The first day of October this year ushered in the AFL Grand Final which is quite the national sporting event. A corporate VIP event was held to coincide with the Grand Final match and this year’s bash was held at Hisense Arena.
With 1600 attending in a cabaret style event, the day included a host of special guests, a full luncheon, transportation to and from the MCG for the final, along with live entertainment and canapés to round off the evening.
The Master of Ceremonies was Channel 7’s Jim Wilson and special guests included Nic Naitanui (West Coast), Luke Hodge (Hawthorn), Chris Judd (Carlton) and David Swallow (Gold Coast) to make the event even more of an affair.
Advanced Audio were called in, responsible for configuring and directing the entire AV setup of the venue.
With a centre stage setup, there was a requirement for even sound that could be distributed 360 degrees. The choice was made to fly 4 Hangs of Nexo; each comprised of 3 x Geo S1210 and 1 x Geo S1230 with one array pointed outwardly from each corner.
4 x Alpha S2 subs were installed under the stage with one in each direction to ensure even bass response throughout.
Corporate cover band ‘Headspace’ were allocated 8 x Nexo PS15’s for foldback , with Camco powering the entire configuration. Vortex 6’s powered the main systems with the amp racks at FOH while Tecton 38.4’s were installed under the stage to drive foldbacks and front fill.
A DiGiCo SD11 was used to mix the five piece band while an iPad was used for playback of recorded material. Steve Kirtland (one of the directors of Advanced Audio) was very pleased with the sound and performance of the rig on the day. “It sounded Really Great. The coverage was awesome, it was so even across the entire area. Speech Intelligibility was excellent too. Jim Wilson (the MC) was very happy with the setup.” Steve was also a big fan of the SD11. “The SD11 is brilliant. For the size, it just does so much and we find it really handy to have. It sounds exactly the same as the bigger SD consoles and we did the whole VIP event on it with ease.”
The visuals were also an elaborate setup utilising a small handful of Advanced Audio’s extensive inventory. 8 x Plasma’s installed around the stage edge. Custom brackets were made by Advanced Audio so that the screens could be set onto stands for punters seated closer to the stage. 4 x Screens and 4 x Projectors were also utilised, which were being fed by 3 x Camera’s pointed at the stage; controlled by a vision switcher under the control of Advanced Audio’s second director Peter Rickman. “Pete is an awesome shot caller” Steve remarks. “He really has a talent for it. I love watching him work.”
Lighting was comprised of 8 x movers for the band and stage effects, 32 x Lumicraft LED panels for ambience, and 48 x Par 64’s for general room lighting. Lighting was all controlled via a laptop and a midi control surface.
A special mention from both Pete and Steve go out to their crew for their work on the day also.
“A big thanks to the fantastic crew. It makes the world of difference when we have a team of guys who know how to get the job done. We couldn’t do it without them.”
