Trak Takes DiGiCo and Rises with Stagemaker

The Trak Centre has long been one of Melbourne's most prestigious inner city buildings. Located in the heart of bustling Toorak, the Trak centre has always had a heartbeat as a booming business hub. It was also home to the very successful Silvers nightclub which later became the Toorak Lion Pub and more recently, the Sugar Lounge. A lesser known fact about the Trak Centre was that it used to have one of Australia's oldest cinemas inside it. The cinema was shut down many, many years ago and remained quietly dormant underneath the Sugar Lounge until very recently. The cinema space has undergone a major transformation and has been launched as the uber sophisticated Trak Live Lounge Bar.

With mega bucks poured into getting the venue into its current state, there has been no expense spared. The fit out is world class, the stunning bars and VIP sections are cleverly designed and the venue is all eye candy.

The Trak Bar has quickly become one of Australia's key live club venues and the reason is immediately evident upon walking in. The entire venue is decked out with 5 slick looking bars that all melt together seamlessly into an elegant and tasteful main space that leads into a full sized stage. There are also two sequestered sections, the Candy Bar and the VIP Bar; both of which exude the same tasteful contemporary elegance. The look and feel of the whole place certainly has a vibe that'd make most club owners envious and make any punter feel a little cooler than usual (I sure did when I was there).

The 600 free standing capacity of the venue makes it perfect for rock gigs, club parties and intimate shows alike. It's been open for less than 12 months and has already been home to the likes of Jimmy Barnes, Chris Isaak, Blondie, Marcia Hines and Jade McRae to name a few. Packed to the rafters on weekends with a killer vibe inside and often a long line outside; the 'full house' sign finds its way to the entrance regularly.

Of course with such esteemed artists performing week in week out at Trak, the need for superior monitoring was crucial. Trak's Venue Production Manager Paul Sherrit knew that DiGiCo would prove the right solution for this task and so a DiGiCo SD8 was quickly commissioned and installed from Soundcorp Melbourne.

Paul minces no words when it comes to the SD8. "The SD8 is just so configurable; it makes things really simple when you constantly have different artists coming in who have a range of requirements for their monitoring mixes. I've yet to find something it can't do." The SD8 has been a favourite ever since DiGiCo released it in 2008; it's no surprise that one of them found its way into a venue as great as Trak. Of course great sound is only as important as the safety of the venue which was another key consideration for Paul.
To accommodate the elaborate lighting rig suspended above the main dance floor, 4 x Stagemaker SM10 1004 MB-20 chain hoists were installed. Paul was looking for the utmost in reliability and safety as he notes. "It's good to know we have hoists with the highest safety rating holding up our equipment".

The Stagemaker series of chain hoists are one of the very few in the industry that are completely compliant with stringent European standards. All Stagemaker hoists possess advanced safety features including a dual brake system and a 5 pocket wheel. This system delivers exceptional safety and strength for serious venues that respect and understand the importance of truss stability.
With Australia believed to be soon following the European standard on chain hoist and truss regulations; Paul Sherrit's choice for Trak wasn't just the best option for safety, it was also the smartest as a long term investment.

Group Technologies