C ann er y H a ll COMPANY: PK Sound LOCATION: Nashville, Tennessee USA Photos : Hunt er S t or c h .
Standing as one of the most iconic concert venues in a city globally renowned for its slew of venues, Cannery Hall has anchored the famed Cannery Row at the edge of Nashville’s bustling cultural hub of Lower Broadway. Originally built as a flour mill in 1883, the structure served various commercial purposes through to its conversion into a multi-stage performance venue and restaurant in 1981. As part of its most recent transformation, Cannery Hall underwent a complete restoration and renovation to maintain its historic architecture and aesthetic appointments while simultaneously modernising its offerings for audiences and artist alike. That included an entirely new production technology package for each of the venue’s three rooms – including a state-of-the-art T10 robotic line source system from PK Sound for the 1,275-capacity Mainstage. “Every choice we made in the restoration and modernisation of Cannery Hall was to create the best show possible for music lovers and artists. We built brand-new systems from scratch, while simultaneously redesigning the spaces,” said Brent Hyams, General Manager of Cannery Hall. “Each room has its own energy, vibe, and sound, integrated into the stage and building. Every genre of music sounds great and artists can put on a show with the technical capabilities of a much larger venue, no matter which of our stages they play.” The largest of Cannery Hall’s three rooms, the Mainstage features an intimately low corner stage flanked by asymmetric exposed brick walls. While the brick offers a truly stunning homage to the venue’s history, it also presents a significant acoustic challenge, hence the specification of the T10 system installed by Full Spectrum Nashville. “PK Sound systems are designed to deliver crystal-clear sound, powerful bass, and a truly impactful audio experience,” said Hyams. “Each module offers real-time control of both vertical and horizontal acoustic coverage, so the system provides the best sound in the city even in a 142-year-old, mostly brick building.” Owing to T10’s multi-axis robotic coverage control, the Mainstage system’s acoustic output is mechanically optimised to the room’s unique
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parameters via PK .dynamics software, which unites every stage of the modern live sound workflow in a single application. In the vertical plane, the coverage angles between each T10 module in the array is variable from 0-12 degrees with an unprecedented 0.1-degree of precision. More significantly for the room shape, though, the horizontal dispersion of each module is variable from 60-120 degrees in 49 symmetric and asymmetric configurations. Subsequently, the horizontal dispersion of each of the five modules in the left and right arrays is precisely configured to direct acoustic energy solely on the audience and off the reflective side walls, significantly enhancing intelligibility and maximising impact for the myriad artists spanning virtually all genres that grace the stage. “The system is designed to deliver crystal clear sound, powerful bass, and a truly enveloping audio experience, which can adapt in real-time to shifts in the audience configuration of the room – even after the system is flown,” noted Hyams. Considering the stage’s low profile, a front fill solution using a single T10 was devised as to not compromise sightlines or acoustic coverage. The module, with its horizontal dispersion set to the widest-possible 120 degrees, is flown centrally between the L-R arrays and aimed steeply downward to cover the front-and-centre portion of the audience area. For low-frequency reproduction, six of PK Sound’s T218 intelligent subwoofers line the front of the stage in two uniform front-back-front cardioid rows. Finally, a complement of K12p multipurpose point source enclosures serve as stage monitors, or a portable standalone solution for other applications throughout the multipurpose building. All loudspeakers are fed via PK’s SC1 – Signal Cell, which manages audio and data connectivity in a modular, globally standardized package. To date, venue administration has been incredibly pleased with the response from production professionals, performers, and patrons alike, with many comments on the improved audio and overall production experience in this long-heralded piece of Music City history. www.pksound.live