The largest and oldest theatre in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany, Theater Freiburg has recently completed the installation of two Yamaha Rivage PM7 digital mixing systems.
Founded in 1866 and moving to its present venue in 1910, the theatre has seen almost continuous updates and renovation supporting its orchestral performances, opera, musicals, dance and plays. The building includes a main stage, smaller stage and Chamber stage. Its history with Yamaha digital mixers goes back to the DM2000 and PM5D. More recently, the theatre invested in systems from other manufacturers...
‘At the time, there was no Yamaha console that could do exactly what Theatre Freiburg needed, explains Head of Sound Jonas Gottschall. ‘You can only work according to the circumstances of the time – in 2014, the theatre had to go down a different route, but the system it invested in ran into trouble with the network connection from the control surface to its DSP.’
T
he issues culminated in three productions being stopped mid-show, in front of audiences. ‘It took the manufacturer six months to investigate the problem and I don’t think they ever fixed it,’ Gottschall says.
With the Rivage PM series, Yamaha has introduced all the features that Theater Freiburg needed, making the investment in Rivage PM7 systems for the main and smaller stages an obvious move.
‘Reliability is the number one priority for me,’ Gottschall says. ‘With any system, if there is ever an issue you need the technical support to be there at the right moment. If it isn’t, it doesn’t make either us or the audience happy. In my experience Yamaha digital systems have always been fine, there are never any software issues, network connection problems or anything, so I had absolute confidence we would be safe investing in Rivage PM.’
Not only has the Rivage PM7’s theatre mode opened it up more to the theatre world, its ease of installation has meant that Gottschall was able to install both systems himself: ‘We didn’t need anyone from Yamaha to come in and hold our hand,’ he reports. ‘We installed the first PM7 on the smaller stage, which was quite challenging because we had a new PA as well, with only a short time to install both and get them up and running. But it worked out absolutely fine.’
‘In terms of the features, in my opinion the sound quality is better than before,’ he continues. ‘I also really like the dynamic EQs. We try to make the amplification of actors onstage very discreet but, as soon as the voice gets louder, it starts to behave differently with the microphone. So the dynamic EQ is a very useful feature.’
As with all venues, 2020-21 has seen Theater Freiburg facing many challenges, so innovation and adaptability need to be at the heart of its present and future. ‘Normally you plan for the year ahead, but now, when we have been able to stage performances, we have had to improvise and cope with a very short preparation time,’ Gottschall says. ‘For the foreseeable future we will need to be very flexible and fast, with limited rehearsals. So I am very happy to have invested in secure, stable systems that work exactly as we hoped they would.’
More: www.yamaha.com
