Installations

A Unique Production/Performance Complex Blooms in a Wine Country Setting

In a pristine business park of well-kept warehouses and offices located in northwest Santa Rosa, in bucolic Sonoma County, CA, one immaculate structure stands out against the more conservative surrounding architecture of its wine distributor, microbrewery, electrical supply and motorcycle mechanic neighbors.

A longstanding tradition in show business — at least harkening back to circus performers in the 1800’s — is that “the show must go on.” Today, despite competition from multiplex cinema complexes, home theaters and every conceivable form of sporting events, there is still considerable interest in watching humans in live onstage performance, whether in drama, musicals, concerts, dance, opera — the list is nearly endless. At the same time, while stadium shows are less common these days, venues in the 1,000 to 4,000 capacity range seem to be doing well, especially as music artists once strictly relegated to arenas are now turning to these smaller, more “intimate” venues.

Achieving great sound in a house of worship setting is fraught with challenges. Worship services may range from simple piano and/or organ with voices to high-SPL contemporary music at rock concert levels; or with many churches, it may be a combination of the two, serving two different congregations. Unfortunately, few house of worship sanctuaries are built with acoustical needs in mind, and often feature highly reverberant spaces with ample use of wood, glass, marble and other acoustically reflective materials.

The largest country music club in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Saddle Rack, was founded by Hank Guenther and opened on Aug 13, 1976 in San Jose, CA. The club prospered for some 25 years, but the astronomical rise of real estate prices in the Silicon Valley eventually swayed Guenther to close the club in 2001 and sell the 6.5-acre parcel of land where it stood.

At over 100 years old, the former National Guard Armory is one of San Francisco’s most distinctive buildings. Designed to convey the impression of a heavily armored and forbidding Moorish fortress, the massive structure features four octagonal towers, rough clinker brick exterior walls and narrow rectangular lancet windows. Now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the building measures 192,300 square feet and includes the administration building (84,700 square feet), basement (68,000 square feet) and Drill Court (39,000 square feet).

The nightclub biz is booming. And there are plenty of reasons why. No matter where you go in the world, people like to go out for a few drinks, perhaps a bite to eat and some social interaction — particularly when it’s accompanied with great music. And in any successful nightclub installation, great sound is an essential part of creating just the right ambience and feel, whether in an intimate lounge, disco, supper club or live band venues playing rock, pop, country or R&B. With that in mind, we decided to look in on seven recent club installations, each presenting their own set of needs and challenges, yet all that found success through the combination of a skilled, experienced integrator applying just the right audio system to meet the needs of that particular application.

Elements for Success Combine at the Parkway Presbyterian Church

Not every church is a megabuck, 140 dB rock ‘n’ roll concert-level installation project. And that statement certainly contains a lot of truth. Every installation and situation is different, but in every case — large or small, loud or soft — matching the right gear to the job is an essential part of achieving a successful upgrade project.

Pretty much since the invention of radio, recording artists have always jumped at the chance to perform live on the air. Yet where they actually perform is afterthought — if it’s a thought at all. CBS radio’s Sam Cappas, a regional director of engineers, had an idea about creating a live performance space worthy of the talent that comes to play.

Bringing High Performance Audio to Every Seat in the House

Throughout the world, live theater — once considered a dying art — continues to blossom and rise in popularity. This phenomenon is not strictly by happenstance, but through the evolution of live theater, which incorporates all forms of technology — lighting, staging, visual effects and state of the art audio — into creating reality on the stage.

Sound system designers for the house of worship market face some tough challenges. By their very nature, churches — whether traditional or modern — are often not designed for the sonic needs of today’s high-SPL worship and frequently built into acoustical spaces such as storefronts or warehouses that were never intended for music appreciation. At the same time, church services typically combine a wealth of spoken word portions that require superb intelligibility with music that can range from delicate instrumentation and quiet vocal solos intended to go with quiet contemplative moments to turn-it-up-to-10 hymns that instill the soul (and the sanctuary itself) with the sounds of praise.

The Greeks regarded Orpheus as the father of music. (Hermes may have invented the lyre, but Orpheus perfected it.) The Orpheum chain of vaudeville theaters, built in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, reflected the confident and optimistic aura of the West Coast during those years, with the opulence and musical perfection Orpheus might have appreciated. The Orpheum Theatre on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles (about seven blocks from the Staples Center and the L.A. Convention Center) is a spectacular example. A high vaulted ceiling supporting ornate crystal chandeliers, exquisite plaster work, lush velvet seating, deeply curved unsupported balcony — and all eyes drawn to what might lie behind the classically framed proscenium arch.

Sophisticated Control Tames the Old West Sound

In 1920, Walter and Cordelia Knott moved to the then-sleepy southern California community of Buena Park to farm 20 acres of rented land. They eventually founded a fried chicken restaurant, which by 1940 was serving as many as 4,000 meals a day and is now the world’s largest chicken dinner restaurant.
To offer waiting customers something to do and to pay homage to the pioneering spirit of his grandparents, Walter developed Ghost Town, eventually the first of Knott’s Berry Farm’s six themed areas. Today, that land is part of 160-acre Knott’s Berry Farm, America’s first theme park and the 12th most-visited amusement park in the country.