A new hotel gets the benefit of an AV design from the ground up.
IIt’s not often we get to talk about a brand-new pub – well, we say “pub”, but it’s no surprise the Dakabin Hotel is a lot more than a watering hole for the locals and host for a meat raffle on Friday nights. The Dakabin Hotel is in Moreton Bay, about 30 minutes north of Brisbane, and is the latest addition to the Comiskey Group, a family-owned business that has become a highly respected name in entertainment and hospitality venues. Award-winning too, because the Comiskeys insist on doing things properly, and where possible with a dash of something new and different, and that’s been recognised by the industry several times.
Of course, you have the ubiquitous sports bar with a myriad of LED screens which also doubles as a live music room called the ‘Sin Bin’ (think about it…), a restaurant served by two kitchens that offer standard Aussie tucker or a great selection of Asian dishes, a machine Gaming Room – it is Queensland after all – an Arcade kind of ‘games’ room for the kids, an outdoor area called the Patio, and a basketball court. Yes, a basketball court – well, a half-size court, but let’s not quibble about that. What might be debatable is the wisdom behind having a few pints of lager and a large chicken parma being combined with a few hoops and some LeBron-style sudden moves.
Remember, the Comiskeys like to do things different.
The hotel sprawls across a large corner block and adding to the various bars and rooms listed above, each also has zones within zones that needed tightly controlled and clear audio that can cut through the high ambient noise. In other words, in many ways the Dakabin is your standard local pub – and proudly promotes itself as such – with lots of noise, crowds of people and a maze of nooks and crannies.
The good news is that Ben Finlay (Director) and his team at Gigawatt Sound & Lighting, including Andrew Wood (Technical Systems Manager), had the opportunity to work on the project from day one with the hotel being a new build. Gigawatt has worked with the Comiskey Group across numerous projects, and the relationship is a close one. While not exactly being given a blank cheque, Gigawatt Sound & Lighting is a trusted partner in helping develop these venues to a full potential.
Ben says, “One of the challenges was that despite the complexity of the AV design and the diverse zones and requirements, it still had to be simple to operate throughout the hotel. The management didn’t want to be calling in an AV technician every time configurations had to be changed. So, there was a strong focus on getting those zones properly serviced in the first place, then adding plenty of control in the form of wall panels and plates, iPad connections and a bunch of presets for everything. It all had to be there at the staff’s fingertips.”
Aesthetics was also a consideration with the new construction. Let’s admit it, a lot of the older Queensland drinking establishments have your usual suspended cork ceiling with a thriving population of carpet pythons living up there to frighten the behooters out of the unwary AV tech running new cables. The Dakabin Hotel has feature ceilings of some kind in every room, and speaker choices were informed by both performance and being able to fit into the architecture. In some zones, discreet wall-mounted speakers were the best option, while out in the Patio the loudspeakers had to withstand the unforgiving Queensland climate.
NAS has a wide range of BGM loudspeaker options within its portfolios of AtlasIED, inDESIGN and SoundTube brands. Plans and drawings are all very handy, but as the construction progressed into the latter stages and Ben and Andrew got to eyeball the décor and architecture, they were able to either confirm or adjust the speaker choices with plenty of alternatives to provide the perfect result. There was a solution for every situation.
“We got those tight zones we were after,” Ben says. “Without any compromise in sound quality.”
Sourced from NAS, SoundTube loudspeakers covered the bulk of the requirements. The 8-inch SoundTube CM82-BGM-II in-ceiling speakers were deployed in most of the spaces where a flat surface existed. Elsewhere, SoundTube RS600i pendant-style speakers were used when a flush-mount wasn’t possible.
When exposure to the elements was a factor, SoundTube SM590i-II-WX Weatherguard coax BroadBeam speakers provided excellent coverage, and in some specialist areas particularly prone to the climate which needed some extra SPL, AtlasIED AS Series AS-8T surface mount speakers got the nod.
Powering all those speakers are Ashly CA-504 and FA-125.4 amplifiers.
Which all goes to illustrate the depth and breadth of the NAS portfolios.
Ben explains, “The guys at NAS are so helpful and approachable no matter what you need discuss. From the smallest gear to the big-ticket products, they give it their full attention and get you the right answers.”
The Dakabin Hotel has quickly established itself as being the place to be with good crowds and very happy punters filling the joint seven days a week. Of course, that’s all about the excellent food, the cold drinks, the fast service, the great staff and all the facilities the pub has to offer.
It’s also all about the ambience created by a solid and well-designed AV system that has every aspect of sound, lighting and vision catered for with high performance and reliability. That’s thanks to Ben Finlay, Andrew Wood and the crew at Gigawatt Sound and Lighting, and the folks at NAS.
You might say the AV fit-out at the Dakabin is a spectacular slam-dunk. Perhaps not on a full stomach though.
Gigawatt Sound & Lighting gigawatt.com.au
NAS Solutions nas.solutions
