Equitana 2010 was held in November at Melbourne Showgrounds with Audio Visual Dynamics contracting Deluxe Audio to supply the sound system for the Grand Pavilion, one of the largest tensile fabric membrane structures in the region.
With many very expensive and highly strung horses performing, it was essential that the audio was carefully delivered.
"You had to deliver so that the audience could hear but there were no uneven sounds - you couldn't have a horse come round the corner and freak out as it was too loud," commented Dave Rees, managing director of Deluxe Audio. "We had to do everything from musical acts through to demonstrations with people sitting on horses with belt packs."
Hanging a PA system in the venue is tricky as the only hanging points are from the main king poles which are on hinges and actually move around under the billowing roof.
"The PA swaying around certainly doesn't help," added Rees. "It's a demanding space to work in. We decided to hang our JBL VerTec 4888 PA at one end whilst trying out the new VerTec 4886 at the other end. We were interested to see if the VerTec 4886 were 'voiced' the same as the main PA. Often you'll find that even if two PA's from the same manufacturer are time-aligned, they can sound radically different and will never sit in together. However when we fired up the VerTec 4888 and VerTec 4886 together they were instantly seamless. Obviously someone has thought about it and done the job properly."
"We were also quite surprised by the amount of noise the VerTec 4886 could make. It sounded very good despite being in a huge space and did a fantastic job with great coverage."
(Jim Evans)
