The Metropolis Fremantle is the most modern and popular club in Perth, Western Australia. With eight bars, four chambers and an enormous dance floor all in the one club, Metropolis is the perfect place to party all night.
As well as being a disco icon, Metropolis also plays host to the world’s hottest bands and their success is maintained due to the electric atmosphere created. Essential to the success of such a venue is an excellent sound system that caters equally as well for dance and live music.
Front of House at Metropolis: Nexo GeoD is the star of the show
The view from up here: Take a closer look at the GEO D at Fremantle’s Metropolis Nightclub
The club’s owners Mario Madaffari and David Wallace spent two years looking at various sound systems eventually narrowing the choice down to two competitive quotes.
The perfect sound system requires the perfect digital console, DiGiCo D1-Live
“We spent a lot of time analysing each quote and we flew down to Melbourne to meet Group Technologies,” reported David Wallace. “In the end, what really swung it for us was the technology that Nexo could offer. It was the more expensive option but the technology and possible future applications offered by the package certainly exceeded the competitor’s product.”
Another reason for purchasing Nexo was band-awareness; having such a top quality sound system has drawn acts to the venue.
The PA system comprises of twelve Nexo Geo-D speakers rigged six per side, two Nexo GeoSub cardioid subwoofers built under the stage one per side and two Nexo PS8 speakers for rear fill. Nexo NX 242 digital controllers and Camco Vortex amplifiers drive the system.
The monitor system includes twelve Nexo PS15 speakers and a Nexo PS15 bass reinforcement unit again driven by Nexo controllers and Camco Vortex amplifiers.
L–R Dale Towner (Metropolis lighting tech), Tony Bryan (Metropolis Production Manager/Audio tech), George Nikoloudis (Group Technologies), Sean Cornelius (Metropolis Audio Tech)
“Every week I hear comments about how great the Nexo system sounds,” added Ross Madaffari, Metropolis’ resident DJ. “Everybody loves it and you can really tell the difference in atmosphere in the venue since it was installed. There’s no harshness of sound in the venue, it’s loud but clear. Nightclubs aren’t just about dancing they’re also about socialising so you need to be able to talk to each other and the Nexo system makes this possible through it’s clarity of sound.
“It also cuts down on noise emission from the venue in a big way as, being a line array speaker, it’s very directional.”
Tony Brian, Metropolis’ in-house sound engineer, has worked at the venue for many years and he agrees with Ross.
“The Nexo system doesn’t give us problems with noise outside of the venue which is a really good thing,” he said. “I like the clarity of the Nexo PA and how it delivers in the room and it’s versatile as it’s great for both DJs and touring acts. Most acts passing through comment on how fantastic the system sounds; clean, responsive and delivers good audio around the entire room.”
As well as investing in the new Nexo sound system the club also decided to purchase a mixing console for front of house. It was decided a digital console was the way of the future and Tony was left with two choices; a Yamaha console or a DiGiCo D1 console.
DiGiCo D1-Live won out over the Yamaha offering
“It was my decision and I decided against the Yamaha,” stated Tony. “I had already spent a bit of time with the DiGiCo previously and it seemed to be a better console even though it cost a little bit more. The DiGiCo is cleaner, has fantastic mic pre amps, has lots of headroom inside the console (you don’t get that amount of headroom in any other console), there’s no noise out of the console when it’s just sitting, the effects are clear and beautiful, gates and compressors on every channel, processing channels… I could continue on forever!”
Tony particularly likes the ease of being able to swap channels and patch without using leads, as it’s all done inside the console, thus keeping his hands nice and clean!
“Overall it’s a fantastic sounding console,” he said. “I was an analogue fan and I was initially worried about going digital but I’m so glad that I made the move.”
Up close and personal: DiGiCo D1-Live
Tony has discovered that touring sound engineers who have no previous experience of the DiGiCo consoles or digital mixing in general, are all willing to learn. Generally he gives them on average a half hour lesson and then lets them have an hour by themselves with the console.
“Usually by the end of that time they are confident enough to get the gig done,” he commented. “When I first started on a DiGiCo console it was ten minutes before sound check at the Sydney Entertainment Centre with Grinspoon and I still found it quite easy!”
The complete package: Nexo GeoD and DiGiCo D1-Live at Metropolis, Fremantle