Staged in the bar area of the Metropolis Power House, the showcases offer performers the chance to use one of Roland's new V-Pianos, the and the new Roland TD-20KX V-Drums kit.
Front-of-house sound for the showcases themselves is controlled by a 48-channel digital audio RSS M-400 V-Mixer, together with two S-1608 configurable digital snakes transmitting over Cat 5 cable using REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication).
"The idea was conceived at Metropolis's 20th anniversary party," says RSS sales & marketing manager Martin Thomas. "Our friends at Midas Pro Sound had provided two M-400s as part of the sound reinforcement system for the event, and we all agreed this would be the perfect solution for the regular Power Down sessions: the console's super-compact footprint is ideal for the venue which is small and gets very full."
Ian Brenchley, MD of Metropolis Studios, reveals that the original goal of Power Down "to support local up-and-coming artists by putting them in front of an industry audience that might be able to help them with their careers", has been most successful. "We now have to have a very strict guest list as we have been inundated with requests from all sides of the industry to attend. Live sound is one area that Metropolis has not really ventured into over the years, so working with Roland and their excellent standards at the Power Down nights has proved to be an exceedingly good match for us. We are always striving for sonic perfection and the same can be said of Roland."
(Jim Evans)
