The works provided fresh life to the historic complex and provided the City with a state of the art venue that can accommodate a varied array of events from musical concerts and variety shows to business, community and social events.
The auditorium's beautiful Art Deco detailing has been lovingly restored, and is now accompanied sensitively by a new PA and communications system from The P.A. People. It was imperative that the historical and architectural values of the venue were as important as the necessity for a modern multi-function auditorium.
Cabling was run as the renovation team opened up the floors and roof spaces, building in infrastructure to serve modern needs without disturbing a classic look.
So as not to intrude with the classical aesthetics of the venue, an unobtrusive yet powerful PA system was required and Brett Steele, project manager for The P.A. People immediately thought of the JBL VRX Line Array system.
"The VRX is configured to ensure maximum coverage and caters to the widest range of applications from musical theatre to simple speeches," said Brett. "The VRX rigging made it easy to install and the system is performing well."
Control of the PA is by a Soundcraft Si Expression 1 digital mixing desk which is ideal for a venue that has to accommodate a wide variety of uses and users.
"This easy-to-use console from Soundcraft has the flexibility to accept local inputs in the control area, such as radio microphones and playback sources, as well as accepting microphone and line level inputs via the mini stage box located on the stage," added Brett. "This is a great general purpose console for this venue."
The reopening concert received a warm reception from both the crowd and in particular, the council.
"The Rockdale Town Hall reopening concert proved the sound system, specifically designed for this unique 1940s Art Deco auditorium, has the dynamic range to cater for any type of performance from opera to basic public speaking" endorsed a Council spokesman. "It complements and supplements the existing natural excellent acoustics of the Hall. Rockdale City Council is very happy with the end result."
(Jim Evans)
