Formerly the Zodiac on Cowley Road, AMG invested £2million into the refurbishment programme and increased the overall building capacity to 1,350, creating three, production-complete performance spaces.
Marquee Audio carried out a site survey and identified where they could overhaul and upgrade some of the existing equipment, re-cabling each room to allow them to be used as part of a site-wide network, for which they are designing an advanced control system.
Marquee Audio's project manager Scott Wakelin said that this installation was not only about what the integrators were able to achieve, but also the forward-thinking approach of Academy Music Group.
"Aside from the quality of audio and control, Oxford has placed the company's interest in video mixing to the fore and brought it right into vogue," he said. "AMG wanted to make the art of the VJ part of the package and we have provided a pair of Pioneer DVJ1000's and an Edirol V4 vision mixer."
This allows the VJ to mix in DVDs and scratch, loop and cue both audio and video, sending the feeds to two 23" LCD screens behind each of the five bars and two 40" LCD displays midway down the main room (Carling Academy Oxford), with projection to the 4m drop-down screen on stage, as well as two further projection screens in Bar Academy.
"First class production is paramount to AMG and Marquee Audio has consistently delivered a high standard of kit to suit our venue requirements over many years. In Oxford, we are working in a highly competitive market, therefore having a system to suit both the club mix as well as live shows is what we require from Marquee and they have come up with an outstanding package for both gigs and DJ and club trade," says John Northcote of Academy Music Group.
In the second room (Zodiac), Wakelin's team reconditioned the existing Turbosound TFL760Ht Floodlight system, and TSW-718 subs, assigning MC2 amplification and optimised the system using Turbosound's dedicated LMS-D24 system controllers. Marquee and AMG have also agreed on a new Soundcraft 32-channel MH2 multi-mode console for this room.
As a result, the main venue, Carling Academy Oxford and the upstairs Zodiac room have all been placed on a new digital network with a touch screen front end.
Wakelin explains that the system is based on Biamp Systems' daVinci graphic control screen software. "While this is a building block system, enabling the designer to create his own scenario, we have been able to add additional IR and RS232 functionality. In essence this means we have control over the audio and visual throughout the whole venue, and can route any signal source to any of the three zones. It means that Carling Academy Oxford, the Zodiac and Bar Academy can all operate stand-alone systems, or receive feeds from the other sources. The successful model we established for other Carling Academy venues has now simply evolved."
In the main venue, sound reinforcement is provided with a pair of Turbosound TA-880H mid-highs, with a pair of TA500 wide-dispersion loudspeakers covering the nearfield and recessed under the stage along with four (2 x 15") TA880Ls and a pair of TSW218 subs - all powered by MC2 amplification.
Control is from a 40-channel Soundcraft MH3 desk at FOH, supported with industry standard outboard devices, while at Monitor City, a second 32-channel MH3 delivers foldback sound to 12 Turbosound Q15 wedges and Martin Audio H3 side-fills, while a 12-way Biamp controlled foldback system has been chosen for its superior value.
Aside from the aforementioned video integration, Marquee Audio has provided industry-standard DJ equipment in a pair of Technics SL-1210 turntables and Pioneer CDJ-1000s, as well as a Pione
