The Breakbeat recently opened in downtown Chico, California, in a former sunglasses store that founder, Azariah ‘Z’ Reynolds, has transformed into a multipurpose arts and performance space built around the first L-Acoustics DJ installation in the Americas. Reynolds turned to Denver-based Brown Note Productions, an L-Acoustics Certified Provider with experience of complex audio installations to devise a venue that punches above its physical footprint.
L-Acoustics DJ is able transform traditional stereo DJ set-ups into fully immersive spatial audio experiences. Using proprietary Source Separate technology, the system applies low-latency machine learning to split stereo tracks into discrete stems in real time, allowing DJs to position and move those elements through the physical space as they perform. Critically, it does all of this without interfering in a DJ’s existing workflow.
Reynolds had a specific vision when he first assessed the space: ‘I really liked the sightlines, the ceiling height and the general feel of it, so I came up with a basic concept for how I wanted the room to flow. I wanted a performance space, a visual-art space, and a sound-listening room.
‘We chose that name because it signifies beginnings,’ he adds. ‘The breakbeat was the first sample drum beat, and it led into the hip-hop and electronic-drum sampling era.’
What makes The Breakbeat’s technology investment particularly significant is that it extends beyond DJ performances. Alongside L-Acoustics DJ, the venue runs a full L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound system, meaning non-DJ artists also perform in immersive.
‘I heard L-Acoustics DJ for the first time last summer and knew it was going to be a hit,’ says Brown Note Productions Account Manager, Matt Bauer. ‘But as far as putting these new technologies and products all together and customising them for the space, we partnered with the L-Acoustics Application team and worked to develop a perfect-fit solution. The end result was better than anyone expected.’
The set-up combines the L-Acoustics hardware controller and iPad app with an L-ISA Processor II to give a full 12.1.4 surround configuration. The loudspeaker configuration was purpose-built for the room with an overhead ring of 12 L-Acoustics X8i loudspeakers as surrounds, and four X6i above the audience area as overheads. Three Syva Subs are set in a horizontal array behind the stage anchor the low end, powered by a combination of LA7.16i amplified controllers for the surrounds and subwoofers and LA2Xi for the overheads. The system is driven by BNP-supplied Pioneer DJ decks and mixer, meaning any visiting DJ steps in and is immediately playing on it.
The venue’s early programming has included a folk and Americana pairing of Willy Tea Taylor and The Sam Chase, whose set Reynolds describes as sounding ‘very awesome and full’ in immersive surround, followed the next night by Reno-based DJ duo Fox & Buck with Modelody. The reaction, in both cases, was the same: audiences reaching for reference points that weren’t there.
‘I think people come in with their brains wrapped around what it’s like to hear a stereo image, and to watch an artist perform with the sound travelling towards them from the stage,’ Reynolds says. ‘But The Breakbeat gives a fully immersive feeling of you being inside the sound. Watching people adjust to that’s pretty interesting.’
The 12.1.4 configuration allows stems to travel independently around the room, something a standard left-right system can’t do.
‘It creates this visual spectrum to where no matter which way you turn, no matter which way you’re facing, you get a perfect sound image. I had people asking us during our last show if we had speakers under the floor or if we were using any type of vibrational effects, but it was just purely the impact of the Syva Sub in a line behind the stage.’
A venue built around technology this new carries the implicit responsibility of bringing artists along, and The Breakbeat has approached this as an active part of the venue’s identity. For DJs playing the space for the first time, the learning curve is, by design, kept shallow. L-Acoustics DJ was built to require no prior technical expertise, but the creative possibilities run deep.
‘The technology is new to the DJs that we’ve had in, but once they got a feel for using the system, it was pretty easy for them to pick out points in their songs that would work really well for each effect and be able to use those confidently,’ Reynolds says. ‘It’s always really cool to watch the looks on the faces of DJs when they use it for the first time, because once they start wrapping that sound and using some of the cross effects, it can be pretty stark and surprising right away.’
‘I don’t think there’s another space like this,’ Bauer says. ‘Everything works together to make it both practical and magical.’
More: www.brownnote.com