Commanding a special place in comedy history as the location where Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, the first full-length movie to exclusively feature stand-up comedy, was filmed in 1979, the 3,000-seat Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center’s Terrace Theater recently upgraded its sound provision with the installation of DiGiCo Quantum338 and Quantum225 mixing desks.
Mike Glines, the venue’s head audio tech, has a long history with digital audio, participating in the decision to switch from tape to DAW as the recording medium of choice at Capitol Studios in Hollywood while on staff at the facility. He has also used a wide variety of digital mixing consoles, both in the studio and on the road with a host of artists, including a long globetrotting stint with Gary Numan. He put that expertise to work when he designed the system for the Long Beach Terrace Theater.
The custom installation is able to accommodate any requirement, enabling visiting productions to use both DiGiCo consoles or simply integrate either the Quantum338 or a Quantum225. ‘It’s a huge step up not only in fidelity, but also in flexibility,’ he says. ‘I got Optocore for that reason, to interface with touring systems. We also got two SD-Racks and an SD-MiNi Rack that I use to feed my amps via AES. I love the fact that DiGiCo boards have DMI cards in the back, which you can swap in and out. I also got a Dante card, two input cards and two output cards, so I’ve got everything I need without even having to hook up a rack.’
The new consoles are fully mobile, with The Terrace Theater having first call, but they can be used at other locations within the centre’s campus, such as the 13,000-plus-seat Long Beach Arena, Pacific Ballroom, or smaller Beverly O’Neill Theater. ‘Or you could take them outside for an event – wherever there is a need. I do the Long Beach Symphony Pops! series in the Arena, so I’ve used the DiGiCos for that.’
Glines says that he has heard some people say that it’s difficult to learn how to operate a DiGiCo console, but he disagrres: ‘The only different set-up step with a DiGiCo is that you have to assign some faders to your surface. But if you know audio at all, it’s really easy: inputs at the top, outputs at the bottom, and everything else in the middle. You can just turn it on, plug a mic in and get sound out of it. Touch the screen and you see aux sends, EQ and compressors right in front of you. And with DiGiCo boards you can do everything imaginable, from live sound to recording to broadcast to theatre.’
For more than four decades, David Wilcox, artistic director of the Long Beach Ballet, has staged a spectacular production of The Nutcracker with the Long Beach Ballet Orchestra at the Terrace Theater. The most recent string of performances of the holiday classic, Long Beach Ballet’s 42nd annual production, was Gline’s first since the new Quantum338 has been available for FOH. ‘It’s my favourite show so far, because I really got to use the DiGiCo so much,’ he says.
Wilcox has always expected at least a stereo mix of the orchestra’s rehearsals but, in past years, the recordings have been less than ideal: ‘They just didn’t sound great because I was cranking the PA with this delicate orchestra, so I was getting some bleed into the microphones. This time, I was able to record 48 tracks straight to my laptop through the printer cable, which blew my mind. The DiGiCo Quantum Series has UB Madi built in, so I could just take a printer cable out to my old FireWire drive.’
Over the years, some of the country’s top comedians have visited the Terrace Theater. Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Tucker, Kathy Griffin, Bill Burr and Long Beach native Gabriel Iglesias have all played the room, which has also hosted speaking engagements by former US President George W Bush, journalist Bob Woodward, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. As for music, the Long Beach Symphony calls the Terrace Theater home, and the venue has attracted a string of singers over the years, from Tony Bennett to Brian Wilson.
Coming events include Cuban-American trumpeter Arturo Sandoval with the Long Beach Symphony, Chinese classical dance and music company Shen Yun, comedians Aziz Ansari and George Lopez, and a performance of The Sleeping Beauty by The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine with orchestra.
The consoles were supplied by Huntington Beach-based dealer, Apex Audio.
More: www.apexaudio.com
