Project Team

Interior Design: Gardener and Marks
AV: Pro Light & Sound

Following on from the success of Melbourne’s Local Taphouse is the Sydney version also designed by Gardener and Marks. The two-level bar specialising in beer is an Aladdin’s cave of treasures; hanging metal factory light shades, Chesterfield sofas and 110-year-old tram seats.

Upstairs, etchings of wild birds are rolled up in glass beakers and hundreds of books line the picture rails.

The upstairs section has many discrete ‘rooms’ which demanded independent volume and source control for each nook and cranny. Pro Sound & Light recommended using a distributed audio system and a zone controller as the best way to allow the staff to ‘manage’ the volume in each area as patrons gather and disperse. It also allows for local inputs for private functions in one area only, and is all controlled from a panel behind the bar.

The downstairs section had to incorporate a small stage area with its own FOH arrangement, and subsidiary speakers for the beautiful bar area. These were treated as discretely different and processed accordingly. They can easily adjust both source and volume for these areas, and all A/V signals are incorporated into the matrix – from TV signal to IPOD to Live Mixer to Local inputs.

The old and battered, structure of the venue presented Pro Sound & Light with a great deal of cabling issues, and given the situation they decided to use a network of AUDIO/VIDEO feeds converted to twisted pair CAT5 cables. This removed the possibilities of dirty signal and allowed them complete flexibility to connect any device, anywhere. When renovating old, somewhat difficult buildings, Pro Sound & Light have learned ways to avoid the problems usually associated with a new AV system – especially in regards to efficient and workable cabling. Using Twisted pair baluns can truly be a godsend on some occasions.

Pro Sound & Light wanted to recreate the very successful design from The Local’s first venue in St.Kilda, allowing the management to feel comfortable with the operations at either site. The formula has worked very well, and this is mainly due to the (limited) level of control the staff have. All the signal processing such as compression and EQ is done via the Xilica Management system, and this is locked away with the amplifiers to eradicate misuse.