Janet Seidel - Longyard Hotel
On the 15th August 2002, Tamworth Jazz enthusiasts were treated to an evening of excellent jazz by acclaimed jazz pianist / singer Janet Seidel, accompanied by four of the finest jazz musicians in the country. The venue was the Goonoo Goonoo Room at Tamworth's Longyard Hotel.
The Goonoo Goonoo Room is a small venue catering for around 200 people, with good stage facilities, a bar to stage left, and cozy fireplace to the right. The brief here was low volume with clarity right to the rear of the room - i.e. everyone had to hear the performance but it had to be quiet.
Traditional PA speakers either side of the stage would have subjected those in the front rows to excessive volume with a reduction in clarity at the back. Our approach was to use 6 of our Centauri 115EVW multifunction speakers mounted above the front of the stage on a support truss. Two of these speakers on each side were aimed towards the central and rear audience area, while the remaining two were positioned at the centre aimed down and out to cover the front rows. This provided a very even coverage of the entire audience area without the need for much volume. Due to the low volume and the material being played, subwoofers were not required, thus all PA sound emanated from above the stage.
The speakers can be seen above the stage in the photo above, whist a composite closer view of the speakers and supporting truss can be seen below.
Lighting was another area requiring some thought, as a flashy lights-in-your-eyes rock 'n roll setup would definitely not be suitable. The audience had to be able to see the performers and the lighting had to provide moods to suit songs being performed. To this end most lighting was focused to the front of the musicians, with a number of strong colours used for moods. Additional coloured lights were focused onto a white cyc backdrop, creating a variety of mood effects as in the photos below.
Different moods
