I need a reality check.
I am one of the administrators in charge of Anime Weekend Atlanta (see here: http://www.awa-con.com/ ). It's our twentieth year (geesh, it HAS been that long!)... so, we're kind of going nuts, in a number of ways, preparing for the event.
My own brand of nuts, is the sound system that I spec'd out, and we've got coming for our Main Events room. Yeah, it's a big room (one of four big exhibit halls at the Cobb Galleria Centre- 120' wide by 300' long by 35' ceiling height), but I may have gone a LITTLE overboard with my recommendation/specification for the sound system. Here's the basics:
Ten (or more) Nexo Alpha S2 double 18" sub cabinets:
http://nexo-sa.com/en/products/4/alpha-s2/
Eight Nexo LS1200 single-18" sub cabinets:
http://www.jpb-audiovisuel.fr/pdf/caissondebassels1200.pdf
Six flown line arrays (three across the front stage, three as delay lines halfway back in the room) each consisting of five Nexo Geo 805S and one Nexo Geo 830 cabinet:
http://nexo-sa.com/en/products/10/s805/
http://nexo-sa.com/en/products/11/s830/
...and eight Nexo PS15 cabinets, for stage monitors and side fills:
http://nexo-sa.com/en/products/27/ps15-r2/
That's a total of twenty-eight 18" woofers, thirty six 8" midbass drivers, and thirty six horn-line assemblies (each with two horn drivers per cabinet, IIRC) (and the company said that if they have additional inventory available back in their warehouse when our event comes around, they may actually bring more subs!). This system should be completely flat down to 30 Hz or lower (probably lower, as we have enough subwoofers to "push the limit" a little in terms of turning down the cutoff frequency of the processors, to allow a little more low bass extension), with truly "room filling" sound.
Mixers will be two of the Yamaha LS9-32 digital mixers (one for main, one for monitors). All processing will be by Nexo's own proprietary crossover/delay/sound shaping networks, to precisely dial-in everything in the hall.
We're actually bringing in CARPET for the entire concrete floor of the exhibit hall- and we've got 15' tall velour pipe-and-drape all the way across in the front and rear of the room, and all the way down one side (the other side is a fabric/padded 'air wall', which really didn't need more damping, ostensibly). Once we get a crowd in that room, it should be damped pretty nicely- making for a quite clear sound...
I am told that the last time the company specified this much sound system for a gig, was in a space nearly four times as big as what we have. That said- the idea is NOT to make it abusively loud- in contrast, I want enough system, that it can be tuned for ABSOLUTE CLARITY and BALANCE, without ANYTHING running out of capacity ANYWHERE. I want it to NEVER have to work hard... even with the most demanding electronic dance music, it needs to be clean and clear. I think this should do that.
The lighting, I am told, will be equivalently impressive. I don't know lighting as well, but the sheer number of trusswork sections, lighting effects and PAR cans I see on the order, are almost overwhelming. Not to mention two 20 foot video screens, with 20000 lumen (!) video projectors ("artificial sun", anyone?). We have our own custom video switching and processing system, which maintains high-def video over a variety of input formats, while keeping the displays free of glitches and switching transients...
I am really looking forward to this. It's a hell of an expense for us (this years' budgeting has been a real challenge for us, but we've done pretty much everything we set out to do, and paid for it all along the way), but it should be an truly immersive experience, beyond what most other shows of this type have ever tried to put on...
Regards,
Gordon.
I am one of the administrators in charge of Anime Weekend Atlanta (see here: http://www.awa-con.com/ ). It's our twentieth year (geesh, it HAS been that long!)... so, we're kind of going nuts, in a number of ways, preparing for the event.
My own brand of nuts, is the sound system that I spec'd out, and we've got coming for our Main Events room. Yeah, it's a big room (one of four big exhibit halls at the Cobb Galleria Centre- 120' wide by 300' long by 35' ceiling height), but I may have gone a LITTLE overboard with my recommendation/specification for the sound system. Here's the basics:
Ten (or more) Nexo Alpha S2 double 18" sub cabinets:
http://nexo-sa.com/en/products/4/alpha-s2/
Eight Nexo LS1200 single-18" sub cabinets:
http://www.jpb-audiovisuel.fr/pdf/caissondebassels1200.pdf
Six flown line arrays (three across the front stage, three as delay lines halfway back in the room) each consisting of five Nexo Geo 805S and one Nexo Geo 830 cabinet:
http://nexo-sa.com/en/products/10/s805/
http://nexo-sa.com/en/products/11/s830/
...and eight Nexo PS15 cabinets, for stage monitors and side fills:
http://nexo-sa.com/en/products/27/ps15-r2/
That's a total of twenty-eight 18" woofers, thirty six 8" midbass drivers, and thirty six horn-line assemblies (each with two horn drivers per cabinet, IIRC) (and the company said that if they have additional inventory available back in their warehouse when our event comes around, they may actually bring more subs!). This system should be completely flat down to 30 Hz or lower (probably lower, as we have enough subwoofers to "push the limit" a little in terms of turning down the cutoff frequency of the processors, to allow a little more low bass extension), with truly "room filling" sound.
Mixers will be two of the Yamaha LS9-32 digital mixers (one for main, one for monitors). All processing will be by Nexo's own proprietary crossover/delay/sound shaping networks, to precisely dial-in everything in the hall.
We're actually bringing in CARPET for the entire concrete floor of the exhibit hall- and we've got 15' tall velour pipe-and-drape all the way across in the front and rear of the room, and all the way down one side (the other side is a fabric/padded 'air wall', which really didn't need more damping, ostensibly). Once we get a crowd in that room, it should be damped pretty nicely- making for a quite clear sound...
I am told that the last time the company specified this much sound system for a gig, was in a space nearly four times as big as what we have. That said- the idea is NOT to make it abusively loud- in contrast, I want enough system, that it can be tuned for ABSOLUTE CLARITY and BALANCE, without ANYTHING running out of capacity ANYWHERE. I want it to NEVER have to work hard... even with the most demanding electronic dance music, it needs to be clean and clear. I think this should do that.
The lighting, I am told, will be equivalently impressive. I don't know lighting as well, but the sheer number of trusswork sections, lighting effects and PAR cans I see on the order, are almost overwhelming. Not to mention two 20 foot video screens, with 20000 lumen (!) video projectors ("artificial sun", anyone?). We have our own custom video switching and processing system, which maintains high-def video over a variety of input formats, while keeping the displays free of glitches and switching transients...
I am really looking forward to this. It's a hell of an expense for us (this years' budgeting has been a real challenge for us, but we've done pretty much everything we set out to do, and paid for it all along the way), but it should be an truly immersive experience, beyond what most other shows of this type have ever tried to put on...
Regards,
Gordon.