Minack Theatre goes digital with Soundcraft
- Details
The theatre is carved into the cliff face above the Atlantic Ocean. Located in Porthcurno and built in the 1930s to stage local performances, the venue is one of the most famous outdoor theatres today with a yearly audience of 80,000 and over 150,000 visitors attracted by its history.
For the 2017 season, theatre manager Phil Jackson and technical manager Simon Hutchings decided it was time to make the switch from analogue to digital for the in-house audio console.
Hutchings says: “We had been considering it for a while but at first but the costs seemed excessive for our needs and we were concerned about the longevity of a desk working in our challenging environment.”
But all that changed when they reviewed the Si Impact Digital Mixing Console, Soundcraft's latest Si Series console which features the FaderGlow system, 32 built-in mic inputs with a total capability of 80-inputs to mix, and iPad control.
“The overall quality feel of the desk, the fader layout and ease of customisation were all major plus points, along with the full DSP processing on each channel, and the fact there was also GEQ across all 31 output channels,” he adds.
Other benefits brought to the venue’s board operators its ability to recall a show from memory, “so we can run our storytelling shows with ease under a main show,” explains Hutchings.
He predicts incoming productions will start to use the new house desk rather than carry their own consoles. “Now the desk has 80 channels to mix, and with the planned addition of a 32-channel stage box, the Si Impact will be used for bigger and bigger shows as time goes on.”
(Jim Evans)
