The Factory offers a new Live experience
- Details
The 300-capacity venue is the brainchild of managing director Steve Gardner. Having taught himself to play piano upon retirement from a successful corporate life, Steve was approached by an old school friend who had an empty building in the town of Worthing, formerly used by the local college as a music and dance training centre. Spotting an opportunity, Gardner started the successful Soundhouse and Dancehouse rehearsal businesses.
It was natural for him to approach nearby high-end audio retailer The Audio House when equipping the rehearsal studios, developing a close working relationship with company founder Gerry Heeley.
As Soundhouse and Dancehouse quickly established themselves as ‘go to’ music and arts rehearsal spaces in the area. Gardner saw the opportunity to develop a large, unused space in the building as a new venue. The Factory Live was born and, with 30 years’ experience of the local music scene, Gerry was the perfect collaborator.
“There is a keen appetite for live music in and around Worthing. Although there are a few existing venues, most of them are not purpose built, have limited capacity or are in concentrated residential areas,” says Heeley.
“Being a 10-minute stroll from the centre of town, two minutes’ walk from the railway station and with no immediate residential neighbours, we had the ideal location for a new live venue.
“When Steve was equipping the rehearsal studios, I was happy to recommend and supply Yamaha. As The Factory Live developed, it was logical for it to be one of the brands we looked at. We became very interested in the DZR series powered loudspeakers, as they definitely seemed to tick all the boxes.”
Yamaha’s Steve Beeston visited Heeley and Steve with a selection of DZR models for them to audition in the space. “We decided to start with a pair of DZR15s for the main L/R system, with two DZR10s for overhead centre fills and three DXS18 XLF extended low frequency subwoofers,” says Heeley. “For stage monitoring, we added two DXR12mkII and three DXR10mkII. This system gave us a great sound for both live performers and - importantly - a great ‘club sound’ for DJ sets.”
Gerry and Gardner also looked at a number of different mixing consoles and decided that the Yamaha TF5 was the clear winner in terms of its sound quality, flexibility and value.
Feedback about The Factory Live has so far been universally positive, with local residents stating that it is 'exactly what Worthing needs'. Both the audience and performers have commented on the quality of the sound.
(Jim Evans)
