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System Perspectives: Implementing The
Dance With The Concert
By E. Victor Brown
Page One
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Nation, a large club residing just five blocks from the nation's
capitol in Washington D.C. exemplifies the ever-increasing influence
of dance music clubs melded with live performances by national artists.
Perhaps more significantly, it also provides insight to the escalating
demands of club systems.
Nation is housed in a former industrial
building five blocks from the capitol |
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The venue hosts musical acts ranging from dance/techno performers
like European turntable artist Paul Okenfold and hip hop artist
Mystikal to live performances by artists as diverse as David
Bowie, James Brown and Limp Bizkit. At the same time, it's
a hub of the city's dance scene several nights a week.
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Capacity ranges from 600 to 2,000 depending on the event. Initially,
Nation was outfitted with a concert sound system to meet both live
and house needs, with two arrays of Eastern
Acoustic Works (EAW) KF850 loudspeakers flanking the stage of
the club's main room. This wide-open space measures approximately
45ft wide by 180ft deep, topped by a ceiling 40ft above the floor.
A look at Nation's speaker set, with
KF850's at the stage, DC-1's mounted to the balcony, subwoofers
beneath the balcony and a line of supertweeters in the center |
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Nation owner John Boyle initially had a single balcony constructed,
running about two-thirds along each long side of the room
and converging in the rear. Sound reinforcement was supplied
by the concert system only. Two years later, a second balcony
was added, with attention also focused on the inclusion of
a new dance-only system.
Springfield
Sound of Sterling, VA, which has a history with Boyle
on a previous club venture, designed and installed both sound
systems. Jeff Darby headed up the system development processes.
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"Like other venues around the country, we were trying to adapt
a concert system for club/DJ use, and with the low-mids being key
to dance/electronic," Darby notes. Yet the relentless, pounding
beat of techno/industrial dance music requires that special attention
to attain the desired results.
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