Yamaha introduced their popular StageMix iPad application for their M7CL at PLASA last fall, and there's been strong interest in an LS9 version since. Released at Frankfurt's Prolight + Sound in April, it's a free download on Apple's iTunes store. I got the call from IATSE steward Susan Phillips to work at Florida State College's Wilson Center with the school's nationally recognized jazz band. Because they have an LS9-32 in a typical performing arts center control booth, I knew this was a great test for the LS9 app.
Freedom to Roam
The Wilson Center's main theater has 530 seats, with 160 in a balcony over the technical booth at the back of a 26-row orchestra level, about 60 feet from the stage. Although a four-foot glass window slides open in front of the console, it provides the typical incomplete monitoring of sound in the venue because of the window's size. While some programming must be done at the desk, such as naming channels (which show on the app) and tweaking effects, the app frees the engineer from remaining a disembodied head confined to the console to everyone else in the venue.
I was able to sit in the theater beside the director during rehearsals and easily take suggestions about the mix, as well as go on stage to stand at each wedge and tweak the monitors for the talented young musicians who were a bit timid to ask for particulars. This aspect alone makes it worth the cost of an iPad, and I suspect that many artists will soon request and expect this style of monitor mixing, which can make sound-check easier and far more personable.
The StageMix app provides remote wireless control of faders, EQ, mutes and cueing by simply attaching a WiFi access point to the console's network connection. StageMix provides control of eight faders at a time using the multi-touch capabilities of the iPad's operating system. Since the LS9 doesn't have VCAs, the lack of group control isn't missed like on the M7 app.
In addition to showing input or output faders in banks of eight, 4-band parametric input or output EQ is also available, with a much easier multi-touch GUI than the console's three knobs. Like the M7 app, it also provides access to all 16 auxiliary send mixes in "Sends on Faders" mode, allowing the engineer to mix and EQ stage monitors while standing on stage with the performer, and none of this interferes with the hands-on operation of the console itself, allowing two engineers to operate a single dual-mode console mixing both mains and monitors at the same time. It's almost like a second console for free.
Simple Setup
Setting up the LS9 to work with the app couldn't be simpler. Entering a network address one number different from the console's was all there was to it. Every venue has its share of iPhones and other WiFi devices when the audience comes in, so using a password for the WiFi router reduces client demands, but during the show, it still gets interrogated by every WiFi device in the room, creating excess router overhead in larger venues with more WiFi devices in its patrons' pockets. Since the iPad is 802.11n capable, using it with an "N" router can provide better range, faster response and less interference.
The StageMix app doesn't provide sideways "finger-swipe" scrolling from one 8-fader page to the next, which is common to many iOS apps, but I didn't miss it much. I found the multi-touch faders appropriately sensitive for mixing a show, and the dark gray background lent itself to sitting in an empty seat in the house, where even a laptop would have been distracting to patrons.
By plugging the desk's cue bus into an IEM transmitter, I was also able to wirelessly cue inputs and mixes wearing one of my IEM molds. Plugging ClearCom into the other IEM input and using "mix mode" allowed me to hear the stage manager in that ear as well.
For the first time, I was able to mix the show from any empty seat in the house. The only warning has to do with placement of the WiFi router, as leaving it low, at console level, allows its signal to be blocked by bodies in some orchestra level seats, so you'll want to mount your router up in the air. The show went exceptionally well that night, and I later heard that Scott Campbell, the Wilson Center's production manager, bought a couple of iPads for the school's two LS9s. Thank you Yamaha, Scott and Susan.
