Buffalo RiverWorks has it all: a 5,000-person sports, entertainment, and concert venue; two covered outdoor ice rinks that have hosted the Labatt Blue Pond Hockey Tournament since 2014; the first permanent, purpose-built, flat track roller derby track in the world; four bars, including one with axe-throwing; four ziplines; and the huge Buffal-O Ferris Wheel. It’s also a favorite of local bass-guitar hero Robby Takac, of the Buffalo-born Goo Goo Dolls, who uses the venue for his annual Music Is Art festival. And now this 60,000-square-foot multipurpose venue also has big sound to match its many options, with the recent addition of a new L-Acoustics K3 sound reinforcement system. The audio equipment was installed in December by Buffalo Pro Audio Group, and purchased through Las Vegas-based L-Acoustics Certified Provider 3G Productions, which also provided design services.
“K3 is the perfect solution for our music venue,” says Marc Vitagliano, Buffalo RiverWorks’ GM and Entertainment Director, who adds that the venue has had experience with L-Acoustics sound systems since it was expanded in 2016, with concert and event promoters like MNM Presents and After Dark Entertainment renting a Kara II system locally. As the number of concerts steadily increased over the next several years, Vitagliano says it became clear that it was worth investing in a house-owned sound system. Based on the venue’s experience and comments from visiting tour-sound professionals, as well as advice from Buffalo Pro Audio Group and 3G Productions, L-Acoustics was the clear choice.
The new system comprises 18 K3 enclosures, nine per side, mounted on six carts evenly divided left and right. Eight KS28 floor-stacked subs and four X8 front-fill speakers round out the house sound complement, with X12 speakers used as stage monitors. The system is powered with a combination of LA12X and LA4X amplified controllers. “K3 is the most advanced system on the market today—no one in our region has one, and that really helps set us apart,” Vitagliano says. “Plus, K3’s form factor and size means that there are no sightline concerns.”
Nate Howell, Owner of Buffalo Pro Audio Group—which has since moved its headquarters to near Philadelphia—says the sound quality and the rider acceptability of the L-Acoustics brand were deciding factors in Buffalo RiverWorks’ selection. “It’s an especially good choice for them since they were planning on doing a wider range of music genres; plus, they’ve been doing a lot of EDM shows lately, and the low-end response of the K3-KS28 combo is excellent,” he says.
But the club also appreciated the fact that it can reconfigure the system for different applications. “For instance, they have an outdoor garden where they can use a few of the speakers and a sub for singer-songwriter-type shows and other smaller concerts,” says Howell. “It’s a great sound system for big shows, but it also offered them this added level of flexibility.”
The system will have its first major debut on February 17 for a hard-rock show with Static-X and Sevendust. In the meantime, the club staff has already put the system through its paces with a few in-house test shows during which Vitagliano says they immediately realized that they had made the right choice. “As soon as we heard the first notes, we got chills,” he recalls. “It sounds like a great hi-fi system and we can’t wait for our visiting bands and audiences to experience it. These upgrades are just the beginning as RiverWorks has many more plans and will continue to reinvest and make upgrades to be the best concert venue and entertainment complex in the region.”
For info on Buffalo RiverWorks, visit www.buffaloriverworks.com.