With 13 venues around the US, the House of Blues has built a strong reputation for its live music. In keeping with its reputation, the chain recently contracted Sound Image of Escondido to upgrade the front-of house facilities in its New Orleans, Anaheim and Las Vegas halls.
This has been achieved with the installation of Soundcraft Vi4 and Vi6 digital mixing consoles in New Orleans and Anaheim, and a Vi1 console in use at the House of Blues Mandalay Bay ‘Saying that the tour sound business is competitive is like saying that LeBron James is a good basketball player,’ says Sound Image’s Jason Schmidlapp. ‘Top-tier venues like the HOB know they have to keep up with the latest and greatest in sound reinforcement technology in order to stay current and desirable to artists and customers.’
The House of Blues has been standardising its sound reinforcement systems in order to be more accommodating to artists. ‘The Soundcraft Vi6 is a tour-friendly console and an industry standard,’ Schmidlapp agrees. ‘There are times when acts will come through and I can see the look of relief on a visiting front-of-house engineer’s face when he or she sees that they’ll be mixing on a Vi6.
‘Engineers are familiar with Soundcraft consoles and like the fact that they can get consistently excellent sound from venue to venue and even use their same console configurations and settings,’ he adds. ‘It saves time, makes life easier and reduces the stress of mixing a live show.’
Sound Image completed the most recent House of Blues upgrade at the Mandalay Bay hotel, which is also home to the world’s first installation of JBL’s VTX line array loudspeakers. The installation coincides with a two-year residency by Carlos Santana, who is performing his Greatest Hits Live: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow show until 2014.
In addition, the Houston and Boston HOB locations each feature a Soundcraft Vi6 at the front-of-house and monitor positions. ‘The more consistency we can get in the sound reinforcement systems in House of Blues and elsewhere, the better it is for everybody – the management, the staff, the performers and especially the customers. It just makes practical and economic sense,’ says Schmidlapp.
