GEAR AT A GLANCE
CONSOLE
Midas PRO2 Live Audio
Mixing System
Midas DL251 I/O Interface
LAB.GRUPPEN D SERIES AMPLIFIERS
but if the acoustics are bad, it’s just going to be
unintelligible, so we were lucky.”
The first show in The Empire to employ its
new audio system was Steve Earle & The Dukes
commemorating the 30 th anniversary of the
classic Copperhead Road album on Sept. 11, 2018.
Two days later, The Empire celebrated its own
anniversary in style.
The variety-type 15 th anniversary show on
Sept. 13 th was hosted by comedian Ron James
and featured performances by artists already
familiar with the Empire stage, including Randy
Bachman, Tom Cochrane, Greg Keelor of Blue
Rodeo, and several others. Rashotte himself
even took the stage – twice, in fact, with both All
You Need Is Love, his heralded Belleville-based
Beatles tribute, and alongside Bruce Springsteen
saxophonist Jake Clemons, with whom he often
performs.
McFaul, who tours with All You Need Is Love
as their FOH engineer, recalls the evening fondly.
“All in all, I’m really happy with this system, and
as I say, even though I feel like ‘an old man in a
young person’s game,’ I can still hold my own with
this great rig.”
“Adamson and The PA Shop were really great
to work with,” Rashotte takes over, looking back
on the process. “It’s a wonderful system and they
did a great job tuning the room. Our kick-off
night with Steve Earle was such a blast and it’s
been great ever since.”
As mentioned, Schroeyens holds this par-
ticular client in high esteem. “Mark and his team
are doing this for the love of it, which is such a
respectable thing in this business,” he says.
Addressing the new audio package, he adds:
“I think the demo spoke for itself. I told Brandon,
‘I’m not a hardcore sales guy; I just want you to
get the best return and make sure that people are
gonna keep buying tickets because they’re get-
ting a great experience.”
He recalls being there when McFaul first took
his place at FOH and started pushing faders on
the new rig. “I could tell from his smile in that first
30 seconds that it was like taking out a Ferrari and
pushing it from zero to 100 for the first time; it felt
ADAMSON POINT 8 FRONT FILL ATOP TWO IS119 SUBWOOFERS BUILT
INTO STAGE
great to have played a part in that experience.”
He adds that The PA Shop and Adamson
consider this a showcase system to flaunt the
performance and appearance of the IS-Series in
similar applications. “At the end of the day,” Schro-
eyens tacks on, “we’re supporting a Canadian
company building world-class products in this
really unique Canadian venue.”
Much of that uniqueness comes from the
way The Empire Theatre serves and is seen in its
home city.
“There are lots of ways to spend your enter-
tainment dollar in this area,” Kull reinforces. “We
need to stay mindful of that and offer things to
our patrons that keep them coming back, and
reassure them that they’re valued and that their
opinion matters in what we do.”
He particularly enjoys that locals can stage
their own productions or recitals in a one-of-a-
kind space with a state-of-the-art production
package. “I was a high-school student once upon
a time, and everyone needs an opportunity to
learn – where a less-experienced technician or
volunteer can come in, learn their way around
something bigger than your 16-channel Mackie,
and then we can show them some toys and tips
and tricks that we’d use in a professional setting
to do certain things.”
He says the whole team does as much as
they can in that regard since, again, this venue
and this system are here for the community of
Belleville.
“It’s definitely a privilege to be a part of this,
and to have the opportunity to grow with The
Empire and develop its role in the community,”
Kull says in closing. “When I tell people where I
work, their faces light right up, like, ‘You must see
so many cool shows and meet so many cool peo-
ple!’ It definitely plays that role in the community,
considering the artists that have performed on
our stage, and I’m very humbled and honoured
to be here.”
PA
18 x Adamson IS10 Two-Way,
Full Range Cabinets (9 per
side)
2 x Adamson IS119 Subwoof-
ers (1 per side, above IS10s)
6 x Adamson IS119 Subwoof-
ers (ground-stacked)
3 x Adamson Point 8 Two-
Way Enclosures (fills)
AMPLIFICATION
4 x Lab.gruppen D 120:4L
1 x Lab.gruppen D 200:4L
MONITORS
9 x EAW SM200iH Two-Way
Stage Monitors
6 x QSC DSP-30 Digital Signal
Processors
6 x QSC CX902 Amplifiers
2 x QSC K12 Active Loud-
speakers
1 x Yorkville Elite Excur-
sion2000 Subwoofer
MICROPHONES
3 x Audio-Technica AT4041
2 x Audio-Technica AT4050
3 x Audio-Technica ATM450
1 x MXL 606 Goldface
4 x Sennheiser e904
4 x Sennheiser e906
2 x Sennheiser MD 421
1 x Shure Beta 52
6 x Shure Beta 58
1 x Shure Beta 91A
2 x Shure KSM44
6 x Shure SM57
6 x Shure SM58
1 x Shure ULXP4 Receiver w/
HH SM58
4 x Shure ULXP4 Receivers w/
Belt Packs & Countryman
Lavs
11 x Shure ULXP4 Receivers
w/ HH Beta 87As
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of
Professional Sound.
PROFESSIONAL SOUND 29