The 20th anniversary of the multipurpose Théâtre Forum Meyrin (TFM) in Geneva saw the audio system its main theatre space upgraded with the installation of two DiGiCo SD5 mixing consoles.
Located in Meyrin, the 700-seat theatre hosts a wide variety of productions, including music, dance, conferences and presentations, with the main house mixing console used by visiting technicians as well as theatre staff. Ready familiarity and user-friendliness, therefore, were key requirement for the new system. ‘We needed a console whose ergonomics are very close to an analogue mixing desk,’ confirms José Bouzas, the venue’s Chief Audio & Multimedia Technician. ‘The user interface had to be intuitive, allow a lot of flexibility and we had to be totally confident about using it for all kinds of applications.’
Bouzas and Technical Director Christian Michaud had visited Lucerne’s Light & Sound trade show in October 2014, where the DiGiCo consoles displayed by Tonspur AG. After discussions with Tonspur, they chose the DiGiCo SD5 as the focus of a system that includes one SD-Rack, two SD-MiniRacks and a DiGiGrid MGB on a fully redundant Optocore network. A DiGiCo S21 was later added for smaller events in the venue’s foyer.
Once Tonspur had delivered the equipment, DiGiCo product specialist Dave Bigg visited TFM to give two days of product training, including theory and hands-on instruction. This then allowed Bouzas and TFM audio engineers to run product training sessions for a number of freelance audio engineers who are regularly employed by the venue.
Now fully commissioned, the set-up has now seen action at a number of events: ‘The SD5 has been very popular with our staff and freelance engineers, as well as those with visiting productions,’ Bouzas says. ‘Dave’s training helped us to get our engineers up to speed very quickly and it also meant we could mix smaller events on the S21 as soon as it was delivered. Overall the investment in DiGiCo has been a very wise choice.’
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