Hosting visiting artists as well as its own Masters of Fine Arts programme in theatre sound and design, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has invested in an Avid Venue S6L live mixing system. The console gives the university’s students access to current technology and provides a concert system that is accepted by visint artists and engineers.
The Krannert Center houses four indoor theatres, five indoor stages and an outdoor amphitheatre. After renting an Avid Venue Profile System for several years, the centre decided to invest in a Venue S6L, acquired through Chicago-based audio equipment provider, TC Furlong.
‘Venue S6L gives us the best of both worlds,’ says Audio Director Rick Scholwin. ‘There are many great consoles out there, but keeping in mind the educational aspect, it was a no-brainer for us to go with Avid.’
The S6L is primarily used in the 979-seat Tryon Festival Theatre, where musicals as well as rock bands and jazz artists like Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman take to the stage. It will also be used in the 2,066-seat Foellinger Great Hall – a symphonic space that hosts everything from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to opera performers Renée Fleming – as well as the 678-seat Cowell Playhouse, which is the main space for the Illinois Theatre.
‘The S6L makes a lot of sense to us,’ says Assistant Audio Director Alec LaBau. ‘On one hand, we want any marquee artist or outside engineer to be comfortable with the console. And on the other, we want to educate our students and give them access to cutting-edge technology. We analysed all the riders that we’d had for the past 18 months and discovered that Avid fills the bill for 95 percent of our riders – which no other brand could say. In addition, Pro Tools is still the industry standard, which benefits the educational aspect of the university, while enabling us to serve our clients’ every need as they walk out on stage.’
Powered by the Avid MediaCentral Platform, Venue S6L will accommodate large channel counts with the lowest-possible latency. The system uses the same Venue software as other Avid live sound systems, enabling engineers to quickly move between set-ups.
‘Krannert Center is a well-respected thought leader in the performing arts community, so it was no surprise when they chose the Venue S6L as its flagship console,’ says TC Furlong General Manager, Jeff Cech. ‘S6L checked all the boxes for a roadhouse and producing centre like Krannert, including rider acceptability, reliability, I/O density and expandability. We were pleased to be awarded the S6L sale in the competitive public tender situation and look forward to supporting Krannert for years to come.’
More: www.avid.com
