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SSE Sales Installs L-Acoustics dV-DOSC System at Rock City venue

Nearly 30 years ago Rock City opened its doors for its first ever gig, bringing a much-needed live music venue to the East Midlands city. In the years since it has become established as one the best and most important live venues for bands.

On that opening night in December 1980, the band performing were Northern Irish punk rock band The Undertones.  SSE Hire were the band's regular sound rental company, so SSE boss John Penn arrived at the new venue that day along with the rest of the crew, which included Pete 'Boot' Ellis on monitors - who's still at SSE today.

"As a Nottingham-based company at the time, it was great to be setting up our PA in our home town" says John Penn.  "The Undertones were at the height of their success at the time, performing five major tours between February and December that year.  Rock City was just what was needed in the city at the time, so we were pleased to part of that opening night."

Fast forward to 1982 and Rock City's then managers Vincent Rice and Paul Mason approached John to upgrade the existing house disco system.

SSE designed and built a system using full range mid-high packs using JBL HF and ATC mids with Cerwin Vega 18" bass bins.   The system was powered by SSE's own FanAmps and controlled by our own bespoke modular active crossover.

A quarter of a century later and Rock City continues to thrive while Nottingham has established itself as one of the country's finest cities for live music.

So when SSE Sales were invited to pitch for the installation of new sound system at Rock City in January 2009, it was a contract that SSE were very keen to win.

In recent years the venue has only had a house system appropriate for club nights and they were looking to install a 'live' sound system once more.

The system design was put together by Alex Penn (John's son), who now heads up SSE's sales operation.  At the heart of the design was an L-Acoustics dV-DOSC system.

“The level of detail in the quotation and the demo provided by SSE convinced all of us at Rock City that SSE Audio Group are able to provide the level of service and results that we need from this major investment” says Rock City's Technical Manager, Dave McVea.

This compact line array system was ideal for the venue, where headroom is limited. To enable the system to be flown safely, SSE arranged for extra steels to be installed in the roof and used a hoist arrangement that makes it impossible to hang the system incorrectly.
Dave McVea was enthusiastic about using L-Acoustics, based on his own experience with the touring systems passing through the venue by visiting bands.

“I have stood here and watched (and listened to) all kinds of PA systems coming through this room for the last 10 years, and the L’Acoustics dvDOSC has consistently stood out from the rest providing outstanding results - very high quality sound indeed.

The room itself is a rather odd shape and is also ‘side on’ (as in the stage is not at the end of a long hall, but at the side), so the 120 degree horizontal dispersion of the dvDOSC really helps get the sound where it is needed most without cluttering the stage with tons of speakers.  So when asked what system we should install in our main hall, it was an easy choice for me to make.”

The system comprises 16 dVDosc - in two arrays (eight per side), plus four flown dvSubs two per side). 6 SB28 subs are ground stacked with three on each side of teh stage located in custom enclosures built by the venue.

The front of house mixer is a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console, with the LA8 amplification remotely monitored and controlled from FOH with a rackmount PC using the network capabilities of the LA8. Master system control and routing is all managed by a Yamaha DME 24N digital mixing engine.

SSE Sales has also provided a complete monitor system, with SSE's own MB4 wedge monitors, plus Nexo Alpha-E used for side and drum fills. A Soundcraft Vi4 is used for the monitor mix.  The Vi4 is supported by a custom 3-bay rack, containing all amplification and processing for the monitor system - built by SSE's in-house manufacturing operation, Sigma Fabrications.



A complete analogue line system has also been incorporated into the installation so any touring acts can bring in their own boards.  The whole control system has been designed for easy integration of guest boards and is designed to be as versatile, user friendly and intuitive as possible.

All permanent cabling was installed using cable management systems.  SSE Sales also included SSE's own microphone storage system and quick clips for all mics, SSE stage mains distribution boxes, mic stand storage and all the finishing touches to complete the installation to the standard expected by SSE's clients. 


The complete system was installed with full packaging, service and support during June and July 2009, without any disruption to any in-house events and the system was first used for live sound on 1st August 2009.

"The installation by SSE was very efficient and professional and allowed us to trade normally as a night-club throughout, which was great." says Dave McVea.

"The standard of workmanship is extremely high from the cabling to the rigging - everything right up to the commissioning. Everyone involved worked extremely hard to reach the target dates that were set and did it all with a smile.

SSE Sales believe in providing a complete after sales service, so once the installation was complete, full training was provided for Rock City's staff.

"My staff and I were trained on the general operation of PA systems and the specifics of dvDOSC, including maintenance, amp set up etc.

The training also covered the Soundcraft Vi series digital live sound consoles and the SSE monitor system. Thanks are due to Gert Sanner and Steven Dando for those excellent and very professional training sessions."

With the first live gig with the new system successfully completed, Dave McVea is looking to the future.

" I'm sure that the reputation of Nottingham Rock City will continue to grow as word gets around the industry as to just how good a sound we can now consistently achieve here.

I know that engineers are going to love mixing here.  We've had our first gig through it already (Buckcherry 1st of August) and their FOH engineer/TM Stephen Shaw absolutely loved it. We are off to a good start it seems."

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