Located inside Nantes’ train station, ZAW is a bar, café, restaurant and performance venue that hosts jazz brunches and monthly electric nights, thw two recent performances calling on HK Audio’s Linear 5 Mk2 system.
The venue was built with performance in mind. It offers a central stage and DJ booth in the main hall, giving musicians a dedicated space to play as well as a defined audience space. However, it also features floor-to-ceiling windows which, while providing expansive views across the historic city for diners, means that it can also be acoustically challenging for sound engineers.
To counter this natural reverberation, the HK Audio system was used for Fly and Beat Torrent in May. With both acts having previously won multiple DJ world championships, ZAW wanted the best sound possible from what was certain to be a high-energy show. The solution was a pair of Linear 5 Mk2 308 LTA loudspeakers with four Linear 5 Mk2 118 Sub HPAs subwoofers in cardioid mode for the main system. A further pair of Linear 5 Mk2 112 FA were placed on top of the subs to serve as DJ monitors.
‘The asymmetrical 60°x +5/-25° opening of the 308 LTA loudspeakers effectively countered the reverberation of this floor-to-ceiling windows as we were able to keep the sound away from them,’ says Thomas Garin, HK Audio’s Business Development Manager for France. ‘The subs were set up in a 1:1 cardioid configuration, so the crowd could revel in the powerful kick while the DJs were able to enjoy the comfort of having only the sound of the monitors behind their turntables.’
The success of this deployment was proven by the same main PA being used again for the next electronic night in June. ‘The only change to the system for the performances by Freddy Jay and J.Moses came with the DJ monitors,’ Garin says. ‘The DJs wanted more bass, so we used the Lucas 2k15s instead.’
Garin now expects to see events and festivals across France turn to HK Audio solutions in the near future: ‘From the success we have seen at ZAW to the demos we regularly run with our partner Algam, I know there is a huge interest in HK Audio solutions from rental companies and venues all across France,’ he states. ‘This interest has led to a wave of investment from local production companies which will be clear to see in the coming weeks. This summer, Linear 5 Mk2, Linear 9 and Cosmo systems will all be out on the road, delivering impeccable sound for festival audiences everywhere.’
More: www.hkaudio.com