Sheffield is one of those British cities that boasts a vibrant local music scene, and has produced some of the finest bands in the country, including Def Leppard, Joe Cocker, The Human League, Pulp and lately The Arctic Monkeys. Building on that tradition, AMG has created its new Carling Academy venue out of an old purpose-built ballroom which had been used as a discotheque before falling into disrepair for several years.
In fact, there are two venues here; the main stage has a capacity for 1800, while Academy 2 is another production-complete space for around 500 people. Both rooms use Nexo's D10 line array modules as the main PA element.
The sound design was created by Adlib's Andy Dockerty in conjunction with Roger Kirby and Mark Burnley, working closely with AMG's group technical manager Ed Jackson and group operations manager Richard Maides. All Nexo loudspeakers and processors were supplied by Fuzion plc.
The main venue features a deep balcony wrapped around a dancehall-style room, so the sound design uses traditional side- hangs stage left and right, each comprising nine Nexo Geo D10 cabinets. These are complemented by a block of six-a-side ground-stacked S2 subs. All loudspeakers can be moved and stored under the stage to accommodate visiting production and there are also extra loading points next to the house PA for touring systems.
Says Adlib's Roger Kirby, "The D10's main strength is its fidelity. With the boxes running flat, with just the desk output from a CD or a microphone, they are very true. It is a more musical system than most line arrays, giving a very honest representation of source material - what you put in is what you get out."
To ensure coverage across the main room's interior, over 20 of Adlib's own range of cabinets have been positioned as peripheral speakers around the room. "We've put in the Adlib delay boxes mainly to lift the sound press levels to the rear of the room, in particular for the club nights. We're very pleased with the coverage of the D10s to the edges of the room under the balcony, even when we get a full house and it gets humid."
The G10s are powered by six CAMCO Vortex 6 amplifiers, the subs and Adlib boxes by a combination of Crown I-Tech and XTI amplifiers. Processing is via Soundweb London, which has been used for a matrix set-up which allows any of the sources to be played in any of the rooms, via the BLU80 Cobranet network bussing signal around the building.
In Academy 2, Adlib has specced three D10s per side. These are supported by Adlib's own AA218HL horn-loaded subs. All the boxes have been strapped together in custom hardware.
For control in the main room there are two Soundcraft Vi6 digital consoles, with outboard graphic equalisation and playback. A third Vi6 is used in Academy 2.
(Jim Evans)
