Among the many improvements made to the theatre is an enlarged orchestra pit, enabling large-scale opera, ballet and musicals to visit the Empire for the first time in its history. When the Empire's owners wanted to bring the theatre's technical aspects up to date they called on A.C.'s Audio division to supply a state of the art live sound-mixing console. The brief was to provide a desk that would enable the venue to get the best possible sonic performance from its varied list of events - including new variety, comedy, drama, dance, opera, ballet and musicals.
Soundcraft's flagship MH4 40-channel mixing console was chosen for its versatility in handling a variety of events and its solid, reliable construction. A.C.'s Audio division also supplied an E Z Tilt console stand along with custom audio cabling. The dual-purpose MH4 has become widely adopted because of its ability to handle the most demanding live sound mixing challenges, and is capable of use on FOH, monitors, or a combination of both.
The company recently introduced updated mono and stereo input modules, making the monitor mode even more flexible when large numbers of mono mixes are required. Soundcraft veteran Paul Gavin, sound engineer at the Empire, was part of a team (including technical manager Brian Wren), responsible for specifying the desk. He said: "When it went to tender originally a k3 was specified but for a variety show venue we needed the MH4's additional auxes. We do a lot of TV shows, such as the 291 Club and Nights Out At The Empire, where we are mixing a minimum of eight to 10 monitors, so the original theatre-based desks were removed from the tender. I was looking at another desk, until the MH4 came out and I could see it was built like a tank, just like the Series 5. I also like its tonal qualities, and it is very clean to use."
Before the Empire went dark it had run a vintage Soundcraft 800B, and Gavin - who himself owns a Series 2 - used this in the venue until A.C. successfully commissioned the new desk. "In a variety house you don't want to be taking the desk in and out the whole time, and the MH4 is a sufficiently high-grade desk for that not to happen."
A full report on the restoration of the Hackney Empire appeared in the March issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
