cable running to each cabinet, “So it could be
like a science project,” he jokes.
Tour Tech tapped Montreal’s Theatrixx
Technologies to fabricate the custom cabling
and five-pin panels to accommodate the
cross wiring. Throughout the process, Ryan
was interfacing with Philippe Laframboise,
Theatrixx's sales support and technical advi-
sor, to bring his vision to life.
The timing was less than ideal, as just
at the outset of their collaborations, Ryan
had to head out on a national tour with
Johnny Reid. That led to him doing up
drawings during rehearsals, taking pictures
on his phone, and sending the images to
Laframboise. Despite the circumstances,
Ryan says he was more than pleased with
the end result.
“It’s a pretty complex set-up, but the
way it is right now is really clean, and it’ll be
very easy to troubleshoot going forward,”
Ryan says. “You have your RMS network, so
the signal comes out of the server and termi-
nates at XLR at that point and goes straight
into the five-pin from there.”
He’s quick to give credit to Laframboise
and Theatrixx as well. “In some cases with a
project like that, you’d really need to explain
every step,” Ryan shares, “but [Philippe] is an
expert when it comes to unique connectivity
designs and knew exactly what I was after
pretty quickly.”
The auditorium’s new package also
included four channels of Shure Axient Wire-
less, which Nelson believes to be only the
second Axient system in Atlantic Canada.
“Wireless frequency band traffic has
been and still is a constantly-changing fron-
tier for production companies and venues
alike, mostly affected by the demands of the
telecommunications industry,” offers Nelson.
“Choosing a product with longevity in terms
of frequency band and performance within
that band is a big considering for an invest-
ment like this, and Ian felt the Axient system
covered all of the parameters.”
The package, sold by SFM’s Atlantic Ca-
nadian rep, Jodi Rhuland, also included a kit
of belt pack and hand-held transmitters for
various uses.
The Cohn’s existing monitor package
includes a Digico SD9 with an accompanying
D Rack with 32 x 16 I/O, feeding a comple-
ment of 10 JBL STX 812M wedges driven by
five Crown XTi 4002 amplifiers, along with a
QSC KS212C cardioid subwoofer.
Again owing to its wide range of
programming, including some reinforced
symphony shows, the venue’s microphone
collection is quite extensive and includes
Meyer Galaxy control
& networking units located
stage right
offerings from AKG, Audio-Technica, Crown,
C-Ducer, Sennheiser, and Shure.
Ryan was out with Reid until late April, and
actually came off the road just over a week
before the system went in. “So the timing
couldn’t have been better to have Ken back
and able to oversee the installation and last
steps of his work,” Nelson enthuses.
Robertson flew back to the coast in
early May to assist with tuning and com-
missioning, working closely with Fraser
throughout the process. “It was great having
the Galaxys to get really precise control of
the delays on the front fills, the way the two
Ians liked it,” Nelson says with a laugh. “They
spent a lot of time on that. Ian [Robertson]
was very insistent that it not sound like they
stick out when you’re out in front of them,
so the tonality curving was really important.
They spent the better part of the day tuning
the front fills alone.”
Nelson explains that they’d originally
intended to take advantage of the recently-
introduced enhanced Precision Toolset in
the Galaxy’s Compass control software for
the Leo family, which offers proprietary
low-mid beam control for uniform front-to-
back coverage. The prospect was especially
attractive considering the Cohn’s asymmet-
rical interior, with one side of the balcony
extending further into the hall than the
other. In the end, though, Nelson says they
forewent the step because “the room was
just sounding so good.”
Ryan says he’s particularly impressed
with the system’s musicality. “I was blown
away by the power and tone. The quality is
just incredible,” he says, “and it’s just perfect
for a room that handles everything from
spoken word to acoustic performances to
the symphony to full rock shows.”
Richardson was more than pleased
with the integration process, though he
expected nothing less with the way he’d
engineered the timeline.
“It was very collaborative, and we kind
of tailored the install around the schedules
of the people that I wanted to be a part
of it,” he says, referring specifically to Ryan,
local freelance engineer Robb Hall, and Rob-
ertson. “I knew they’d have the best interest
of the venue at heart, because many of
them have worked in the Cohn before, and
it felt right having them be part of this new
system and help usher in the future.
“I can’t say enough about them,” Rich-
ardson adds about his collaborators. “I just
knew it was going to be done right. I trust-
ed these people implicitly as we’ve worked
together for a long time and they’re great at
what they do.”
He also acknowledges his heads of
department who were integral to the instal-
lation process – particularly Fraser and stage
carpenter M.J. MacLeod, who was running
cable through walls, coordinating the power
distribution runs, and more.
“The Cohn doesn’t have this kind of
change very often – it’s once every 15 or 20
years, and I'll have retired the next time the
system gets replaced, so I wanted to make
sure it was done right,” concludes the TD. “It
was very much a team effort, not just with
co-workers, but with friends. In my 41 years
in this industry, this is probably one of the
best experiences of my career.”
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of
Professional Sound.
PROFESSIONAL SOUND • 29