Rat Sound Provides New Morongo Keyclub Install

 

The entire club viewed from the stage.

The Keyclub on the Sunset Strip Hollywood is an institution. With artists from Aerosmith and Marilyn Manson to the Black Eyed Peas, it's the club that you know when you've played there, you've either made it or you're on your way. Now the Keyclub Hollywood has just opened up their sister venue at the Morongo Casino and Spa with a state of the art sound system install for which they hired Rat Sound Systems to carry out.

"I have worked with RAT several times before in the past and I had zero time to squander with this particular installation," explained Brad Kemp, Keyclub Production and install supervisor. "I can trust Dave Rat and his crew to entertain any unorthodox idea or challenge that I'm faced with and Rat's Jon Monson will not only put it all together but answer my calls near anytime of the day!

Morongo Bumpin

I'm the first to admit that I am not an easy client. I can be perpetually fastidious and obsessive over the smallest of things but I have found that RAT was most important to me because of the long term support. I have rooms that have changed hands since my install and are way past a "warranty" period, yet I know I could still rely on the RAT gang for help anytime."

The previous tenants at the Morongo were strictly dance club oriented, whereas the Keyclub's philosophy is to remain as diverse as possible. The Keyclub production workload is slightly aggressive in the fact that it is not uncommon to expect a film shoot in the morning, a multiple band show, followed by a disco load out. It was thus essential to prepare the venue for anything and choose the right gear for the job which was spec-ed out by both Kemp and Rat Sound together.

The venue was originally set up as a round room with random speakers along the perimeter, hard reflective surfaces everywhere and a vague focal point representing a stage. The big question was how do make the room as accommodating, yet as flexible, as possible for live shows — whether it be staging, lights, video, or sound. As always with an install, there was a budget and of course, the familiar less time than you need and a thousand structural obstacles to take into consideration!

Amp rack

"We started with recessing the snakes and drive lines and multi breakouts on everything," Kemp continued. "I need FOH or monitor world to be set up or struck within 10 minutes ideally, so everything is condensed and on casters. FOH was chosen to consist of the desk, PSU, and EQ/FX rack ... and that was it, clean and simple. I secretly agonized over my choice of desks for this room but after considering all the aspects and needs of the venue, the logical choice was two Yamaha PM5Ds. We are in an era of transition in the audio world where digital desks are in some cases becoming the practical choice. I get engineers now who simply want to show up with a card,

EFX Rack

load it and get right down to the final tweaking. The Keyclub also has residencies and weekly shows which can be saved and hence cut my set up and labor costs by a considerable amount.

"To keep things fun I have a KT DN6000RTA at the FOH rack as well as Yamaha SPX 2000, Lexicon PCM 91 and a TC D2 Delay because everyone loves a tap delay. The main drive rack consists of two XTA DP 428s and we have incorporated the old PA as a supplement system by throwing a Midas XL88 Matrix mixer.

"I have been drooling over the Radian micro wedges for a while now and finally had a chance to install them. I have fourteen of the 12" and I'm working on a few of the 15" for good measure!"

Since the install at the beginning of the year, The Morongo Keyclub has seen acts such as Yellowcard and Duran Duran. The Key Club at Morongo is a 20,000 square-foot, multi-level venue that triples as a concert venue, nightclub and special event facility.

Contact:

Rat Sound Systems Inc
Tel: 805 278 2826
Fax: 805 278 2827
http://www.ratsound.com

 

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