Vina Robles Amphitheatre, a True Collaboration with 3G productions and d&b
This summer, Paso Robles, California welcomed the Vina Robles Amphitheatre to its city. The brand new 3,300 seat outdoor venue compliments its picturesque surroundings with soft earth tones and classic stone work throughout. In collaboration with Vina Robles Restaurant and Winery, the Amphitheater will host concerts and live entertainment May through November, promising to combine delicious food, exceptional wine, and intimate live music into a fun community experience anyone will enjoy. Not merely visually appealing, the venue put a high premium on providing exceptional sound and in working with 3G Productions, built a state of the art custom built d&b audiotechnik sound system.
Vina Robles General Manager Tim Reed has a long history developing and opening new venues throughout the United States, however he holds this project especially close to his heart. “I have wanted to build this venue my entire career. I knew firsthand that there were no live music venues like Vina Robles in the area. Working exclusively with local craftsmen, we’ve been able to create an amazing facility design keeping both audiences and artists in mind.”
Brown Note Productions and its President, Ryan Knutson, whom Reed has known for years, jointly conducted a study of the venue at its infancy, primarily focusing on how the sound could be contained within the audience area. Once the decision was reached that d&b audiotechnik was the best choice, with its ability to control low end frequencies and virtually eliminate the impact on the surrounding community, Reed brought 3G Productions, a West Coast d&b partner, into the Vina Robles project.
With only two and a half months until the venue opened, 3G had a tight timetable to decide on and install the right d&b system. Using the d&b ArrayCalc software to make audio predictions within the venue, 3G recommended a custom d&b V-Series system to perfectly suit the audio needs at Vina Robles. Additionally, because the venue is only open seven months of the year, Vina Robles sought a system they could demount, store, or even send on tour during off season.
“The Vina Robles project was a fun challenge for our team. Due to the nature of the space, we worked very closely with Tim and his team to address all of their needs and concerns,” said Devon Murray, 3G Director of Business Development and Sales. “The sheer variety of d&b audiotechnik systems provides us the ability to create a truly customized sound system. The d&b V-Series system is perfectly suited for Vina Robles in that it provides unparalleled sound quality while also maintaining the kind of pattern control that addressed the primary need of noise constraint outside the venue.”
Defined by left/right V8 and V12 loudspeakers, with T10 front fills, and a cardioid sub array using B2-SUB loudspeakers, 3G was able to install the d&b system with time to spare before the band Yes christened the new stage at the opening. Murray is very pleased with the results, “To see it all come together was amazing. It’s a brand new, beautiful venue, and the d&b sound system both looks and sounds great in it. Plus, it was fun. The energy and passion of the Vina Robles staff was contagious. For example, before we could make any noise, Tim Reed and his staff had a CD of their favorite songs to play. They wanted to celebrate the sound system’s first use. Watching their hard work pay off, and being a part of that, was very cool.”