Meanwhile Brewing Co., located on nearly four acres of oak tree-shaded land just outside of downtown Austin, TX, has a versatile outdoor event space that hosts live performances regularly that are supported by Allen & Heath SQ-6 and a pair of 96 kHz DX168 portable expanders.
The venue has a capacity of about 1,000, and the stage has an adaptable lighting and sound grid . The technical design was executed by Meanwhile production manager Jamie Wellwarth, who’s also a 15-year veteran at Nomad Sound and has held down audio, tour, and production manager roles for artists like Janes Addiction, Social Distortion, and The Revivalists.
“SQ has been a real game-changer for venues like Meanwhile,” Wellwarth states. “There aren’t many consoles out there that strike the right balance of power and customization with workflow yet remain easy enough to operate for engineers of all levels. Once you throw in the solid build quality, great preamps, and the support of all the folks at Allen & Heath, there isn’t really the need to look anywhere else. The SQ fires out L-R to a Neve MBP master buss processor and then to NEXO GEO S12 and RS18 mains. It also has a pile of flexible stereo mixes with both parametric and graphic EQ on every mix that we send to our QSC K12.2 monitors. What more could you ask for?”
The SQ-6 provides 48 channels and 36 buses of 96 kHz audio for the venue. Utilizing the on-board SLink connection, audio can be routed as needed to and from the DX168 portable expanders.
“The work that Jamie and the Nomad crew put into Meanwhile Brewing Co. is really amazing,” says Allen & Heath USA marketing director Jeff Hawley. “SQ was designed to check all the boxes for these sorts of applications and it is cool to see more and more world-class venues like Meanwhile turning to SQ as they build out new spaces or aim to upgrade existing or even historic spaces. This particular project was extra special as the Meanwhile team shared the love with musicians, technical staff and music fans when times got tough — we are truly honored to be part of the mix.”
