Since 1998, Gersh Productions has been providing specialised services to large scale television and corporate productions to a portfolio of leading Australian companies. Founder of the company, Event Director and Producer Andy Gersh, has an impressive career which started originally in the video and audio departments at the Nine Network.
At the core of Gersh Productions philosophy is the aim to deliver AV services with the mission critical precision and efficiency demanded by live television and the highest standards of the corporate sector.
With Gersh productions handling these two very particular yet varied specialisations, their new mixing console had to be able to not only meet the wide range of requirements, but also had to be full featured on board, possess a high channel count, sound great, be simple to use and of course; completely scalable.
Right to Left: Managing Director Andy Gersh and PA Specialist Adam Alderuccio with their SD11i
When visiting Soundcorp to discuss his requirements, the DiGiCo SD11i quickly showed itself to be the best choice as Andy shared.
“We needed a console with a small footprint and onboard compression\EQ with recall. Most events have only a limited amount of space to set-up a console so a small console with lots of power was important”.
With DiGiCo being no stranger in the broadcast sector, Andy found it was a welcomed choice when he suggested the idea of going with DiGiCo to industry engineers.
“Many Audio Directors had used the bigger DiGiCo consoles and were very impressed. Buying a smaller DiGiCo with the same engine and features was an easy choice”.
Gersh Productions PA specialist Adam Alderuccio has also become a big fan of the DiGiCo SD11i’s power, and he wasn’t short of words either.
“I had the pleasure of using the console for 6 weeks in a new TV show in Melbourne. It was used as a live console with a studio audience of 400 people. The console was connected to a Mini-DiGi Rack with 16 in and 16 outs through MADI. All outputs were utilised, with all speaker areas in zones – 220 boxes in total.”
Adam was also impressed with the huge amount of high quality onboard effects which are identical to those in the flagship SD7.
“It was such an ease to set up and being able to copy and paste settings across was a breeze. The ability to have 6 multiband compressors and 6 DiGi-Tubes came in handy with several of the guests on DPA headsets, it gave me the ability to sweeten up the vocals.”
“The 4 band EQ on the SD11i is so quick to get to, no matter how hard you cut and boost there is always a clean, full bodied sound. It’s thanks to the fact that you have the exact same software as the the top of the line SD7.”
The modest footprint of the SD11i always manages to surprise even the most discerning engineers with its unparalleled flexibility and scalability of DiGiCo’s smallest console; and Andy was no exception.
The SD11i utilises the same FPGA processing, routing, conversion and effects as the flagship DiGiCo SD7
“The SD11i has small size and huge flexibility. Often simple jobs increase in requirement and the mixer just keeps scaling up with the options of D-Rack/MADI interfaces and more I\O.”
Adam found the power of the SD11i coupled with its portability makes it the perfect candidate for taking it on the road too.
“The amazing thing is you can tour with this console in a suitcase(looks and feels solid in build) and be able to pull a first class sound; the processing on broad sounds amazing.”
The proven reliability of DiGiCo was also a big draw card for Andy given the demands of live television in particular.
“You only get one chance with Live TV and events so a stable platform and solid workflow are essential. The broadcast options of the SD11i are very useful for TV work – Spill, PFL, Flexi Busses etc.”
Sound quality, ease of use and the widely adopted DiGiCo interface were also very appealing to Andy when making the decision.
“I use many different audio directors from different backgrounds (TV, Corporate, PA). They all find the DiGiCo easy to use, powerful and great sounding. The sound quality is excellent. Special mention to the Tube pre-amps – Very nice! The SD11i is great value for money, very powerful and I am very happy with it.”
A special thanks goes out from Andy to Soundcorp also for their great technical competency, and fantastic service while assisting Andy with the investment.
