Performance Lighting & Sound Fit Out Canterbury College

Canterbury College is an independent, co-educational, day school affiliated with the Anglican Church of Australia. The campus is located on 32 hectares in Waterford, between Beenleigh and Loganlea in Queensland.

The College is very pro music and sports, hence the new Canterbury Events Center caters to both disciplines. The footprint of the building is 246' x 147' with a stage size approximately 78.5' x 39.5' plus wing space and side of stage areas. In full seating mod, the centre can host 2,000 seats.

The building itself is a BER funded project whilst the sound, lighting, audio visual and curtains have been funded by the college via fundraising along with some government funding.

"The Events Center is used for many presentations such as speech night for senior, middle and junior levels and recently a Disney musical, Beauty and the Beast with three fully sold out shows," commented Noel Martin, managing director of performance Lighting & Sound Pty Ltd, who supplied and installed all of the technical gear.

Martin decided that JBL VRX900 Series self powered line array consisting of eight VRX932LAP and four VRX918SP subs would best suit the venue.

"We have installed a number of the VRX 932 unpowered versions, and decided to run with the powered 932 mid high boxes four per side and the two 918 powered subs," he commented. "They are just an easy box to fly and point. They work very well within this venue and the customer is very happy with the clarity and coverage of the system. The low weight of the boxes was also critical as we had issues with engineering restrictions. We also have three JBL AE Compact AC29/95 boxes for rear delay powered by a Crown XLS2500 amplifier."

Martin notes that the use of JBL EASE drawings and calculations made the job a lot more predictable resulting in a better outcome for all.

"I've also installed a dbx 4800 digital audio processor," continued Noel. "I just don't know how we would have got away with not having the 4800, as it is such a useful tool and the LAN control is great for diagnostics and mid show changes, etc. Added to that is a Lexicon MX300 digital effects unit."

For foldback, there are two JBL EON510 boxes and two EON515 boxes.

"We find the EON 510 just perfect for low profile fold back situations," said Noel. "The college has completed a Disney musical, where the 510s were hardly noticed on the stage apron whilst the 515 were used on the floor for the orchestra monitors. The EONS are also such a versatile box, and the college uses them in lots of situations, such as sporting events."

For audio control a Soundcraft LX7 MkII console was chosen, with Martin describing it as a great compact and well set up desk. In this situation he is using the 32 channel coupled to a digital core, so when necessary it can easily be swapped to a digital desk even in a temporary situation.

As well as a wide selection of Shure microphones, there is a Jands Ezicom 4 Channel Master Station with seven Ezicom Beltpacks.

"We have installed many of the Ezicom in all configurations over the years," said Martin. "I think this E400 was one of or maybe even the last of this current model and you just can't fault them, if the new 401 version is anything like these they will be a winner."

The lighting fixtures consist of 30Spotlight Combi 1,200W PCs with barndoors, 18 Spotlight Combi 1200w Fresnels with barn doors, and four ETC Source Four Zoom Profiles.

"The Combis are just a great light," stated Martin. "The focus mechanism moves freely and the access to lamps holder and gel frame is excellent. As for spare parts, these appear to be easy enough to get via Jands and at reasonable costs. We only have four ETC profiles in the grid at the moment with certainly more to come. We use these for gobo projection, as the precise engineering make adding gobos so easy with clean optics and the calibrated focused system."

"For control, an ETC Smartfade ML was chosen, as it's a very powerful tool once you get your head around it with unlimited control. It appears that the students from the college are beginning to master all the ML attributes, yet on the other hand it can be used in very simplistic lighting control as well. Once again, we have installed many WM patch and wall mounted Jands dimmers as they just go together like hand in glove -- very reliable simple workhorses."

Having successfully used Jands curtain track and motor systems in other BER projects, Noel didn't hesitate to do the same at Canterbury College.

"At Canterbury, we have two large tracks almost 22m [72'] wide for FOH I/M tabs," he said. "The curtain motor kits come with just about everything you need to get the install started, and we find if there are any tech difficulties or enquires that the additional support from Jands is excellent."