OVIEDO, Spain – Soundcraft's Spanish distributor, Earpro, recently installed a Vi4 at El Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo. Roberto Alonso, technical manager of the 120-year-old venue, credited ease of use as one of the reasons the venue chose the brand.
"The Vi4 is very user-friendly," Alonso said. "After 20 years using an analog mixer, the transition has been an easy one to make. In very little time sound engineers can gain the same confidence they had when using any traditional mixer."
Alonso also credited the Vi4's sound quality. "There are certain applications where a particular technology or platform can be more suitable than another. In our case, the improvement in audio quality has been noticeable right across our program of events. Due to the varied nature of our theatre program, many different technicians will mix shows through our sound system – and generally the opinions have been entirely positive. Our Vi4 has already been used in operas, zarzuelas, ballets and all types of events."
Alonso also noted the importance of the integrated dynamics and effects processors within the consoles. "Some other brands offer integrated DSPs but only Soundcraft mixers carry the signature of BSS, dbx and Lexicon," he said. "Thanks to the console's quality and large provision of dynamics processing, we have been able to get rid of our external rack and cabling entirely, so now we have a much cleaner and more comfortable workspace."
He also credited the mixer's versatility in terms of sends and connectivity. "For many events we are not only responsible for the live sound of the theatre but also for its broadcast mix. In the past we would hire a traditional mixer for this purpose – but now we simply split the Vi4 workspace and each of us works with our respective equalization, levels, etc."
Earpro also credited Soundcraft for managing to combine the virtues of analog and digital consoles, in the case of the new Vi2, in a minimal amount of space.
For more information, please visit www.harman.com .
