Entrepreneur Alex Proud built his first Camden venue up as a gallery for photographic works. Located in Camden Market, recent planning developments have compelled a move to new premises and he has set up his new venue in a former horse hospital close by.
Once filled by horses injured by pulling the barges up the nearby canal, the Victorian building has lately been used by the market's antique dealers. The 'at proud' refurbishment has kept many of the original features, including the cobbled floors - the compartments of the original stables now house private booths, complete with horses' water troughs.
The largest space in the new venue is the Gig Room, a gallery which transforms into a 500-capacity live music club in the evenings. With a central stage dominating the high-ceilinged room, sound designers SSE London has chosen to install Nexo's new Geo S12 line array system, teamed with the latest RS15 subs from the French manufacturer, all supplied by UK distributor Fuzion plc.
Powered by Camco and Yamaha amplifiers, the PA system uses left and right clusters of 4x Geo S1230 cabinets, arrayed horizontally. "In the short time since this speaker was launched by Nexo, we've been very impressed by it," says Emma Barwell of SSE London, which installed some of the first S1230s into London's Astoria club.
Because the venue functions as a photographic gallery by day, the brief called for a very unobtrusive PA system which could nevertheless provide the coverage and power expected by top bands. "In this respect, the horizontal array of the S12 Series was a big plus," says Barwell. "It has exceptional MF-LF output and is designed to be multipurpose."
Opening night for 'at proud' meant a full house of invited guests, and performances by rapper Lethal Bizzle and rock band The Enemy provided the first public test of the new system. Front-of-house and monitor sound are controlled by a Midas Verona 480 analogue console, with SSE's MB4 wedge monitors on stage.
(Jim Evans)
