Sydney’s Darlinghurst Theatre Company turned to Jands and The P.A People to design and install a sound system built around high-quality delivery, ease of operation and integration with complex show designs.

Having recently moved into the beautifully renovated Burton Street Tabernacle, now known as the Eternity Playhouse, Darlinghurst Theatre Company sought to ensure their technical facilities were up-to-date to meet the needs of creative up-and-coming directors, designers, companies and productions.

According to Liz Jenkins, Associate Producer and Production Manager at Darlinghurst Theatre Company, theatre shows always push the boundaries with productions constantly coming up that will test the PA system. Darlinghurst Theatre Company wanted a PA system that could handle any crazy idea brought up by a director or sound designer.

The loudspeaker system from JBL’s VP (Venue Performance) Series is self-powered with amplifier technology developed by Crown, two 12” models driving FOH with two 10” models used as fills. The low frequency extensions are handled by a VPSB7118DP 18” subwoofer while two dbx DriveRack 220i processors keep the system tuned and protected from enthusiastic designers that like loud SFX.

For the sound operators, a Soundcraft Si Expression 2 digital mixer sits at the mix position. Twenty four mono mic inputs and four line inputs can be mixed to LCR, 20 sub or aux busses and 8 matrices, offering a huge range of options to the designer. Darlinghurst productions often utilise QLab, the theatre industry standard system for audio, video and show control, which integrates beautifully to the Expression 2. Portable, rack mountable and expandable via option cards and remote inputs, the Expression 2 gives Darlinghurst Theatre Co the ability to expand audio requirements when necessary.

Guiding Darlinghurst Theatre Company through all their technical options to arrive at the perfect solution was Jands’ Account Manager Rod McKinnon and the Technical Resource team.

Liz explained that they went with Jands and The P.A. People because of their knowledge of the space and their ability to recommend great equipment that complemented this space.