Meeting Topic: Corporate AV vs Pro Audio: Is there Really a Difference? & Tour of "The Ranch" Live Music Venue at Extron
Moderator Name: John Gordon
Speaker Name: John Gordon, Extron
Meeting Location: The Ranch, 1025 E. Ball Rd, Anaheim, CA 92805
The members and guests met at Extron's The Ranch, a country and western themed live music and dancing bar and restaurant. While there, we were treated to a tour of the state of the art sound system designed to provide a stage and dance floor to two-step your way through an evening at comfortable listening levels (~85 dB-SPL).
The designers also built a cleverly hidden bass trap above the longer bar to eliminate boominess, and separated The Restaurant from The Ranch by a service area and offsetting the doors. With the band in full swing, the diners at the restaurant don't hear it.
Several floors up, the facility also houses an 11,000 bottle wine room, several meeting spaces, a teaching kitchen, and a wedding suite.
Back on the main floor, John Gordon led the discussion on the supposed separation between Corporate audio and Professional audio. More and more, the two once disparate areas are cross-pollinating, with theatrical spaces hosting corporate events (think TED Talks, sales meetings, and technical seminars), while some corporations have built their own stages and spaces (think concerts and comedy shows). Each world incorporates pieces from the other.
In all it was a wonderful evening.
