New York (August 10, 2011)—In North Carolina, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel recently upgraded its multipurpose venue to host an audience of up to 3,900, and needed a new d&b audiotechnik PA as a result.
Production Supervisor, Ryan Hargis explained, “The Event Center is designed for concerts but will also host banquets and sporting events. Since the bulk of the events are concerts, we wanted to go with a sound system that any touring act would be comfortable using as well as providing our guests with the best possible experience. A system from d&b was chosen based on our own research which concluded that they manufacture the best concert line array systems in the business.”
The system was installed by PSX Audiovisual Technologies from Covington, Louisiana; overseen by Director of Engineering, John McGovern: “Entertainment Manager Neal Morgan and Production Supervisor Ryan Hargis let us know right up front that they wanted the Cherokee Event Center guests to have a concert experience that they would remember. They wanted d&b from the very beginning; it was chosen first and foremost for its sonic accuracy and its ability to meet with any artist’s concert rider.”
Effective liaison between the venue, the installer and the manufacturer is a vital ingredient for a successful project as McGovern explains, “Many minds were put to work on this project. The arrays were specified by d&b who modelled the room; PMK Consultants (Dallas) took care of the acoustical treatment and layout of the space; finally, PSX worked with Neal and Ryan to tweak the details and give them just what they wanted. The system sounded great right out of the box.”
Hargis identified key stages in the progress from inception to successful completion, “Everyone was on the same page going into the install; the high level of communication between all three parties through every stage was invaluable. The main components of the system are J8 and J12 in the flown array, along with J-SUBs. To supplement the hanging loudspeakers there are ground stacked J-INFRA cardioid subwoofers. To provide fill for the closest seats to stage d&b E8 loudspeakers were chosen, and ceiling mounted E12 loudspeakers to provide balcony delays. We also use d&b M4 monitors and Q-SUBs for drum sub monitors, while for side fills we fly Q-SUB and Q7s. All the loudspeakers in the room are driven by d&b D12 amplifiers which are networked and controlled through the d&b R1 Remote control software interfaced through an iPad.”
“One of the goals of getting the d&b system was to make our job easier,” concludes Hargis. “We have had acts come through that were carrying a high end PA that stayed on the truck because of the quality of the installed d&b rig. Comments such as, ‘This is the least amount of work I think I’ve ever had to do for tuning a PA,’ confirm that we have made absolutely, one hundred percent, the right choice.”
d&b audiotechnik
www.dbaudio.com
Harrah’s Chereokee
harrahscherokee.com/casinos
