JOHANNESBURG — The Gearhouse Group of Companies recently provided comprehensive technical support, in the form of audio, rigging, lighting, trussing, structures and power, for a new electronic dance production, Sensation Innerspace. The event took place at the Coca Cola Dome in Northriding, a Johannesburg suburb, on Sept. 7, 2013.
More details from Gearhouse (www.gearhouse.co.za):
Gearhouse takes pride in being one of very few equipment suppliers able to fulfill the requirements of an event of this magnitude, while continuing to provide effective service to regular clients. This was the debut event for Sensation in South Africa and the staging of it brought about quite a few “firsts” for technical supplier, Gearhouse SA, as well.
Gearhouse was contracted to G and G Productions, through technical consultants Strike Productions and worked hand in hand with Technical Production Manager, Dave Tudor and Mushroom Productions, who handled the overall local production of the event. Project Manager Anthony Banks, handled the onsite co-ordination of Gearhouse’s technical elements with the assistance of Madeleine Whitehead.
Banks explained that for Gearhouse the main challenge of this event was the sheer scale of it: “It’s a truly massive event. Over the get in, show and dismantle period, a total of 330 technical people and 260 stagehands were involved in just our part of the event … that’s close to 8000 man hours altogether!”
Audio
Senior Audio Technician Llewellyn Reineke elaborated on the audio requirements for Sensation 2013. “For starters, instead of playing to one end as the venue is traditionally configured for large music events; the sound system needed to cover the entire floorspace. No less than 3 PA systems were needed for this “in-the-round” sound coverage.”
The main PA ring comprised 8 stacks of L-Acoustics V-Dosc, each with their respective 6x 8 L-Acoustics SB28 Subs whilst the second ring was made up of a combination of 24x Kara and 48x KUDO, each with their respective SB18 and SB118 Subs.
The entire audio system was distributed via Neutrik OpticalCon Quad Fiber Optic with 6x Lake LM44s running DANTE. This was the first time that Gearhouse has put this many L-Acoustics boxes in any indoor venue in South Africa, and they executed the process seamlessly.
For more details on Gearhouse’s rigging, lighting, staging, AV, power and logistics support, go to http://www.plsn.com/international-news/11883.
