News
Riverboat Louis Armstrong, New Orleans – USA
US Coast Guard approval & Chris Brown (E.Q. Flatts) interview – by Joe Triola, Regional Sales Manager for FBT in the USA
The city of New Orleans was founded in 1718 along the banks of the Mississippi river and became “the” southern gateway to the Americas since its founding. Riverboats have always played an important part in its history and have gone up and down the Mississippi river for hundreds of years and still to this day. The rich musical history of Jazz has become a worldwide phenomenon with Louis “Louie” Armstrong as one of its original “Jazz” founders in the early 1900’s. The rich musical culture of New Orleans has paid tribute to him and the world of Jazz with the completion of the Riverboat Louis Armstrong and FBT was there to help in this very unique installation.
Chris Brown, managing director of E.Q. Flatts/dba as SOUNd CHeK Music headed up the multi deck audio project. SOUNd CHeK Music has been operating in the greater New Orleans area since 1985 and has been involved in many major installations and productions. Chris also enlisted the services of Mike Montero of M R Montero Electronics for additional design and installation solutions on this project. Chris and Mike have worked together on multiple projects since 1984.
Chris and Mike chose, for their superior sound quality, ease of installation and reliability:
These active subs were chosen for this prestigious landmark installation for their smaller size, performance, overall sound quality and the ability to be “hidden” to fit the decor of the installation.
Each system had to be tied in together and required approval from the US Coast Guard which is NOT an easy task as you will see as the requirements are not the same as a typical land-based installation. In addition, each room had to be customized for specific musical needs.
FBT passed the very stringent USCG approval process and the critical performance requirements of Chris and Mike. In the words of Chris Brown, “we had a lot of products to choose from and they were all lobbying us to use them. The usual players, you know who they are so I will not list them. But guess what? FBT gave us the right tools for this job. It was an easy decision.”
In speaking with Chris about this installation, our Joe Triola, Regional Sales Manager for FBT, had several questions which deserve a little attention as there were several surprises as you will see.
How difficult was to get USCG approval of the product and what steps were taken to insure the best possible sound?
“USCG requirements for MV installations are quite different than any other codes or requirements I have encountered. Learning it all was the challenge. It was definitely a process that added greatly to the final expense and time of installing the systems. Two Examples: Burn Factor and no decks or bulkheads can be penetrated for wire runs. Burn Factor reduces how many souls you can have on the boat at one time. Quite amazing really. The original ceiling tiles were metal. We couldn’t have metal as it would be an acoustical nightmare with any amplified band. So, the ceiling tiles purchased were made of compressed crushed stone which were great for a while until they broke and fell to the deck unprovoked! Plan B is a secret. Patent Pending, but it doesn’t burn and is very cool! Keeping a concert going while having a banquet on the deck above meant soundproofing that won’t burn, so for this on the main concert stage we achieved it by using sand. 52 tons of it. Conveyor belt lifted from the dock and loaded three decks up into the metal frame of the stage and then decked on top with plywood. Did I mention that it had to be dry first? Can’t use wet sand on a metal deck or bulkhead, you know. Subwoofers were in chambers wired and able to slide in and out from under the front of the stage. No bleed onto the stage or anywhere else with that sand sealing the subwoofer chambers.”
I understand that everything had to be tied together for audio override in case of emergencies and and other announcements.
“Yes, we have seen this before: The Captain has to be able to mute all 8 systems and make an announcement from the Wheelhouse on the top deck no matter what the program was that was running at any of the venues: Top Deck, Concert Hall, Banquet, General Page, Bathrooms, Wedding Room, Louis Armstrong Room, Rear Bar, Aft decks, and with all of these spaces capable of sharing or having independent programs running completely agile amongst each other back and forth and to and on all decks. Kind of a master override voice over with mute if you can imagine. This was easy compared to some of the rest!”
The CLA subs appear to be hidden so it is kind of hard for us at FBT to brag about them being heard when they are out of site…
“All decks use the FBT CLA 208SA subs and all are hidden and all can carry any music live orprogram and also operate as their own independent venues when necessary. Every room has its own theme with music to match. CLA subs are great for this. Some day I will share our time alignment and speaker delay magic which makes all of the rooms coherent from one end to the other no matter where the head table or stage is placed. I think it is one of the best parts of this installation. When you walk to the back of the concert hall and into the Aft lounge the sound remains seamless as the band fires up on the main stage. The concert system installed was scaled down for many reasons but with an additional 3 Phase 100A Cam Lock tie in behind the main stage for additional production needs to be added; visiting sound companies can inject into the main system and the whole boat including stairwells are time aligned to the stage sound. It is quite remarkable and sounds amazing. The concert hall was the only location we used EASE data.”
Anything you care to add?
“In summation, all systems are completely agile back and forth to all rooms with individual iPad control and analog injection points in all venues and all rooms on all decks. Bottom line: it was a bit of a challenge but with everyone working together we got it done and as I said earlier, FBT gave us the absolute right tools for this job. They were clearly the best choice and the support from FBT remains fantastic. Riverboat Louis Armstrong is an amazing multi-purpose venue and like no other in New Orleans, maybe the world and will remain so for many, many, years to come.”
A special thank you to Chris Brown and Joe Triola for their input on this project.
