A cultural hub for Southern Nevada, the Smith Center for the Performing Arts comprises three performance venues – the 2,000-seat Reynolds Hall theatre, 240-seat Myron’s cabaret jazz club and the 250-capacity Troesh Studio Theater, black box theatre. The recent adoption of Allen & Heath mixing consoles in each of the venues is key to the centre’s success.
The Smith Center Head of Audio John Wrote has been instrumental in the facility’s sound since its opening in 2012. Faced with the need to upgrade the centre’s audio systems, ‘I had worked with Allen & Heath analogue consoles for a couple of different sound companies,’ he says. ‘I knew the brand produced great quality products.’
The choice of Allen & Heath was further cemented by the release of the Avantis console, which had just started shipping at the time. ‘It was all about bang-for-buck’ he says. ‘I was able to get Allen & Heath consoles for all three venues, for less than the cost of a single console from some other manufacturers.’
The Avantis, along with the smaller SQ and QU series consoles, provided Wrote with flexible and scalable audio solutions for The Smith Center’s various performance spaces. The Avantis system, with its 96kHz processing, ultra-low latency, and onboard processing tools now installed in the Reynolds Hall, has been a revelation for Wrote, particularly in handling the demands of large-scale productions like The Nutcracker.
The Smith Center also employs a GX4816 stagebox, which connects back to the Avantis console via Slink, supporting up to 48 microphone inputs from the stage. For further scalability, DX168 expanders are placed in the orchestra pit during larger performances. These expanders provide additional analogue inputs and outputs.
One feature that has particularly impressed Wrote is Avantis’ dPack processing, a suite of compressor and preamp emulations that add another layer of sonic depth and character to his mixes. ‘When I started to play with the tube emulator and PeakLimiter 76, it was a huge revelation’ he says. ‘I run the PeakLimiter76 on nearly everything.’
The Avantis’s fully configurable layout and drag-and-drop interface, has also been a game-changer for Wrote’s workflow. ‘It’s so easy to just grab channels and move them around,’ he says. ‘We also use that feature to simplify control when less experienced users are working on the SQ in our other venue.’
Beyond the Reynolds Hall, The Smith Center uses an SQ-6 in the Troesh Studio Theater paired with a DX168 for expanded input. Lobby events feature a compact Qu-16 digital console paired with an AB168 remote audio rack.
The Smith Center’s investment in Allen & Heath assures its standing as a beacon of cultural enrichment in Las Vegas for years to come.
More: www.allen-heath.com
