June 7, 2010
Sound Makes The Scene At Yard House Restaurants
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Ashly’s Protea DSP hardware is used in 23 of the 27 Yard House restaurants in southern
California and across the country.
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WEBSTER, NY—Yard House restaurants
are separated from the clutter of contemporary
eateries by a unique combination
of three powerful ingredients:
wonderfully prepared American fare,
the world’s largest selection of draft
beer—between 100 and 250 taps per
restaurant—and classic rock that is
very much in the foreground. CEO
and founder Steele Platt places a premium
on the sound systems that go
into his restaurants, and subsequently,
total AV costs are nearly $250,000 per
restaurant. The 23 newest Yard House
restaurants (of 27 total) rely on Ashly
Protea DSP hardware ne24.24M to
tailor source material so that it will cut
through, while still retaining a pleasant
overall tone, whether subdued
for lunchtime business meetings or
unleashed for late night revelry.
Yard House has a long-standing
relationship with AV designer and
installer No Static of Los Angeles,
CA. The highest concentration of
Yard House restaurants is in Southern
California, but others are popping
up in such far-flung locations
as Waikiki, HI; Glenview, IL; and
Dedham, MA. Eugene Gordon, CEO
of No Static, works with Yard House
CIO Phil Crawford to build AV systems
worthy of the Yard House name.
“Platt places a premium on the
intelligibility of vocals,” Gordon
said. “Since most of the music is classic
rock recorded in the 1960s and
1970s, it can be challenging to deliver
a smooth, warm sound with punchy
vocals that sits in the foreground of
a crowded bar/restaurant, without
becoming strident.” Platt is clearly
invested in the music that plays at
Yard House locations—he builds the
playlists from scratch every day. “The
music is never stagnant at a Yard
House,” Crawford laughed.
“The Ashly Protea software and
hardware is the solution that allows us
to meet the elevated requirements of
the Yard House brand,” Gordon said.
“It provides all of the DSP we need to
tailor the sound, along with elegant
control for switching presets to match
source material. In addition, Ashly
products have proven to be rock-solid,
which is important when we’re doing
installations and maintaining systems
that are literally thousands of miles
from home. With the new NE-Series
of Protea hardware, we can also easily
monitor and control systems in, say,
Hawaii or Massachusetts, from the
comfort of our home offices in Southern
California.”
Almost without exception, the Yard
House restaurants rely on QSC amplification.
For loudspeakers, some use
EAW whereas others use Community.
“Both of those speakers provide more
punch than most restaurants would
ask for,” Gordon said, “but Yard
House is not like most restaurants.
The reason we chose them is because
they are very smooth and warm in the
mid-range, which is right where the
harshness of most of that old classic
rock lurks. In addition, you can crank
them up and they just sound better!”
User control is kept to a minimum,
as the Ashly software automatically
performs most functions. That allows
managers to focus their attention on
other things and prevents unwanted
tampering of the system by even wellintentioned
meddlers. Ashly W-1
wall plate remote controls provide
simple volume control. “We have the
volume knobs marked with positions
for ‘lunch,’ ‘dinner,’ and ‘late night,’”
Crawford said. “It’s that simple.”
At each new store, Gordon oversees
the final system tweaks via the
Ashly Protea software. “Gordon has
an amazing ear,” Crawford admired.
“He comes in during pre-opening
events to work on the system when
there are enough people around to
simulate an early lunch crowd. Then
he makes further adjustments during
the actual opening, when we have a
line stretching around the corner. As a
result, the Yard House systems sound
fantastic on everything from a Mick
Jagger croon to a Beastie Boys bass
line, regardless of whether it’s quiet or
loud, or whether the place is just opening
or packed wall-to-wall.”
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