The Q Club is back after five years, recently refurbished and under new management. Once upon a time, this massive venue, a former Methodist church, was the heart of Birmingham's clubbing community - now, it is rebuilding its reputation for hosting the top events. With a main dancefloor overlooked by tiered seating which ascends up towards the ornate high ceilings, extra atmosphere is lent by the grand pipe organ that dominates one end of the club.
SJ Grevett, the energetic young owner of DMX Productions, has had his new EV XLD line array boxes in almost continuous use in the venue, particularly by promoters of the Cream Classics nights. Just six flown XLD281 modules per side are enough to cover the dancefloor of this huge space, (increasing to eight modules if coverage of the tiered seating is required) which offers quite an acoustic challenge with its highly reverberant environment. "It's got high ceilings, all wooden seats and floors and glass windows," says Grevett. "The only way to make it sound good is to put 3000 people in here."
Typically the bass output is handled by six EV Xsubs and two XLC215 subwoofers, but Grevett has had up to 12 Xsubs in the house. Front-of-house control is a Midas 40-channel Verona analogue mixing console, and the rack includes Klark-Teknik's DN9340 Helix processors. System management is provided by the IRIS-Net control and supervision software, and the XLD system is powered by new Tour Grade amplifiers from EV. The DJs too are taking the group line, using EV's ZXA5 powered monitors.
(Jim Evans)
