Sited on the beachfront in Bexhill on England’s south coast, the De La Warr Pavilion hosts an impressive variety of music, comedy and theatrical performances each year. In addition, the venue offers various early career programmes with work experience, creative careers sessions and apprenticeships to young people. Training is just one part of what goes on here, but it was a strong factor in the choice of a new DiGiCo mixing console.
‘Visiting engineers expect a DiGiCo, and it became the norm for us to hire in SD12 consoles because they’re the standard that everyone’s looking for,’ Technical Stage Manager, Mat McQuade explains. ‘Our decision to purchase the SD12 came from what our clients expected, but also from our education programmes. It was important that the young people learnt on professional grade consoles, not entry level or obsolete desks.’
McQuade not only shares his knowledge on site through the various education programmes De La Warr Pavilion offers, but also teaches students at local colleges, giving them an insight into professional working practices. And it is not just students who benefit from training on the desk. ‘I organised for our whole audio team to get training at DiGiCo HQ,’ McQuade expands. ‘We had training before and after the purchase, which was great. It’s really reassuring that DiGiCo has its doors open for the end user. Their approach is all about using the products, rather than feeling like a sales pitch.’
Once the SD12 was delivered, McQuade quickly discovered that using a DiGiCo console is not just about the onboard features, but that the UB Madi port makes training easier by allowing up to 48 channels of audio to be recorded straight into a laptop DAW of choice via USB 2.0.
‘The SD12 is the first console we’ve had that offers the dynamic EQ feature,’ he says. ‘It opens a new way of EQ’ing someone’s guitar, for example, without compromising the sound of the instrument. We’ve been using the UB Madi port to create virtual soundchecks, so it gives the learners a safe space to find their way around the console and the pressure is taken off them a bit. It comes in handy for the young technicians I have, and I’m sure it will be valuable to the trainees, too. Tthere’s so much functionality in the console – and it can even be expanded.’
A further example of why a DiGiCo SD12 keeps all departments happy at De La Warr – especially the finance department – is that hiring in a desk is now a thing of the past. ‘It’s all been working perfectly,’ McQade says, ‘and it’s exactly what everyone wants.’
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