Overview

 

The West Midlands town of Tamworth has recently gained a brand new music venue thanks to a local businessman who bought the long-closed Palace Cinema and invested £1 million in giving the venue a major refit.

Previously owned by Tamworth Borough Council and closed for several years, the Palace was bought by Leigh Cheneler with a view to providing the town with a major venue where bands from across the world would want to play. Now, thanks to his foresight, the town is no longer only known — in rock'n'roll circles at least — for the band Wolfsbane, whose vocalist Blaze Bayley went on to front Iron Maiden! Ex-UB40 and Magnum sound engineer Alan Caves designed and specified the building's new audio system, the equipment for which was supplied by SSE Audio Group.

Location:

Tamworth 

Web site:

http://www.thepalacevenue.co.uk 

Installed Products

Mixers:

M7CL-48

Speakers:

GEO S805, GEO S830, Alpha S2, 12PM(SSE Audio Group)

Details

Initial Resistance Quickly Overcome

The main output system is based around the NEXO GEO S line array, featuring six GEO S805/S830 and two ALPHA S2 2x18 subs per side, with SSE 12PM wedge monitors.

The beating heart of the state-of-the-art system is a 48-channel Yamaha M7CL console, providing mixing facilities for both front of house and monitors.

"As a sound designer, of course I wanted to get the venue sounding the best it possibly could," says Alan. "But I was really surprised when it came to looking at consoles because, despite the in-house engineers all being relatively young, they wanted an analogue console. I couldn’t believe it!"

Alan has spent many years teaching professional audio to students at the nearby Sandwell College, using digital consoles almost since the first one rolled off the production line. "I've been using Yamaha digital consoles since they were first developed and put four 02Rs and an 03D in the college," he says. "I'm completely sold on digital and Yamaha reliability is second to none."

Surprised at the team's insistence on an analogue solution, Alan took them to SSE's Redditch headquarters to introduce them to digital consoles.

"It's not so surprising with older sound guys, but I was really surprised that the youngsters had that fear of digital," he laughs. "So I took them to try some digital consoles to get rid of their fears. I'd read a lot of press about the Yamaha M7CL, it seemed to do everything a venue the side of the Palace needs. And as soon as the guys started using it, they were sold on it."

An Instant Hit

With the venue's audio team converted to the wisdom of digital audio, the Yamaha M7CL was installed at the Palace, where it has proved an instant hit with everyone that has used it.

"There are many things that are great about the M7CL," enthuses Alan. "For a start, the physical footprint was exactly the right size and it also looks good. The Palace is a rock venue, so the console needed to have that impressive ‘rock’ look. The amount of channel metering is excellent because it both looks ‘rock’ and engineers can operate the desk with an ‘analog mindset’. You can use it without looking at the screen."

Significant Savings in Time and Money

A key advantage of the M7CL is in how much it saves, both in terms of money and time. Alan is again unequivocal in his praise:

"It saved us a fortune because we didn't have to buy any outboard," he says. "The onboard effects sound great — in fact no visiting engineers have brought any outboard at all yet. They haven't needed to!

"Another huge advantage is how easy it is to teach someone to use it. It takes literally 15 minutes to whiz someone through it and then you can leave them to get on with it. It really is that straightforward to use."

Top Marks for Performance, Versatility, Ease of Use, and Design

As well as FOH duties, all monitor mixes are handled by the M7CL, the only down side for Alan being that the monitor engineer is in the auditorium, not side-stage. But he feels that's a small price to pay for the functionality, ease of use and audio quality delivered at such an attractive price.

"If you shut your eyes, you can't tell that the mix isn't being done on an analogue console. But even I haven't used every function on it yet," he laughs. "I haven't had a chance, it's been in use the whole time since it was installed. And there's not one engineer who has left the venue with a negative comment. In fact the engineer for one German band left the gig and went straight out and bought one."

The M7CL's ease of use will also help Alan to train Sandwell College and school students at the Palace, not in a classroom or lecture theater, but in a proper live venue. "I'm very serious about training and it's incredibly straightforward to teach on. It will make training sessions very easy," he notes.

"The desk is flawless, I can't find anything to grumble about it. 10/10 for design. It works really well and the venue owner is chuffed to bits."

A Plus for Management Too

It's not just Alan who is pleased with the new acquisition, however. The Palace's manager Chris Lynch comments:

"From my point of view the M7CL has been the best piece of equipment we have bought so far. I have been sound engineering for about 12 years — mainly live shows — and always used analogue equipment in the past. The M7CL is so easy to use that I picked it up right away. I was able to start engineering bands with minimal training. I now hate using analogue equipment as the M7CL layout seems far more sensible. It's a great choice for the Palace as space is an issue, so using a digital solution means we don't have the need for lots of rack units. We also quite often have bills of five bands, all with unique set-ups. The save and recall facility means we can accommodate this sort of line up and give everyone a sound check." Chris continues: "Purists will talk about warmth from analogue but, to me, if it sounds good, it sounds good. And the M7CL sounds great. I challenge anyone to tell me it does not sound as good as an analogue solution."

System Designer/Integrator/Supplier

SSE Audio Group

Profile:

SSE Audio Group is one of Europe's leading suppliers of pro audio systems for hire and sale. With headquarters in the UK West Midlands, the company also has operations in London, Paris and Nantes. SSE offers a full range of integrated services to support its activities including PA rental, contract rentals, sound design, installations, servicing and repair.

Country

United Kingdom

Web site

http://www.sseaudiogroup.com

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