Regional centre’s that are home to international acts aren’t the most common venues in the country. Of the few around, in particular, the Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre (MECC), a world class standard of interior and production quality has certainly been set.
The MECC was originally the Mackay Entertainment Centre; a large theatre comfortably seating 1000 guests. With the population of Mackay booming and the MECC’s use on the rise, a major expansion was on the menu and a large exhibition area was recently built. With that space of course, came the requirement for some fine audio tools to make the venue sound as good as it now looked. The MECC have been long standing fans of the Nexo product range, fitting out the original entertainment centre with Nexo Geo 8’s and Geo Subs nearly five years ago. The addition of the convention space sparked a complete overhaul of the entertainment facility also and so it would go; Nexo it would be for as far as the eye could see.
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Kennedy Amplifier Hire & Service was brought in to consult on the sound requirements. The entertainment theatre was fitted with 10 x Nexo S12’s (five per side) and 2 x Nexo RS15’s. The RS-15’s were set to cardioid meaning that the sound would be dispersed from the front and sides of the cabinets producing a full and wide spread across the horizontal plane of the room as well as enough power to deliver sound to the rear of the theatre.
The convention space took on a more flexible configuration given the constant variation of events held in the hall. The area was designed with a removable air partition which allows for the area to be sectioned off and used as a smaller space. This required the rigging of a modular system which could be used as a modest exhibition style PA or as a power system for full blown concert gigs. To achieve this, 28 x Nexo Geo S12’s, 8 x Nexo RS15’s, and a full monitoring system comprised of Nexo PS10’s and PS15’s were installed; all powered by an array of particularly configured Camco Vortex 200V’s and QPower 10 amplifiers. With this setup, the MECC could selectively power sections of the system providing the ability to tailor sound requirements whether sound needed to be supplied to half the space or for cases where the goal was to wake the neighbours.
At the heart of both the convention centre and the entertainment theatre, the MECC opted for two Digico SD8 consoles along with two SD8 racks which provided them with the mixing and routing flexibility needed to handle any event. The SD8’s unparalleled FX, user friendly interface and Super FPGA engines were the main appeals of the unit.
