The Cheese & Grain in Frome, Somerset dates back to 1874 when the building housed a busy market. The produce sold at the market was loaded onto railway wagons at the rear and transported to other parts of the country.
Before local dealers, Sounds of Frome moved in to bring the venue's sound reinforcement into the new millennium the venue had experienced a chequered recent history. Although several semi-permanent extensions had been added, the building deteriorated, and until 1997 was used as a temporary storage area. In the 1990's it was purchased by Mendip District Council and leased to Frome Town Council who undertook a programme of repairs and refurbishment.
Although the Cheese & Grain opened for public use in 1998, in October 2001 it again closed its doors when noise issues necessitated further soundproofing and acoustic works, as well as the addition of a vast new mezzanine. The following year it was back with a vast new line-up of live events and exciting new markets.
In April 2003 the building was leased to an independent trust which today manages the building - and it was their programme and marketing manager, Martin Dimery who was persuaded by Kim Hyde, managing director of Sounds of Frome, that their colossal outlay on rental systems could be mitigated with the installation of a permanent PA system, of sufficient pedigree to obviate the need for touring bands to carry their own production.
With the soundproofing and roof structure issues resolved, the Cheese & Grain were able to fulfill their dream of a system with high SPL.
Working with John Perry from Shure Distribution UK who distribute QSC products, Sounds of Frome assembled a package based around four QSC MD-F122/64LR mid-tops, flown and arrayed in pairs either side of the stage. This is reinforced by a pair of MD-S215 twin 15in subwoofers, ground-stacked either side of the stage.
Matched QSC RMX series amps have been deployed to optimise the two-way system - RMX4050 on the mid tops, RMX5050 on the subs and a pair of RMX2450's powering the floor monitors.
A pair of QSC DSP-30 digital signal processors, which store the crossover points, handle lo- and hi-pass filtering and are programmed with limiting thresholds and various EQ parameters.
As the venue's resident sound engineer Ed West points out, this has enabled him to store a number of gain structures into the DSP, since the room is used for conferences, bingo, the morning farmers' market - as well as extremely loud rock music.
As a fast-establishing 'circuit' venue holding 800 people, the Cheese & Grain has already hosted visits by bands such as Babyshambles, Reel Big Fish and The Levellers, with Hayseed Dixie, The Troggs and UFO among the upcoming acts scheduled to appear.
Dimery says: "The new PA is a massive improvement. It's much more compact, and in the sound distribution sense it's totally directional so you don't get a terrible spillage into other areas. Its clarity and versatility are impressive and bands who have already played through the system have been amazed."
West says: "It's a lot tighter in the bottom end when the kick drum comes through. The system creates a much tighter spatial feel and the audience now feel they are totally immersed in it."
Part of the reason for the improved dispersion, John Perry believes, is the use of the Stagecraft flying frames. "The issue before was that this large stack of boxes delivered very loud sound at the front but gave no coverage at the back. With the ModularDesign speakers in the air, you can hear them right at the back. We have been able to run these flat - straight out of the box - and only the room is EQ'd."
As a result of installations such as this, Shure Distribution UK a
