Dominica Sound on the Gold Coast has added Nexo Geo D to its inventory and Dominica’s owner and head sound technician, Steve McCallum, is delighted with his investment.
“As a networking company, we encourage other production companies to sub-hire our gear and crew with full confidence that we have no interest in stealing clients from anyone,” commented Steve. “Our goal is to work together to produce a sound (that is) second to none, of which everyone can be proud and the client delighted. That way, it’s a win-win situation for everyone, as a great outcome ensures future work for all concerned. We have quite an extensive client base of our own and new events seem to come up regularly, keeping us consistently busy. We also spend a lot of time installing sound, lighting and vision in large venues, theatres, schools, and churches.”
Steve reports that the excellent and consistent sound quality of the Nexo rig, where the audience is not getting blasted and no one struggles to hear, is greatly appreciated by his clients. In fact he insists that his clients often comment that the same show, in a different state with a different rig is usually a huge disappointment now that they know the Nexo difference.
“I have been amazed at how people with hearing aids often prefer the sound of the Geo as is, without the electronic hearing loop even switched on,” Steve said. “I assume it’s because of its clarity and lack of reflected sound. No sound is wasted. All of it is right where you want it, evenly, and not bouncing around the room.
“I’ve used Geo S in churches and schools with eight-metre high reflective walls and no acoustic treatment at all, and although the rooms themselves are terrible, Geo more than compensates for architectural faults, producing a quite decent sound. Many people even say it sounds great. But go back to a normal PA and the venue is virtually unusable. As is often the case with churches, people won’t tolerate bad sound. They just leave.”
It’s Steve’s opinion that Geo really only has one competitor, and that it can only be considered a competitor when you have a lot of ceiling height.
”Even then, hearing both in the same acoustically temperamental room soon sets them apart,” he said. “One’s front of house sounds as if there are also stage monitors blaring. Geo D sounds like the monitors have just been muted. In some places the difference is huge. I suppose it only stands to reason, as no one else is using phase-canceling technology as a whole, overall basis to their design in high and low frequencies, as enhancement to front of house, not just cancellation.
“Although other designers have played with their subs only to try to stop bass going the wrong way, they really haven’t even scratched the surface of phase-canceling technology to enhance the front of house sound.
“Some will line up walls of subs behind each other spaced out to attempt pattern control to increase efficiency but the thing is, you don’t have to make a trashy looking rock gig to get a cutting edge big rock sound. You just can’t do that in a corporate setting, and yet that’s exactly the time when sound standard is paramount.”
According to Steve ‘it takes very few Geo subs to outdo a truckload of anything else’ and he states that a central hang of any sub will eliminate all bass tunnels, but the benefit of Geo is that only six Geo subs will outdo twelve of anything else. Knowing what that means to sight lines and weight loading issues, you can imagine how many venues across the country you’d have to eliminate from the itinerary with any other system.
”There have been many times we’ve been setting up for unusual events where I’ve asked myself how could we do this if we didn’t have the Nexo rig?” Steve remarked. “It’s so flexible and can do what others can’t because they don’t throw far enough if they’re slightly misaligned, or won’t cover, or weigh too much.
“As for the Geo tops, although I prefer to hang them, I know others successfully use them as a ground stack. I personally think there should be a ground stack preset in the NX242, and no doubt it will soon come as a free upgrade. To me, it’s a bit bright on the ground (although you can, of course, EQ it) but in the air, it just sounds magic.
“I suppose one day we’ll talk about PA’s that only use phase-canceling technology for cancellation, rather than also for enhancement, in the same way we currently talk about W bins or analogue mixers. But how long can you fool people into buying a dead horse?”
