CHARLOTTE, NC — Since it opened Oct. 12, Label Charlotte, a 16,000-square-foot music/dance venue, has presented a mix of live bands and DJs with multiple genres of music. In its opening week, the venue featured a 16-piece salsa band. To support the featured nightly acts, and also corporate and other special events, the club’s audio staff and visiting engineers (including FOH engineer Andrew Ketchum, pictured here) have made good use of a new Allen & Heath iLive digital mixer.
More details from Allen & Heath (www.allen-heath.com):
Label Charlotte is an upscale, modern nightclub and lounge in the NC Music Factory of Charlotte, NC. With 16,000 square feet of space and a large dance floor, stage and DJ booth all in the main room, Label has become known as Charlotte’s “Mega Club.” Yet, the club also has smaller, conversational spaces, including the “Ivory Lounge” and four distinct VIP sections in the main room.
Label is an up-scale entertainment venue offering a mix of live bands/artists and DJs with multi-genres of music. In its opening week starting October 12, 2012 Label featured a 16-piece salsa band. However, Label is a multi-use venue that also hosts private functions ranging from fashion shows to wedding receptions to large corporate events.
To support these special events along with the club’s nightly entertainment, Label owners Lisa Bennett and Robert Ortiz invested in the kind of sound, video and lighting systems you might expect to find in a large Las Vegas nightclub. These include a 24-foot video wall, laser lighting effects and a versatile, high-performance sound system with an Allen and Heath iLive Digital Mixer.
Paul Emrick, Label’s Production Manager noted “some nights we may have two different DJs or a live group that includes a DJ. The 16-piece salsa band that played our opening week was the smallest live group we’ve had yet and they needed 14 different monitor mixes,” he continued. “The iLive made that easy. The monitor engineer did his mix with an iPAD and he was right up on the stage with the band!”
Emrick sets up a different iLive “scene” for each band and saves them for return performances. “Also,” he said, “it’s easy to take a scene I’ve saved and modify it for a new band.” Emrick, who also works for Eye Dialogue, Label’s sound, video and lighting contractor, designed the club’s sound system. “We put the iLive’s digital snake drops at two positions on the stage, one at the DJ booth, and one in the Ivory Lounge,” he said. “That means we can put the iDR-48 MixRack (inputs, outputs and processing) where needed and we can operate the entire sound system with the T80 Surface (control surface) from any of these locations. Sometimes, I walk the club with my iPAD as well and I can adjust the sound for the Ivory Lounge or any other area while I’m in the space. The iLive was the only console with this kind of versatility to do what we wanted to do and the sound quality is much better than other digital mixers I’ve used.”
Owner Lisa Bennett says the club has received great reviews from the local press and from the community. “This level of entertainment puts Charlotte on the map with nationwide exposure,” she said. “People tell me we’re so glad you brought Miami, New York and Vegas to us in Charlotte!’”
