The extensive development project on the College's existing site in the grounds of Cardiff Castle is expected to complete early in 2011, but Ian Evans' technical studies team was eager to start using the new M-400 from the Roland Systems Group. The compact digital console is ultimately destined to be the front-of-house mixer for the new 160-seat Richard Burton Theatre, but first it will be deployed on everything from classroom training to summer balls, promenade theatre and live music.
"We're already used it in our black-box theatre, where Firenze Guidi has just directed her production of The Miracle," reports Ian Evans, the senior lecturer in technical studies. "The M-400 offers the great advantage of portability in addition to functionality, so we can move it around the college's different performance and teaching spaces."
Roland Systems Group product manager Simon Kenning is an alumnus of the RWCMD, and had persuaded the College to become one of the earliest users of the Roland Digital Snake system in 2007. "Then we studied the spec of the M-400 and found the feature set very interesting and easy to use. We start our student training on analogue consoles, as it is simple to teach audio principles on an analogue surface. The M-400 represents an easy transition to a digital platform, and we've been very impressed with it. Everything we do here is new - from the writing and design to the production - so sound has to move and develop with the flow of the acting. That's what the M-400 does so well; it has the flexibility to be live because it is so tactile."
In May 2011, with the opening of the Richard Burton Theatre, the M-400 will play its small part in one of the most impressive new arts centres to arrive on the British cultural landscape. As well as the theatre, there will be a 450-seat concert hall, acting and movement studios, permanent exhibition space and a new 'front door' for the College itself.
(Jim Evans)
