Northview high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US has a dedicated music and arts building, the Max Colley Jr. Performing Arts Center, which houses a 750-seat auditorium used for concerts, plays, musicals and other events. After 15 years, the limitations of the center’s original live sound console prompted an upgrade to a Harman Soundcraft Si Performer 3 32-channel digital console with built-in DMX lighting control.
As well as making the move from analogue to digital the school wanted more inputs than the previous console provided. Limited room in the auditorium’s control booth also meant the console needed to be small.
“Over the years we’ve grown to where we use 20 wireless microphones, plus area microphones for the chorus and more for our larger musical productions and by the time we’d get to mic’ing the pit band we had run out of inputs,” said Michael Frank, performing arts center director.
Frank teamed up with Bob McLaughlin of local dealer Central Interconnect, with the pair opting for a Soundcraft Si Performer 3 digital live sound console, used with a 32-input Soundcraft Compact Stagebox.
The Si Performer 3 console has been deployed in the control booth, while the Compact Stagebox sits on the auditorium’s stage. The pair link together through two Cat5 cables. This allows the wireless microphone receivers to be placed right next to the technician by the Si Performer 3 in case there’s an issue and mic channels require swapping.
Students are said to be getting to grips with the new console, to the point where they can run the show.
“In fact, with the training they receive with me, six of my students have gone on to work with the local stagehands union and a number of them have gone on to college as Technical Theater Majors,” Frank added.
