NASHVILLE, Tennessee - July 2024 - As the only musical artist in history to have released nine RIAA Diamond-certified albums, Garth Brooks doesn't just hold rank in the pantheon of country greats, he's long been one of the world's most beloved musicians. So when Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, announced the grand opening of their four-floor, 55,000-square-foot Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk live music venue in downtown Nashville's Neon Neighborhood of Lower Broadway, excitement ran high among the artist's broad fan base.
The new venue is outfitted with an L-Acoustics A Series concert sound system and a DiGiCo Quantum225 console at front of house, complete with a MADI-ready MQ-Rack stage box. The full system was designed and installed by Clair Global Integration (CGI), the permanent installation division of the star's longtime sound-reinforcement tour provider, Clair Global.
The loudspeaker system is perfectly scaled to the venue's dimensions, reflecting the long rectangular spaces characteristic of the area's turn-of-the-century urban spaces. Flanking the stage on the left long wall are one A15i Focus over two A15i Wide enclosures, and another hang of one A15i Focus over two A15i Wide, which provide coverage to either side and in front, towards both the main floor and balcony, carved out of what was once the second floor.
The design challenge here was to provide even and consistent coverage to both levels. To keep the volume reasonable but still impactful, 14 coaxial X8 loudspeakers are installed as balcony underfills, each powered by one of the 16 channels of an LA7.16i amplified controller, with the remaining two channels used to power X8 in the club's elevated VIP areas on the main floor. That way, we could tailor the sound to what was exactly needed in each zone of the area under the balcony, explains CGI Systems Designer Joe Anderson.
In addition, two KS21i subs are mounted behind the A15i hangs, along with four KS28 subs in custom-constructed, four-foot-deep cavities below the VIP areas, which give those areas significant LFE impact but without rattling the seats. The rooftop bar, known as The Oasis, has a left-right sound system comprising an A10i Focus over an A10i Wide and one KS21i sub on either side, all powered by an LA4X amplified controller. A nearby bar area is covered by eight X8 speakers with SB10i subs, also driven by an LA4X.
The challenge for the rooftop bar, where DJs perform late into the night, is to have impact without getting too loud, says Anderson. One of our mantras at Clair is it has to sound great, not just loud. That's accomplished largely by relying on the subs for impact, which allows the roof to keep the overall volume level lower. Our goal is to elevate the production-value level of the entire sound experience here, making it closer to what you'd expect from a concert rather than a club, he says. The A Series speakers deliver great sound, with a lot more punch than you'd expect from their size, right out of the box. I never have to fight to get it.
CGI Account Executive Dan Heins was intimately involved in creating the sonic vibe for Friends In Low Places. Lyrics and therefore speech intelligibility are important for Garth. Equally important is getting the right kind and amount of energy in the room so that you can still hold a conversation, he explains. With A Series, you can. Garth noticed that right away on opening night, when he played there.
Heins also points out how the compact A Series generates the energy we want without interfering with the sightlines of a room like this. It's a great place to see as well as hear music.
He says that same beneficial form factor applies to the DiGiCo Quantum225. It's a great-sounding console, but doing everything it does in a smaller amount of space is important, because every inch of real estate is a premium on Broadway. We had to shift the location of the console to accommodate that, but the desk has the kinds of features that make even a challenging mixing space easy to work with.
The venue's mix position is located at the back of the bar, near stage left. From here, freelance AV technicians like Nate Warren and Gianni Gambuzza, brought in by JAG Warner Productions, utilize the Quantum225 console to provide both the front-of-house and monitor mixes for four bands a day, each playing four-hour sets.
The performance of our DiGiCo desk is extremely impressive, says Gambuzza. We run it seven days a week in the honky-tonk venue from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. more than 16 hours a day and it never slows down on us! The sound of the console is very clean, especially when going through our L-Acoustics A Series system. I feel like I can push my mix to the limits while still maintaining tremendous clarity. And I don't really need to do a lot of work once I get all of my inputs in; all I have to do is push my faders up to where I want them and it sounds just like a mixed show before I even get into tweaking EQ and compression.
For Gambuzza, the Quantum console's Nodal Processing has been a particularly loved feature. On Lower Broadway, we have such quick changeovers that, in the past, there have been times at other venues when I couldn't give a band the best in-ear mix simply due to time and channel limitations, he recalls. Now, with Nodal Processing, I can really get musicians' mixes dialed in and provide every band member a personalized touch. I can give a drummer a different EQ curve on their snare, give a bass player compression on their vocal, and give a singer a boost in the high end, all in their own individual mixes while not affecting anyone else's, and without having to double up channels for monitors. It's truly amazing for when operating on time restraints. He's also
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Deepens Partnership with Taiwan's 62nd Golden Hors...
25/11/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, an investigative journalist from Kenya is the winner of the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2025.
The 26-year-old-sele...
25/11/2025
SVG All-Stars: Blayke Scheer, Senior Director, Creative Content, YES NetworkThe Indiana alum has turned storytelling into an artform for more than two decadesBy...
25/11/2025
Op-Ed: With FCC's C-Band Auction on the Horizon, Broadcasters Need Proven, C...
25/11/2025
Analysis: Is Baller League really the future of sport? By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 10:10
Print This Story
With KSI on...
25/11/2025
Platinum Whitepaper: The Growth of Broadcast in the World of Major Large Scale E...
25/11/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: SVG Women's Sports WorkshopBy Samantha Gabay
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 10:27 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlig...
NASHVILLE, Tennessee - July 2024 - As the only musical artist in history to have released nine RIAA Diamond-certified albums, Garth Brooks doesn't just hold rank in the pantheon of country greats, he's long been one of the world's most beloved musicians. So when Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, announced the grand opening of their four-floor, 55,000-square-foot Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk live music venue in downtown Nashville's Neon Neighborhood of Lower Broadway, excitement ran high among the artist's broad fan base.
