Photo by David James Swanson
It is commonplace in the town known as Music City to find organizations deeply involved in music. So, it should be no surprise that Nashville’s American Legion Post 82 is one of them. Describing their mission as “Reintegrating Local Veterans Into the Community Through Music,” Post 82 regularly holds music events ranging from open mic nights and songwriter workshops to performances of all kinds.
When Jack White - Nashville resident, Grammy-winning musician, and owner of recording studio/record label Third Man Records - went looking for a location in which to give an under-the-radar launch performance for his newest album, No Name, Post 82 was suggested, but there was a problem.
“We were talking about which venues to play in Nashville and the American Legion was mentioned,” recalls Lalo Medina, White’s longtime tour manager. “but somebody told us they didn't have the greatest PA in that room. So, Jack said, ‘Why don't we do a fundraiser for them to get a new system and get JBL's help with it?’ It really wasn't about putting in a sound system so he could play on it, it was more just putting in a better system for people that go to that place to enjoy, because it is a really cool venue.”
Mick Beisel, CEO of Vision2 Marketing, facilitated a partnership between JBL Professional and Guitar Center Custom House (GCCH, a Nashville-based collaboration between Guitar Center Professional and Guitar Center’s Audio Visual Design Group, known as AVDG) that resulted in Post 82 acquiring a new sound system consisting of equipment from several HARMAN Professional companies.
The timing, however, was incredibly tight, reports Greg Glaser, GCCH’s Vice President of Artist Relations. “We literally got involved a week before the show was to take place,” says Glaser, a time frame so short it presented a challenge simply in transporting the equipment to the venue in time. “JBL freighted the equipment directly to the venue and we showed up the next day to install it,” Glaser explains.
A local JBL support staffer had viewed the small venue (less than250-person capacity) and, working with GCCH, had specified a system based on four JBL SRX910LA two-way active line array cabinets (two for each side of the stage), bolstered by two SRX928S dual 18-inch subwoofers. Audio flows from five AKG D5 supercardioid dynamic microphones on the stage (plus any direct sources) through a Soundcraft Mini Stagebox 32i to a Soundcraft Si Performer 3 digital mixing console.
Patrons in the bar area, located in a separate area of the building, get clear sound from a pair of PRX912 powered two-way loudspeakers. With time being so short, Glaser called on Ken Ferrel of AVDG to lead the lightning-fast installation. “I’ve been working with Greg on projects for years. Anytime he has an ‘I got to get this done and I need it to happen tomorrow,’ thing, it’s usually me he’s reaching out to,” Ferrel says, laughing. “Custom House is kind of the special forces of the Guitar Center organization. We can make stuff happen that people think is impossible. We’re that kind of group where nothing’s too crazy.”
Before Ferrel could even start putting the new system in, the existing system needed to be removed. Glaser had showed up to pitch in and the vets at Post 82 were eager to help in any way they could. Then it was time to deploy the SRX910LA cabinets.
“Acoustically it's not a bad room: there’s ceiling tile, there's a dance floor, but the rest of the room has carpet. However, it's a wide, shallow room, so you have issues of coverage out to the sides, which the old system lacked. The people at the post told us that you would go out to the corners of the room and it was like they didn't have a PA at all. But now, with the 910LAs, it doesn't matter if they go out to the corners because it's a wider coverage box. It's the right box for the room.”
The main system was ground stacked, with two 910LA cabinets on each side. Once the system was physically in place, configuration was easy, even though tuning the system was about as last minute as it could be, taking place the morning of White’s performance. “The system was super easy to set up. The software was great for configuring it, but I would have to say, honestly, I didn't touch anything out of the box. Everything was just there. It was my first experience with those particular speakers and I was beyond pleasantly surprised with them; they sounded amazing. It really blew me away what they were getting out of that box.”
Quality of sound was obviously essential to everyone, but White had one other major requirement. “The most important thing with Jack, about sound, is that he likes it loud,” Medina asserts. “He believes that a quiet rock and roll show is an oxymoron, and it's something we always try to avoid.”
Even on short notice, the show sold out the moment it was announced. Showtime came and White debuted six songs from the new album for the small but ecstatic crowd.
So, was it loud enough for Jack? “It was loud enough,” confirms Medina. “It was plenty loud,” Glaser affirms, “and the system sounded phenomenal. We were backstage and Jack was to-the-moon happy. Tons of people said it was the best the room ever sounded.”
His work there is done, claims White. “We’re on a mission for purity, we build spaces where nothing is translated, nothing impersonating something that it’s not,” he says. “Live music venues are like churches, they’re sacred spaces that need to give people what they want, something real. JBL gets that and it’s why they are obsessed with translating sound in such a pure way”
Of course, Post 82 and its members were delighted with the show and the new system, and Ferrel and Glaser were both impressed with the enthusiasm the vets showed in helping get the old system removed and the new one in place. “They were probably the most welcoming group of people I've ever met,” Ferrel glows “They were just happy to have us there and happy to have this happening for them.
Those guys helping me set things up were volunteers, not trained audio guys at all. But they were ex-military, so they knew how to follow direction and they were hard workers, willing and able to do anything and everything they could to help. Glaser emphasizes that close cooperation was the key to the show and the new system coming together so quickly. “This could not have happened if Jack, Custom House, the American Legion post, and HARMAN had not all worked together so tightly on it,” he concludes. “And now I’m really excited to see what this does for the community.”
