BUENA PARK, Calif. — BLUSH is the largest and newest nightclub to open in downtown Winnipeg and a major contributor to the city's downtown revitalization program. Owned and operated by Sam Colosimo and Jack Salvaggio, who also run Desire nightclub in the downtown historic Exchange District, the new club held its official opening in December 2007, and is fast becoming one of the downtown';s most popular nightclubs. The building, which had been vacant for the past ten years, was completely gutted, and a multimillion dollar renovation transformed the space into Winnipeg's most stunning nightclub.

Main Dance Floor at BLUSH

The owners wanted to add a live music component to supplement its dance music core. Having worked on the highly successful downtown "Empire" nightclub, Integrated Entertainment Technologies (IET) was awarded the project to provide the audio and lighting support systems. "When we had our initial meetings with the owners, we realized that we had our work cut out for us," states Glen Jonatchick of IET. "The owners wanted to create a seamless transition from live music to dance music without compromising either system and also to stay within a modest budget."

From a speaker perspective, Jonatchick says the Yamaha Installation Series was a perfect fit. "We had used these boxes for a previous client and the system sounded great and very musical." At under 130dB for each enclosure, the Yamaha IF Series has the capacity to handle the high levels and large dynamic range of live popular music. "There are not many speaker products that offer both the musical timbre and high level capacity, and even fewer at this price point, so the owners were extremely happy with the decision to use the IF Series." In fact, Jonatchick notes, "patrons and industry professionals that have come to the club want to know what brand of speakers were used and comment on how good the system sounds."

The speakers are managed by the powerful Yamaha DME 24n processor. In order to provide the best sound for the entire room, the DME 24n manages 16 different speaker locations. The system's remotes provide a simple single control to time fade between band and DJ as well as control of the exclusive VIP area. (14) IF2115/64 speakers and (4) IS1218 sub bass cabinets were installed for house and DJ speakers. (2) Yamaha IF2108 speakers were provided for DJ monitors.

The front of house area is equally powerful, yet simple with a Yamaha LS9-32 channel console. The operator can mix the entire band on one layer and view all the powerful tools the console offers on a 22-inch LCD screen as well as on the board itself. "The LS9 is extremely intuitive for even the most apprehensive operator, and with its 12 auxiliaries, an operator can mix monitors from the FOH position or utilize the monitor mix position which includes a Yamaha MG32/14 FX mixer," adds Jonatchick.

The monitor mix position uses (5) Yamaha C112V floor wedges (and a Yamaha C215V for drum monitor) powered by Yamaha P3500 amplifiers and is also controlled by the DME 24n processor. Six channels of Yamaha Q2031 equalizers are also provided for the operator that wants to tailor each mix. A total of 17 Yamaha P Series amplifiers were installed: (3) P3500s and (14) P7000s.

The BLUSH sound system uses a Digiflex Splitter Snake along with a total of 14 Shure microphones including six SM57, six SM58s, a Beta52A and three KSM109 stage microphones. IET also provided a Rane TTM 57SL DJ mixer.

For more information on Integrated Entertainment Systems, contact (866) 774-3004 or visit www.ietcanada.com.

For more information on Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems products used in this installation, write Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc., 6600 Orangethorpe Avenue, Buena Park, CA 90620; telephone 714-522-9011; e-mail casales@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamahaca.com.