Pollstar: U2 is Number 2 - FOH Online

Installations
A Horse, Of Course—But There’s More
Installers come through at crunch time at new South Coast Casino to provide
an array of sound environments, including a world-class equestrian center
By LindaHutchinson
When I telephoned Gary Nellis on
Dec. 19 for an interview, he certainly
sounded calm. Talk about
the eye of a storm.
Nellis, who headed up the electronic
install at the brand-spanking-new South
Coast Casino in Henderson, Nev., a city that
hugs the southeastern rim of Las Vegas,
didn’t actually answer the cell phone;
someone on his crew answered for him
as he discussed business on his other cell
phone. Momentarily, he switched over, and
with mind-boggling calmness, talked to
me about the task of getting a big electronic
install done under pressure.
The most recent addition to the string
of Coast Casinos—which includes the
Barbary Coast, Gold Coast, Orleans and
Suncoast—the new South Coast, which
sits on 60 acres, has an 80,000-square-foot
casino and race book area, 150,000 square
feet of convention, exhibit and banquet
space as well as a 25-story tower with 650
hotel rooms and 54 suites. The complex
also sports a bowling alley, a bingo room
and an already much-talked-about 4,400seat
equestrian center complete with 1,200
climate-controlled horse stalls.
The casino was scheduled for a soft
opening on Dec. 20. The doors of the casino
flew open to the public on Dec. 22. Please
note the date listed in the first paragraph.
Nellis stood amidst the nearly-completed-but-not-nearly-done
Race and
Sports Book area where he and his crew
were just getting the passel of televisions
to work. The audio/video jacks are
on the front of the TVs, not the back,
and prior to our conversation, Nellis had
just rigged monitors so they could feed
cords through the back to work with the
already-made cabinets. Because they
aren’t a big, for-hire operation, Nellis had
set up shop wherever he could find the
space, constructing needed items as they
went, jerry-rigging where they had to,
inventing solutions along the way. Other
dilemmas included short-term storage
of equipment; he had carefully wedged
equipment into any available room or
other low-traffic nook-and-cranny until
the moment of installation.
Nellis told me this kind of pressure is
par for the course. He’s what you’d call an
34 January 2005 www.fohonline.com
“old salty.” A sound engineer for more than
30 years, he started in 1968 at a legendary
hotspot, the Desert Inn. His first sound engineering
gig was with Jerry Lewis, and for
the next 10 years the big names just kept
coming. Nellis went to the MGM Grand
Hotel in 1988, where he worked with the
likes of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, The
Lawrence Welk Show and The Carol Burnett
Show, to name a very few. Nellis has been
So, what’s the point? Point is, that
between all the equipment, the deadlines
and general craziness, the connective
tissue that makes great sound is people.
People have to give a damn.
with Coast Casinos for the last 15 years.
Gradually over time, he has transitioned
from the engineering side of audio to the
installation process. The current job is his
biggest one to date.
Nellis explained that after everyone—
and I mean everyone, the carpet installers,
the air conditioning guys—is done, it’s audio
and technology installation showtime, and,
said Nellis, “by that time, everyone is just
ready to open.” Well, isn’t that just great?
So, what’s the point? Point is, that
between all the equipment, the deadlines
and general craziness, the connective
tissue that makes great sound is people.
People have to give a damn.
With cell phone in hand, Nellis walked
me from room to room, zone to zone—giving
the audio rundown. Already installed
were 60 or so Radian audio speakers,
sprinkled around the Race Book and Sports
Book and a lounge area with a subwoofer,
all powered by QSC amps. He also used a
Mackie mixer, a Rane equalizer and a dbx
128 subwoofer synthesizer.
How does it sound?
“Excellent,” Nellis said. “It’s very clear,
the highs are very distinct and the lows are
all there. The mid-range is there. It’s a very
good sounding system.”
It’s great moment of pure freedom
when an installer checks the sound system.
And, of course, they test with their own
music. I would have never pegged Nellis
as a Bocelli guy, but that is exactly what he
played. “It was beautiful,” he said of opera’s
current hot Italian tenor. “It’s like you’re
there listening to him in the concert hall.
You could get shivers.”
In the Bingo Room are 8-inch overhead
Lowell speakers, with Lowell 7-inch bat
cans. There are, in fact, more than 1,000
speakers of this kind all over the hotel and
casino, facilitating the music and page