In September 2009, AMG opened its new Birmingham venue in Horsefair, B1, after 9 previous years in Dale End, Birmingham. With a full building capacity of 3,859, it really is one of a kind in the Midlands, with three venues under one roof. A £5.5m development, all rooms are unique, feature state of the art production, with outstanding facilities for artists and customers. The main auditorium has a capacity of 3,009 with a seated balcony and attracts the biggest touring artists to Birmingham. Academy Music Group is committed to supporting new talent and has two additional smaller rooms, O2 Academy 2 Birmingham (600) and O2 Academy 3 Birmingham (250), for emerging artists to play in professionally equipped environments and is perfectly positioned for artists to return, playing to a larger audience on their development path. Birmingham was the first City outside of London, Academy Music Group chose to expand its venue portfolio almost a decade ago. All venues can operate independently, or simultaneously.

Awards:

• Birmingham Mail 'Best Concert Venue (over 500) 2005

• Birmingham Mail ‘Best Club/Club Night’ 2005

• NME Awards ‘Best Venue’ (nomination 2005 2004)

• BEDA Awards ‘Best Venue’ (nomination 2004)

CAPACITY

3,009

Stalls  2,410
Balcony  599

FACILITIES

Production Offices 2

Dressing Rooms 3 (all en-suite)

Catering (kitchen/dining room)

Additional showers/WCs for touring crew

STAGE

Depth   10m
Width   15m
Height   1.1m
Clearance to Point 6.1m

POWER:

Sound 63 Amp 3 Phase available for touring production

Lighting 300 Amps available for touring production

AV 63 Amp 3 Phase power available

Catering  32 Amp 3 Phase power available

Bus Power  52 Amp 3 Phase power available

HOUSE PA:

O2 Academy Birmingham is the first installation in the UK to use the L’Acoustics V-DOSC line array system. This has long been the leader in its field in the touring industry and with the development of the new LA8 amplifiers, the sound quality has been taken to another level. After specific plotting using SoundVision and consultation with L’Acoustics themselves, we are confident that we offer a PA on a level with anything that is being toured in the current market

In-house mixing consoles include two Soundcraft Vi6s, two Digidesign Profile Mixrack systems and one 40 Channel MH3. With the Vi6s and the Profiles being the two most common digital desks on the touring circuit at the moment

In-house monitors consist of 12 Martin LE1500s and Martin Blackline side fills. They are powered by Crown amplification

There is an in-house 48 channel analog mutlicore with Veam connections with the option of splits for recording and outside broadcast

PA points are rated at one tonne

HOUSE LIGHTING

House lighting is positioned on six one tonne points over stage, giving a front, middle and back truss

Control is from an Avolites Diamond console, with the option of using an in-house Pearl expert with Titan software

Conventional lighting is supplied with 72 channels of Light Processor dimmers and there are 60 channels of hot power available. This is distributed via a custom built patch bay system. Alternatively, touring production can use their own dimming and patching using house power supplied on powerlocs

FIXTURES AVAILABLE

2 x Robe DT 7000 Moving Head Effect Projectors
8 x Robe 700 AT Spot
6 x Robe 575 Wash Zoom
6 x Robe 170 AT Spot (custom colour)
6 x Robe 250 AT Spot
6 x GLP Impressions (inc. case and extras)
4 x Robe 4 cell LED Blinders
4 x CS4 Moving ACL Bars
4 x 8 cell Blinders
2 x DMX Controlled Green Laser
8 x Source 4 Junior Zoom
1 x Unique 2 Water Based Hazer
1 x Viper High Performance Smoke Machine
8 x Bars of 6 Par 64

These can be used on their own or in conjunction with touring production

VISUAL EQUIPMENT

Using the two DT 7000 moving head projectors, visuals can be projected onto the four metre screens on the back of the stage, or onto drapes and décor placed in other parts of the auditorium

There is a Green Hippo “Critter” media server that can be used to provide visual content or there are VGA inputs onstage and by Front of House that can be fed into the Kramer visual distribution system. This can send images to the main projectors and to the screens mounted around the venue.

PA SPECIFICATION

BUMP2 Structure for flying/stacking a V-DOSC® array
BUMP27 ANGLE strap value: 4° - Angles may vary following Sound Vision mapping    10
VDOSC Full-range 3-way V-DOSC® Loudspeaker enclosure and removable front dolly 12
BUMP23 Main Strap for V-DOSC® bumper  4
DVDOSC 2-way full range WAT enclosure  8
SB28 High Power Subwoofer, 2 x 18 12
LA8 Amplified Controller
4 x 2000 w/4 Ohms Ethernet Network 11
16 Way Network Switch Network provision for LA8 Amplifiers
Loadstar Hoist 1T Motorised
Chain Hoist - 1000kg  2
Load Arrestor 1.5T 1500kg Load Arrestor 2
AA1214i Full Range Loudspeaker 5
AA1214i Full Range Loudspeaker – Landscape  6
AA1214i Full Range Loudspeaker  2
AA218i Sub Bass Loudspeaker 2
AA81 Full Range Loudspeaker  2
Crown Xti 4000 Power Amplifier  7
AA15BP    1
Martin LE1500 Low Profile, High Power Monitor 12
AA215 DrumSub    1
334 Minidrive Cont 4-Out Plus Theile  5
Crown Xti 1000 Amplifier   4
Crown Xti 4000 Power Amplifier  5
Martin Blackline S218 Sub Enclosure 2
Martin Blackline H3   2
336 Minidrive Cont 6-Out Plus Theile 1
Crown Xti 1000 Amplifier  2
Crown Xti 4000 Power Amplifier  2
BSS FDS-966 Opal Graphic EQ 6
Tascam CDRW900 CD Writer – 1 x for playback
BSS FDS-960 Stereo Graphic EQ 1
Soundcraft Vi6 Digital Console  2
Uninterrupted power supply for Vi6 Consoles  2
Digidesign Profile Mixrack Systems