THE CENTRE Culturel in Seraing, south of Liège, offers a wide variety of events, from ballet to live concerts. In addition to a selection of rooms for meetings and workshops, the centre houses a main hall (Grande Salle) with a seating capacity of 600 and a 100-seater multi-functional venue. When the centre decided to
replace the existing audio configuration, flexibility was the main criterion – using the set-up both in the cultural centre’s venues and for the various
outdoor events organised by the city of Seraing. Three years ago, the centre developed Back’Live, a series of rock and pop concerts, and the new set-up will expand what is possible. Desks and infrastructure are being permanently installed, but the PA is a touring system that will be rigged and de-rigged as required. “A first concern was the
console,” explains Georges Van Dongen, technical director at the centre. “Our calendar is a mix of events, therefore we needed a
modular and flexible desk that’s easy to work with. After having gone through a series of demos, we opted for the Soundcraft Vi4 – once it is configured by our in-house engineers Lionel Olivier and Geoffrey ‘Toon’ Ducastel, it is really easy to work with for external system techs and their productions.” Van Dongen opted for two Vi4 consoles, one for FOH and one for monitoring. Frédéric Vard, managing director of Puretec AV, supplier and integrator of the
With a new digital sound reinforcement system, the Seraing cultural centre caters both for in-house and outside events, notes Marc Maes
(L-R): Ludovic Vandegoor, Georges Van Dongen, Geoffrey ‘Toon’ Ducastel, Frédéric Vard
The configuration was conceived as a touring installation, with all material flightcased for easy handling and transportation
new audio configuration, says: “We’ve also added outboard devices like Universal Audio (6176 Tube Mic preamp and 2-1176 compressor), an Empirical Labs distressor, KuSh Audio Fasto and Clariphonic analogue audio compressors.” The audio system further consists of an Adamson Metrix line array system (12 Metrix T, four Metrix Wave-T and two Metrix Sub-T) and 12 M15 monitors. A standard lightweight 4U amp rack composed of a Lab.gruppen FP 10000 amp and a XTA DP444 speaker processor has been designed to allow the system to be split into small arrangements. “For maximum usability, the configuration was conceived as a touring installation, with all material flightcased for easy handling and transport,” Vard adds. Puretec AV also took on the
full re-cabling of the Grande Salle and supplied a collection of microphones including the new DPA 4099 live kit, ElectroVoice, Neumann, Shure, AKG and Sennheiser. Although the Belgian French
Community is not issuing sound level threshold legislation (yet), Van Dongen explains that sound
level control played a part in choosing the audio kit. “We don’t have rules here but we wanted to maintain an acceptable and controllable sound level and the Adamson source array is crucial to this,” he says. For Inytium, BeLux distributor
for Adamson and Lab.gruppen, the Seraing centre marks the relaunch of Adamson in the territory; after successful installations at the Bolwerk venue in Leuven (12 Metrix cabinets), and the prestigious deSingel centre in Antwerp (28 Metrix cabinets), technical director Ludovic Vandegoor is convinced that Adamson is well underway for a brand redevelopment. The new audio system is completed with a Merging Pyramix Music Native recording software pack with MADI interface allowing bands performing at the Back’Live concerts to take along an instant live recording after the show. “All this adds up to a major bonus for the centre,” concludes Van Dongen. “The installation is up to the standard of most technical riders and productions, and will attract more shows to the centre.” www.centrecultureldeseraing.bewww.puretec-av.be