30 May 2008 Oxford Live Scene Redrawn With New Live Venue

Regal Oxford

30 may 2008

regal Boost to oxford's Live scene

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A few blocks down from the old Zodiac venue in Oxford's Cowley Road, independent operator Kieran Hayes has opened up his own nightclub and live venue in a refurbished cinema: The Regal.

Following the redevelopment of the Zodiac as a Carling Music Academy venue last year, the halcyon days of Oxford's brit-prop era days, out of which bands such as Supergrass and Radiohead emerged, are set to return.

The venue has taken a £1m refurbishment, which includes the installation of a full tilt Martin line array from Capital Sound Hire.

Kieran explained that his passion for Martin Audio had grown progressively over the years — from the days when his mate Dezzy used to run the early raves in Oxford using the famous old F1 system. “I have been a DJ for 20 years and I never forgot how Dezzy used to swear by his Martin system – my god did it rock.”

Prior to that his uncle’s band had previously toured the US with a Martin audio rig — and as the would-be operator looked enviously at the way in which leading London dance brands such as Fabric and the Ministry of Sound were adopting Martin Audio dance systems and custom stacks, his business partner Adam Marsh happened to introduce Kieran to Martin Audio’s director of engineering, Bill Webb, by chance at a birthday party — and the idea gathered momentum.

Various alternatives were discussed (and other systems reviewed), including the Martin Audio dance stack, but as the operating policy veered more towards a hybrid between dance nights and live rock concerts so Kieran and Adam came down in favour of a W8LC system; this has been provided by Capital Sound Hire on a long term rental and installed by Greg Sexton’s company, Beamlink.

Aside from Bill Webb’s and Simon Bull's input the operating team also benefited from other top advice — from Most Technical’s Dave Parry, a legendary figure in London club circles, and acoustics expert Paul Trew. The result is a set-up that Hayes describes as “absolutely awesome”.

The core system comprises six W8LC Compact line arrays flown each side of the stage, with a W8LCD downfall enclosure at the base. Two stacks of four Martin Audio 218x subwoofers, isolated on concrete pillars, provide the bass rumble.

Additionally the club purchased a pair of Blackline F12’s (and an S15 sub) from Capital Sound Hire to ensure the DJ’s had the best reference sound up in the control booth. The venue also bought the combination of Martin Audio MA4.2 and MA2.8 amplifiers, which power the entire system. In the DJ booth is also a Soundweb SW9010 ‘Jellyfish’ remote, which enables switching of the Martin Audio EQ presets between dance and live mode.

Upstairs in the Elite Room (which formerly traded as the general bar), the Regal has installed six of Martin Audio’s architectural AQ8’s and a pair of AQ212’s, which can take feeds from the main stage (via one of the four BSS 9088ii Soundweb units) or operate from its own independent system.

Kieran says that all the decisions had been based on budget and expenditure.

“Repairs to the building structure were sucking up the cash,” he explained, “and so we decided to rent, rather than buy our sound and lighting systems. We also talked about running the subs laterally — but once we decided to promote live nights two vertical stacks seemed a better option.”

When it came to lighting, Hayes consulted Dave Parry of Most Technical and asked if he could help them with spec’ing and procuring a cost effective lighting rig that would give the requisite quality and dynamics.

Parry suggested that flexible control was a key element in accommodating the Regal's lighting production requirements, and spec'd an Avolites Pearl Expert for the task.

"It was a case of it being absolutely the most appropriate console for the job," says Parry.

It was the first time that Hayes - who operates lights on several of the 5 nights a week The Regal is currently open - has used an Avo product, but he's very pleased with the results. "Dave gave me some basic training," he explains, "After which I picked it up extremely quickly. I've still only scratched the surface in terms of its power and capacity, but I am looking forward to getting to know it a lot better."

Hayes also specifically wanted a console that was equally as good for operating dance nights and for live band lighting, and also a machine with which visiting LDs were likely to be familiar. "Most professional LDs will know how to operate a Pearl," he says.

Currently the main room's lighting is arranged on a box truss around the dancefloor and on a goal post truss over the stage, offering a decent 10 metres of headroom.

The Pearl is controlling 12 High End Systems Cyberlights, 6 Martin Professional MAC 250s, 40 PARs, 4 Robe LED Blinders, 8 ETC Source Fours and 3 Martin Atomic strobes.

Most of the generics are concentrated around the stage, while the moving lights are used for swooping across the dancefloor and also for highlighting some of the room’s very cool architectural features.

The Regal is a unique venue in Oxford, and production values were always high on the agenda says Hayes, "Things like having the right kit really add value to the space for all those using it."

The Regal is hosting a diverse range of events including salsa, live bands, community dances and leading dance nights from Ministry of Sound, Cream and top international DJ’s.

From: Night Online

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