During the day, the nearly 5,000sq-ft creative space of the new Pinka Expressive Arts Space offers art, music, and theatrical instruction for students of all ages, while in the evening, the 183-capacity room transforms itself into an intimate live performance venue with a well-equipped stage. Ensuring the venue’s appeal to musician s in the local northern Orlando suburb of Apopka, as well as regional, and even national artists, owner Brittany Harvey invested in a sound system centred on an S21 digital mixing desk from DiGiCo.
To assist with the console choice, Harvey turned to Kevin Glendinning, an old friend who heads artist relations at JH Audio. As monitor engineer for A-list performers including Lenny Kravitz and Maroon 5, Glendinning has long been a fan of the large-format DiGiCo SD7, so another DiGiCo – a smaller model to suit the new venue – was his immediate recommendation.
‘Pinka is a really cool art and performance space with great aesthetics, and they needed an intuitive and powerful mixer with a compact footprint that could flexibly accommodate a diverse array of acts,’ he says. ‘Britt has done a great job of hosting everything from jazz quintets and singer-songwriters to karaoke and open-mic nights; there’s a really eclectic vibe happening there and DiGiCo’s S21 perfectly fits the bill. It’s a breeze to use. Anyone who has spent any time whatsoever on a digital surface will fly right through it, in a good way. And like any other DiGiCo, you can completely customize it and make it your own.’
Sergio Leenen of Orlando-based Complete Production Resources (CPR) facilitated the installation and set-up of the console, along with a pair of JBL VRX mains and subs, plus three self-powered DAS monitor wedges on stage. ‘The S21 provides more than enough IEM and wedge mixes for any act coming in,’ Glendinning says. ‘Also, having everything integrated into a single frame – all of the I/O, PSU, processing, and so on – allows the S21 to deliver a ton of versatility from a small and very budget-friendly package.’
Wendell Rivera Diaz, who serves as Pinka’s resident audio engineer, also appreciates the new console: ‘I’m thankful to be working in such a nice venue like Pinka with the flexibility of the DiGiCo S21,’ he says. ‘I am easily able to accommodate the artists with anything they need, from monitoring to multitrack recordings that they can leave with, and I’m always happy working with DiGiCo.’
For those acts that bring in their own engineers, the S21 is also a welcome sight. ‘The initial reaction from everyone coming in is, “OMG, you have a DiGiCo board in this space… how cool”,’ Harvey reports. ‘Every band and engineer has raved about the equipment that we have, and I totally get it. Having been around DiGiCo consoles for many years, I was really excited to open up Pinka with one of their products running our stage from the start. It’s an honour to have an S21 in our space.’
