A club in London’s Wood Green is unlikely setting for a group of US marines celebrating their final night before heading to war, but when those ‘marines’ are students from the adjacent Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (MATA), in a musical named Dogfight, the location begins to make sense. Sound engineer Chris Maniadakis chose DiGiCo’s entry-level S21, supplied by Autograph Sales, to collar the production’s sound.

Set in 1963, Dogfight is set around a group of young marines readying for service in Vietnam. They set up a cruel game dubbed a ‘dogfight’, where each sets out to bring the ugliest girl he can find to a party…

The MATA production took place in March at the nearby Karamel Club, the main performance on a stage in the middle of the venue, with the live band in one corner. The audio system was designed and supplied by Tony Gayle Audio, with Chris Maniadakis mixing the show. ‘I chose the DiGiCo S21 because I like its sound and small footprint,’ Maniadakis says. ‘Unfortunately, I’m not a regular DiGiCo user, but the S21 is so user-friendly that I didn’t need any assistance. I read the manual once and found it very easy to set up and use.’

The show requires 20 band inputs, 16 wireless microphone inputs for the cast and four effects inputs, with eight matrix outs for the PA and a stereo pair for live recording. Maniadakis created 28 snapshots for mixing the show and was very happy with how the S21 operated.

‘For me, the sound quality and functionality makes the S21 the best console I have used. I particularly like the rotary controls beneath the twin screens as they provide a very easy and fast way of adjusting gain input levels and routing signals to the auxes’ Maniadakis says. ‘Everything on the console is straightforward to set up and operate, and you get excellent results.’

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