Max & Play puts a live room at the disposal of emerging local musicians, with a layout that varies according to the evening (with or without tables and chairs), plus adjacent kitchen facilities and bar. As well as a Yamaha sound system, the stage is equipped with a complete backline and the venue also includes a control room and three recording rooms, one of which can also be used for rehearsals. There's also a welcoming outdoor 'relax' zone, complete with fountains, pools, sunshades and tables.
Max & Play was designed by Massimo's father, who studied architecture and explains, "We also put other rooms at youngsters' disposal, where they can meet and discuss - even via Internet - with other groups and venues. We've had very positive feedback from successful pro musicians. The event chosen for the venue's inauguration was a three-day contest for emerging groups, during which each band taking part, as well as a prize, also received a CD with the recording of its performance."
StartUp Audio, the company that installed the audio system. It was founded by Michele Signore, musician, composer and producer with top Italian group La Nuova Compagnia Di Canto Popolare, and Fulvio Liuzzi, a talented jazz pianist. Liuzzi states, "The clients explained their requirements and we built the system according to these indications, obviously trying to obtain the best quality:price ratio, but setting quality as the main goal, since the system to install was rather complicated."
Liuzzi continues: "We'd already heard the new Yamaha Installation Series loudspeaker enclosures and were very favourably impressed. There were several reasons for choosing them - firstly, their very linear response, even at high frequencies - this is a very important feature for us, as it ensure fatigue-free listening over long periods - in short, they're very pleasant to listen to."
The Yamaha sound system installed in the live room consists in a FOH comprising two IF2115/64 flown from the ceiling and a floor-mounted IS1215 subwoofer on either side of the stage. The IF2115 enclosures are two-way high-power multifunction systems fitted with a 15" woofer.
The amplifier rack in the wings includes three PC9501N, one of which powers the two subs, while the other two are dedicated to the woofers of the IF2115. The horns of the satellites are powered by a pair of PC3301N. The monitor system comprises two IF 2208 and four IF 2108, amplified by three XP3500 (350W + 350W), power amps featuring EEEngine technology.
The system is controlled by an SP2060 digital speaker processor. From his raised mixing platform, Max & Play's young sound engineer Gennaro helms a Yamaha LS9-32 digital console.
Liuzzi concludes: "To link the live room to the studio, Yamaha provided a reliable cost-effective solution - two Yamaha ACU16-C control units connected with the LS9 send 32 channels of 24-bit audio at 48kHz from the live mixing platform to the control room, for live multi-track recording. The Yamaha console has two MY16-CII CobraNet expansion cards, from which the signals are fed along 20m of Cat 5 cable to the ACU16-Cs, which convert them to analogue and send them to the recording desk's patch bay. This means that 2-track MP3 recordings can be made of the live mix directly on the LS9, plus a 32-track dedicated recording mix done in the control room."
(Jim Evans)
