Heritage Meets Technology
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With a century old façade, a stunning new interior and many years of planning behind it, the new Drum Theatre in the heart of Dandenong is finally completed; and what a magnificent sight it is. In a town with an abundance of artistic expression and limited outlets to express it, The Drum aims to bring a new sense of artistic culture and style to the City of Greater Dandenong.
On Saturday 11th February, 2006, Premier Steve Bracks officially opened the venue at an event hosted by screen and stage legend Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell and included performers such as James Morrison and Silvie Paladino.
The massive job of converting the site of the heritage-listed old town hall - a building that was older than Flinders Street Station – fell to Kane Constructions, who through the design of William Ross Architects and Denis Irving of theatrical consultants Entertech, successfully combined the traditional façade of the old town hall, with a modern, practical and visually appealing theatrical space. The task of coordinating the creation of this venue was given to the City of Greater Dandenong’s Director of Cultural Faculties, Paul Streefkerk. Having been involved in many of the major performing arts centres in the state, Paul’s experience was a valuable asset in getting the venue up and running.
Lightmoves was contracted to supply complete theatrical infrastructure to the
venue, including lighting and audio/visual equipment, lighting control, Circuit
Tube, custom-made Brown’s rigging, paging, intercom, a stage management
system and even decorative LED lighting in both the auditorium and in the Front
Of House (FOH) area. Lightmoves had to keep in mind the duel usage of the theatre
by professional and non-professional companies alike; meaning the system needed
to be of a highly professional standard, but still operable by non-professional
users. When asked about the quality of Lightmoves work in the venue, Mr Streefkerk
had this to say, “They attacked a number of different sections of the
building works, from foyer paging and architectural features, to in-house audio,
with great pressure on timelines and a demand for the best quality in workmanship.
They have been responsive to our needs and as we grew near to the end of the
project, showed great attention to detail.”
Lighting 
With Electrical Consultant Sam Thorn of BRT Consulting and onsite electricians KLM, Lightmoves coordinated the installation of over 10km of cabling, which required close to 1000 cable terminations. This included cable runs for DMX (three parallel universes), Ethernet and video distribution, as well as the cabling for all Audio / Visual. Lighting Control for the venue is via Dynalite architectural dimmers, which has global control over stage, auditorium and FOH lighting states; through the use of push-button touch panels. “The control system offers great flexibility and has certainly made the venue very simple to operate,” states Mr. Streefkerk. Besides supplying Selecon Luminaries for on stage, Lightmoves used Osram Linearlight Flex LED strips to create a decorative element in the auditorium roof, as well as a colour-changing counter for the FOH bar and ticket office.
Audio / Visual
Working
to a specification supplied by acoustic consultants Marshall Day Acoustics,
Lightmoves provided a Soundcraft GB4 sound desk, JBL speakers and Crown amplifiers
to create a powerful stage audio system that more than lives up to the venue’s
status. Furthermore, through the use of Creative Audio equipment and a Peavy
Mediamatrix Processor, they created a first-class Paging and Intercom system,
available at all required points throughout the complex. Lightmoves also coordinated
the installation of the Closed Circuit Television system, allowing the live
video feed to be distributed backstage into dressing rooms, to the stage managers
console and to the FOH bar and ticket office.
A Lightmoves custom-made stage managers console acts as a command post for the comprehensive stage management system, having global control of video, paging, intercom and the lighting control system.
Since its grand opening, The Drum has played host to large scale professional and non-professional events, as well as numerous community concerts, competitions and workshops. The City Of Greater Dandenong was crying out for a first-class Arts facility; now, their prayers have been answered.
For more information on theatrical installations, contact Peter Gray of Lightmoves on (03) 9701 2500
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