Harvest Bar reaps the benefit of a quality sound system
The award-winning Harvest Cafe in Newrybar, near Bangalow and Byron Bay, blends country charm with a dash of contemporary style.
With a light and airy interior, original teak floorboards, and an innovative menu; Harvest is one of the most popular cafes in the area.
When owners Kassia Picone and Tristan Grier decided to install a background music system into their venue they called upon Paul Morris of Morris Communications.
“Initially it was to be a simple background system but a couple of days into the project Tristan decided that he wanted to have live performances through the background music system,” related Paul. “That changed everything! We had a frank discussion and I told him that what he wanted was completely different and would probably cost five times as much.”
Whereas many venue owners would baulk at the added cost, Tristan remained adamant that this was what he wanted.
“I did suggest getting a few JBL Eons and a Soundcraft console that could be stowed away when not in use but he insisted on everything going through a background music system,” added Paul. “I sat down with Dave Bourke from Jands and he helped me design a system which included a dbx ZonePro 640 plus keypads mounted behind the bar to control the audio level in the four zones and the source selection. It also gives us the ability to control, equalize and set parameters individually for the zones and for the sources. So you can walk around the entire venue with a wireless microphone and get no feedback plus it sounds great.”
Four JBL 29AV speakers are installed into the main area of the venue where they are mounted high on wooden beams in an unobtrusive manner. Special order JBL in-ceiling speakers were also installed.
“They have a back can as we didn’t want sound coming out of the back of them and leaking out of the premises disturbing neighbours,” said Paul. “We then put some smaller JBL speakers outside and another pair will soon be installed into the private dining room. Powering all of the speakers are three of the new Crown digital amplifiers.“
A Soundcraft mixing console, cleverly secreted into a bookcase, has been supplied and this feeds into the dbx control system as one of the sources. For microphones there are a couple of Shure Beta 58 mics as well as a Shure wireless microphone.
“The sound is even and balanced throughout and very clean,” said Paul. “They even did a recording recently off the console. Tristan loves it and it’s been great to do a job where the client actually wants to spend more money to get a top quality result!”
Jands |
