Signature Brew Serves Up Suds and Sound

London, UK (December 18, 2024)—Music and a good pint have gone together for centuries, and London’s Signature Brew follows that tradition to a T. Founded in 2011, the brewery has created beers for acts like Mogwai, IDLES, Mastodon and Enter Shikari, and also operates a number of music venues as well. Its Blackhorse Road venue recently received a significant audio upgrade, centered around a new mixer at the FOH spot.

The audio upgrade was handled by Hertfordshire-based AV specialists Patchwork London, which recommended putting an Allen & Heath SQ6 compact digital mixer and AR2412 AudioRack at the heart of the new system. With the venue requiring set-up and teardown for each event, Signature Brew needed a system that was quick to deploy.

Johnson Mixes The Neal McCoy

Signature Brew founder Sam McGregor noted, “Initially, the SQ6 came highly recommended from the various engineers I consulted, which was a big plus for me. We have a Dante network across the whole space, so we needed a mixing system that fitted into the network and gave us a flexible, lightweight, movable solution that could be easily operated by both our in-house team and visiting engineers. It was also important that it was straightforward to integrate with other FOH and monitor desks if needed, and other setups for video and streaming, for example.”

Despite its diminutive size, the SQ6 can handle the variety of acts coming through, able to offer visitng engineers 48 input channels, 24 onboard preamps, eight stereo effects engines and numerous configuration options.

“We designed the brewery and venue space specifically to make beer and host gigs from the outset,” McGregor said, “and we’ve hosted many unforgettable nights amongst the tanks, but it has been no easy process ensuring we can create amazing events and beer in the same room. We’ve had the room sound treated, tuned the d&b audiotechnik system, installed the correct staging and have recently put in a new lighting rig. The SQ6 system really was the final piece of this puzzle and it’s proved a perfect fit for us.”