“ We ’ re always looking to upgrade our existing infrastructure and technology ,” begins Colin Richardson , technical director for the Dalhousie Arts Centre and the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium . Richardson ’ s career at Dalhousie dates back to the early ‘ 90s , with his appointment as TD coming in early 2008 . Prior to joining the university , he ’ d logged plenty of time on the road as a touring lighting tech .
He says that , at least by today ’ s standards , the Cohn ’ s previous system was somewhat underpowered for some of the productions that take its stage . “ We wanted a system that was going to meet the needs of 95 to 99 per cent of our shows and clients , where we wouldn ’ t be in a situation as we had in the past where certain types of shows would come in and we ’ d have to augment our PA . We have such a wide variety of clientele that we needed something versatile that would sound good for different applications and at all volume levels .”
The decision to upgrade was of course dependent on budget , though in 2017 , Dalhousie applied for a Canada Cultural Spaces Fund grant . “ We were thrilled to find out we were successful ,” says Richardson . “ That grant was integral to being able to bring in the calibre of system we wanted .”
A stipulation was that the university match the grant ’ s total allotment , so the other half of the project ’ s budget – which also included an upgrade to the performance lighting package – was drawn from the venue ’ s capital improvement fund .
Richardson and his colleague Ian Fraser , the Arts Centre ’ s head of audio , worked closely to develop an RFP for the new audio system that went out in January 2018 . Ultimately , the winning bid came from Tour Tech East .
“ After being awarded the project , we went to their initial meeting and delved into specifically what they wanted in the way of a touring-type system and how we could realize that ," begins Bruce Nelson , sales coordinator with Tour Tech . “ It was an installed system , but they wanted a custom solution that could easily come apart and go back up if it had to , like a touring rig , and we ’ re certainly familiar with those .”
That ’ s where longtime Tour Tech team member Ken Ryan was a major asset . A veteran of the road , Ryan has crossed the country on several occasions with artists like Johnny Reid in addition to being an anchor of Tour Tech ’ s crew at large east coast festivals .
“ From a touring point of view , you want something efficient , quick , and totally failsafe ,” Ryan says about his guiding principles .
Tour Tech ’ s winning bid was based on Meyer Sound ’ s self-powered Leopard compact linear arrays – the third-largest of the company ’ s four flagship Leo systems – and complementary 900-LFC and 1100-LFC subwoofers . As Nelson reinforces , the Cohn presents a diverse range of programming through a typical season , meaning the system needed to accommodate “ soup to nuts – light speech to standup comedy to full-on concerts .”
In fact , the legacy system that the Leopard was replacing was also installed by Tour Tech and based on Meyer Sound products – specifically , the company ’ s CQ-1 widecoverage and CQ-2 narrow-coverage main loudspeakers and 700-HP subs in a familiar point-and-shoot configuration .
“ This time , with the way the technology has evolved for these kinds of rooms , they were considering line arrays from day one ,” Nelson says about his client , though with the significant advantages associated with array technology came a few new potential concerns .
As with virtually any performing arts centre , sightlines and overall aesthetic were a key factor , though that was especially the case for the Cohn considering it ’ s a university venue and thus hosts convocations and other ceremonies and presentations where the system could be particularly obtrusive .
As Richardson notes , it wasn ’ t just a matter of the array elements being discreet , but also the hardware that might accompany it . “ Space at the Cohn is very limited , so while we didn ’ t put in the RFP that it had to be a powered system , as that would have limited our range of options , we were definitely mindful of minimizing the footprint on the deck as far as front fill and low-frequency cabinets . On that note , not having amp racks in our wings also frees up a lot more space .” Ultimately , the Leopard product checked all of the right boxes . “ It ’ s a powerful rig ,” Nelson puts bluntly . “ We were looking at the [ slightly smaller Meyer ] Lina for a while and contemplating offering that , but for the
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