The brainchild of Sir Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty, LIPA offers training in a wide variety of arts and entertainment disciplines. It also runs two seasons of public productions each year, typically encompassing more than 30 shows.
Explaining the decision to purchase a second Yamaha desk, lecturer Chris Layton commented: “We realised that we also needed a console that bridged the gap between analogue and digital. In the first year, we teach students the principles of sound reinforcement and [the use of] analogue equipment, then in the second year they move on to learning about digital consoles and DSP. The M7CL is very accessible in terms of that move to a digital desk from analogue.”
Currently in use at FOH on a theatre production in LIPA’s Paul McCartney Auditorium, the M7CL is set to be deployed for a number of music-based shows in the near future.
Features of the console to receive praise from Layton include its scene recall, DSP, preamps and compact footprint. The ability of Yamaha products to support a variety of digital interfacing technologies is also regarded as a significant asset.
“It’s a very good console for teaching on because it’s so straightforward to show people how to use. They can never have used digital mixers before, but easily get something out of it,” concluded Layton.
