A central resource to an extremely broad cross section of the Arts, the Victorian Arts Centre is not only a world class venue, but one of Melbourne’s long-standing icons.
The Arts Centre’s SD7 being tested at GT HQ before shipment
With major national and international theatre productions, performers and music acts gushing through the doors 364 days a year at The Arts Centre, their requirement for digital consoles was quite high.
It’s no suprise then that their choice of console has been DiGiCo for quite some time. Beginning with D Series and migrating over to the current SD Series, the Arts Centre has stood behind DiGiCo for every event they hold. Upon their most recent additions to the inventory, the Arts Centre recently invested in a DiGiCo SD7, Australia’s first SD10 and an SD9.
The centre features four complete theatres:
- Hamer Hall – 2300+ capacity
- State Theatre – 1200+ capacity
- Playhouse Theatre – 780+ capacity
- Fairfax Studio – 375+ capacity
In addition, the Arts Centre also has a complete art gallery and runs the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
The elegantly designed Playhouse Theatre
The very impressive Hamer Hall
Understandably, when a venue is getting this much work it’s critical that the consoles of choice can bare the demand of constant use. Additionally, with the particularly varied range of acts held across the theatres, flexibility and sheer power was paramount. Cross compatibility, tight convergence and a single interface across all consoles was also critical. It was no surprise then that DiGiCo surfaced as the premiere choice.
The Arts Centre chose to invest in a DiGiCo SD7 for monitors at Hamer Hall, as well as taking on the first SD10 in Australia for the Playhouse and an SD9 for general use throughout the venues.
With the SD7 being DiGiCo’s flagship in the series, there is no denying that it has become a world standard for high end applications requiring large I\O and extensive FX processing from a single console. With next generation FPGA processing, the raw power of Tiger SHARC DSP’s, the highest quality AD\DA converters and pristine preamps, the SD7, like all consoles in the SD Series delivers exceptional results end-to-end.
The SD10 being one of the newest members to the series brings with it a wealth of features also. Having a very high channel count for its footprint and a range of specific features such as dual solo busses, the SD10 has broadened the range of options even further for system techs operators.
The SD9 has quickly become a favourite globally. Providing the perfect combination of channel count, faders, processing and symmetrical design, the SD9 is one of the most popular digital consoles in Australia and across the world.
Melbourne Arts Centre taking their SDTen (first one in Australia) and an SD7. From left to right: Marcus Cook – Sound Technician, Chris King – Manager of Theatre Technical Development, Steve Perrett – Sound Supervisor
