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Merivale’s new live music venue, Upstairs Beresford, has been inspired by some of New York’s finest and designed to give both the performer and patron a first class experience with decadent décor, state of the art technology and a full suite of amenities backstage.
Winding dark stairs and neon orange arrows lead you up to a glowing amber pocket of glitz, the decadence of a bygone era. Designed to enable the performer to connect with the audience, it boasts a large stage, tiered booths, a spacious dance floor and a state of the art sound and lighting system. Backstage, the performer and their crew want for nothing with designer décor, wireless internet connection, a full kitchenette, powder room with theatre lights, a private balcony, and a viewing window to main stage.
In addition to inspirations from New York music venues, art deco styling from 1960’s Australia has been used to create the glamorous décor. Featuring oversized herringbone timber paneling, black terrazzo stone floors and a striking colour palette, Upstairs Beresford is a beautiful, intimate music entertainment space.
In true Merivale style, the venue also has a stunning cocktail lounge at the rear comprising of a striking green onyx bar and a DJ booth – perfect for pre-events or as a chill-out area from the main room.
Sibella Court of The Society Inc was responsible for the interior design of the venue claiming that her colour inspiration came from Marion Hall Best, Australia’s first interior designer, who she was researching at the time.
The space was broken down into four sections: main bar and stage seating / viewing, cocktail bar, balconies and entrance / transitional areas.
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Robe Robin 300 LEDWash
Utilizing 19 multichip LEDs and motorized linear zoom 15 – 60 degrees the ROBIN® 300 LEDWash offers great flexibility with superior homogenization of the light source. Specialized component optics composed of highly efficient elements ensures completely smooth colour mixing and it emphasizes dynamic array of true colours and hues.
ULA Group |
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For the main bar and stage area, a colour palette of shades of orange, brass and gold was used. The stage curtaining was created by a Shibori artist who dyed hundreds of metres in warm tones of chocolate through to orange which sit beautifully with the mirrored tiles at the back of the bar. Oversized herringbone painted in tonal caramels, paint splattered chairs, , tiered seating with black and white upholstery with orange vinyl trims and columns stenciled with famous song titles complete the area.
The Cocktail Bar features ochre beaded silhouette chandeliers hung from a painted firey orange pressed tin ceiling that continues the colour from the main bar into a largely blue and silvery grey environment. Wire fronted cabinets line one wall, full of books and objet d’art, with velvet and linen custom-made sofas, Ikat chairs, Shibori-dyed linen curtains and a leather DJ box in indigos in front.
There are two verandahs with great furniture: think white, industrial and loads of pots and lanterns - over 100 potted plants and trees were used in this space!
The entrance and transitional areas were considered as much as the rest of the venue. The oversized orange neon arrows that direct people up the stairs not only offered a colour and visual reference (which was then incorporated into the logo) but were a solution to the problem of not being able to access the walls for wires and people bumping lights. Throughout the long corridor in the main space billposters made from family archives are hung, mainly printed in black and white with some washed in day-glo orange, with the plan that additional posters from performing acts in the space would be slowly added.
Lighting designer Andy Mutton from Lightning Lighting in Melbourne, Australia, specified the lighting for the venue including fourteen Robe ROBIN 300 LEDWash moving head lights. Mutton was asked to deliver a full lighting technical package - which also features eight Robe ROBIN 300E Spots, three Giga strobes and a Road Hog console for control. |
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The lighting has to cover the stage, dance floors and seating areas for a variety of shows and events, from rock bands to DJ sets to corporate events. It needed to be able to create atmosphere, mood and excitement whatever the occasion, and also the fixtures needed to be fast to keep pace with some of the DJ sets. Anything too large or bulky was out, as the headroom is only five metres.
The stage is in the corner of the L-shaped room, so the fixture positions are not symmetrical, and the LEDWashes are spread out over the room.
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d&b Qi7 speaker
The Qi7 is a passive 2-way loudspeaker with a rotatable constant directivity horn and a passive crossover network. The two 10" neodymium LF drivers are positioned in a dipolar arrangement providing exceptional vertical dispersion control with the 40° nominal dispersion angle being maintained down to 400 Hz. The Qi7 horn can be rotated by 90°.
National Audio Systems |
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It was the first time that Mutton had actually used the ROBIN 300 LEDWash, although he had used the larger ROBIN 600LEDWash several times on other shows and was hugely impressed.
"It's a great fixture, with heaps of output and a good zoom" he enthuses, adding that he likes the fact you can only see one colour coming out of the units due to their refined and homogenised light engine, a feature of the Cree multichip technology used across the entire current generation Robe range of LED fixtures. "This was important" he explains, "Because 'multi-coloured' heads distract from the decor and furnishings of the venue".
He says that to see the source and the beam as one colour is a "way more creative" experience which adds to the whole process of building an imaginative and meaningful show. He also likes the wide range of whites - warm white, cool white, steel white, dirty white, lavender white, etc., - effectively "A white for every skin tone".
The ROBIN 300E Spots were selected primarily for their wide zoom of 40º which is a vital function to optimise lighting effects and drama in low ceilinged venues.
"This fixture has some good functions," said Mutton. "It lets you program half colours and the focus allows a hardedge to be put on the colour wheel so the colours split nicely."
The audio was designed by Mike Smeaton and installed by Johnston Audio. Mike chose a
d&b Audiotecknik PA system for it's outstanding audio quality and reliability. The main system consists of a 18" QiSub over a Qi1 & Qi7 per side. Four QiSubs are on the ground under the stage apron. Extensive use of insulation material insures that low frequency energy is optimised. At around mid room position two Qi1s per side are incorporated as main delay arrays and a subsequent pair of E8 handle a second
delay position near the back of the room. A pair of E12s cover the audience area on stage left.
The VIP area has its own d&b system that can be linked into the main system or ran independently featuring a DJ position.
The PA is powered by d&b D12 and D6 amplifiers.
The entire system is zoned and aligned using BSS Soundweb London and d&b R2 software.
A Digidesign SC48 was chosen as the house console for it's power and versatility. This console features 48 analog mic/line XLR inputs, 16 analog line outputs and Digidesign plug-in support.
The stage has a full 48 way analogue split plate stage right with abilty to run a full multi-pin split to a monitor or recording console postion if required. As well as the 48 analogue lines there is BNC/Cat6 courtesy cabling runs between the stage and the FOH mix position .
Six d&b Max15 wedges on five mixes plus a QiSub handle the duties on stage.
There are Konig & Meyer mic stands with a top quality kit of mics and DI's from Shure, Sennheiser and Radial. A three position Ezicom 401 comms package is available if required.
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