The Gibson Amphitheater at Universal CityWalk, formerly known as the Universal Amphitheater, recently brought in Sound Image of Escondido, Calif., to perform a complete sound system renovation. Critical to the new setup at the well-known Los Angeles–area venue is a multichannel Lake Mesa Quad EQ™ digital matrix processor system, which has been installed to provide front-of-house main system and onstage monitor loudspeaker processing.
“They’re using the Lakes for equalization and time correction,” explains Dave Shadoan, president of Sound Image. Two complete systems of Lake Mesa Quad EQ 4-channel units have been installed at the 6,000-seat venue. “They have a separate system for front of house, which is eight channels. On monitors, they’re using 16 channels of Lake Mesa. Plus, there’s one wireless tablet interface for front of house and another interface for stage. I had Lake supply everything already configured.”
Sound Image designed the new sound system in consultation with the venue’s staff. George “Barney” Barnes (pictured), systems technician and audio engineer at the Gibson Amphitheater, is very pleased with the operation and sound of the Lake Mesa Quad EQ units. “It’s simple: I love them. They’re very reliable and they sound fantastic,” Barnes says.
Many of the visiting engineers are already familiar with the system, and some have been using the software template created by Barnes in the Lake system to adjust the loudspeakers to suit their needs. “The younger engineers are very hip to it,” comments Barnes. “For the most part, engineers go with the EQ that I’ve set up, but, depending on the microphones that they’re using, they might take a little high end out or try to put some back in.”
The eight channels from the two FOH Mesa Quad EQ units are routed through a stand-alone 8×8 matrix mixer to the multiple-zoned loudspeaker system to provide processing for the flown main and subwoofer systems, side hangs, front-fill and deck subwoofers. Onstage, four Mesa Quad EQs handle equalization and time alignment of 18 proprietary Sound Image monitor wedges, side-fills and subwoofers.
For more information, visit Lake at www.lake.com or Sound Image at www.sound-image.com.
