freelance for Richard Nowell, selected the Crest as the replacement desk of his choice for the highly-specified venue, in the light of experience he had gained from working with Nowell's own inventory of Crest equipment.

The desk, which will be used purely for live work, has been configured with 25 mono and three stereo inputs, with the master section and groups located to the far right of the chassis. It will be used as a training desk by Head Engineer Nic Foote, who designed the console layout with familiarity in mind.

Said Nic: "The Crest has eight auxes, which gives us the ability to go to four-way monitoring for a better sound on stage."

Crest Audio UK Ltd. (Contact Details)

Technomad choose to cruise

Technomad is changing the perception that pro audio equipment is, all too often, highly sensitive gear that is very susceptible to the ravages of hostile weather conditions. Their range of loudspeakers have been designed to provide high fidelity in adverse conditions.

In the daydream world of white uniforms, little umbrellas in your drinks, and overcharged hormones, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, one of the leading cruise lines in the world, has taken on Technomad loudspeakers. Previously they were operating a 'revolving door' policy when it came to their on-deck, mobile hi-fi loudspeakers, replacing components and speakers at least once a year. Technomad WeatherTech loudspeakers are 'impervious' to salt water, sand, condensation, UV light, corrosion, insects, and sleazy pick-up lines. Technomad's four layer, acoustically transparent grille system breaks up wind-driven rain, sprayed water, and banana dacquiris. Any water that does get on the chemically treated drivers is merely shed away. Other high seas purchases come from Princess Cruise Line's Crown Princess, for a similar application.

Pictured are the passengers soaking up the warmth of the equatorial sun, and enjoying a touch of Burt Bacharach piped through Technomad's WeatherTech loudspeakers. Heaven.

Fuzion Plc. (Contact Details)

RCF can't get no sleep

Specialist audio and PA suppliers, Guildford Sound & Light, have just completed a number of small sound installations all using RCF loudspeaker systems.

RCF Sub S800 horn loaded sub-woofers and Event 1000 mid/high enclosures were installed at the newly opened Insomnia Nightclub in Gloucester.

The Jazz Bistro nightclub at Blackfriars in London have purchased a full sound system consisting of RCF Event 3000 mid/high enclosures and Event ESW1018 sub-woofers. It is proving very popular with the weekend 'dance' fraternity.

RCF UK Electronics. (Contact Details)