Founded in 1933, Threadgill’s is a historic restaurant and live music house in Austin, Texas where well-known artists like Jerry Lee Lewis, Willy Nelson and Janis Joplin have performed.
For the 2016 South by Southwest music festival (SXSW) Threadgill’s hosted multiple bands over several days on its outdoor stage equipped with dB Technologies line arrays, stage monitors and subwoofers.
Jay Thomas, front of house engineer for Bob Schneider, an Austin-based artist, suggested to Threadgill’s that they replace the existing outdoor system during SXSW to compete with other venues and to serve the large crowds expected for the festival.
Based on Thomas’ suggestion, a dB Technologies line array system was installed for the six days of the festival supplemented by four single-18-inch active subwoofers and a pair of line arrays ground-stacked to cover the outer bar area. The stage included four dB Technologies 12-inch active foldback monitors and a single dB Technologies 15-inch drum monitor. Threadgill’s outdoor stage does not have rigging points so the line arrays and subs were ground stacked using dB Technologies fly bars to maintain proper spacing and orientation. The loudspeaker system, which features polypropylene enclosures and rear rain covers, was left outside for the six-day festival.
Front of house engineer Andrew Twenter mixed many of the groups at Threadgill’s during SXSW. He says, “The dB Technologies arrays and subs were impressively cleaner sounding than the house system with more definition and clarity especially in the vocal range. I also really enjoyed the monitors which sounded great even after being ‘rung out.’” He added, “Every band complimented the sound after they performed which, to me, is one of the greatest complements.”
Thomas says, “When I got on the rig with Bob Schneider, it was great. The system was crisp and clear and it had plenty of low-end but the sound was tight and it filled the house.” Thomas said that he needed very little EQ on the mains or monitors and had no feedback problems for Schneider’s performance. He added, “I’d be happy to do that rig at any venue.”