Now rebranded as The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Northern England’s Sage Gateshead music venue has completed an audio refurbishment to coincide with its reopening – adding two DiGiCo SD12 digital mixing consoles. Not only does the acquisition mark the venue’s transition to DiGiCo consoles in its two main halls but, following an overhaul of the cabling infrastructure to provide Madi across the venue’s performance spaces, the SD12 models can provide a variety of functions from various mix positions.

Hosting an mix of high-profile classical and contemporary productions over the past 20 years, as well as a music-making programme for all ages, The Glasshouse is home to Royal Northern Sinfonia. It offers two main stages, a 1,700-capacity main concert hall and 600-capacity second hall, plus a 26-room music education centre, and social and dining facilities.

‘I’ve been associated in one way or another with The Glasshouse since its inception, working on the acoustic testing and having the privilege of mixing the first ever performances there,’ says AS84 Ltd MD Andy Magee, who has been involved with the venue for many years and, most recently, the overhaul of the venue’s cabling infrastructure to accommodate Madi and cat5. ‘More recently, I’ve designed and commissioned the venue’s main concert hall audio system upgrades. Over the past few years, we have changed all the ageing consoles to DiGiCo, and with the latest acquisitions, The Glasshouse now has a full complement made up of an SD5 and three SD12s, all with SD Racks.’

The Glasshouse began updating its consoles a few years ago, starting with the purchase of an SD5 for the main hall, followed by its first SD12 as Covid restrictions were lifting. Catering for an increase in broadcast requirements during lockdown periods, the SD12 was stationed in a control room at the rear of the main hall and was complemented with a 32-bit SD Rack for extra I/O, and a Waves processor to support streaming. With the return of live music after lockdown, the console is used for live concept streams of orchestral concerts and corporate events, and will also be employed on a production in the other hall or to manage monitors in the main hall from time to time.

With a new arena and conference centre complex scheduled to be built alongside the venue, The Glasshouse needed to rename to differentiate itself, settling on the new name due to the building’s 630 panes of glass and the site’s previous history as a bottle factory. To mark the rebrand, the venue decided to replace the remaining older consoles, including the FOH console in the second hall, and to provide another console as a portable unit to cover multiple tasks. In addition to the two SD12s, Awesome Since 84 Ltd. supplied ‘Gig in a Rack’ cases to place the SD12s on a mobile rack, containing all power, processing and signal distribution.

‘This was another opportunity to invest in two more SD12 consoles –  the quality is outstanding, and you very, very rarely get any riders or tours who don’t want to use DiGiCo,’ says The Glasshouse Technical Manager. Graham Orchard. ‘The venue rebrand was a great opportunity to optimise our systems, and ensure we maintain high standards in our equipment.

‘The idea behind the portable racks is to offer engineers a quick and simple set-up, whereby a rack can be rolled into any chosen mix position thanks to the venue’s newly installed Madi distribution. Available throughout both concert halls, the new network provides additional feeds for broadcast, recording, in-house streaming, as well as alternative mix stations when required,’ adds Magee.

‘We have a lot of visiting engineers, often with high-profile artists, and DiGiCo is always a welcome sight. Often, they bring in their own touring console, as artists are able to tour with a much smaller format these days, and it is often DiGiCo we see. The data is easily transferable between models, so if you went from using the SD9 or SD12 to the SD5, apart from a slightly different user layout, everything is the same and there’s no learning curve jumping between them.’ continues Orchard. ‘Similarly, the in-house team, made up of younger engineers, is very impressed with the SD12. The audio quality is outstanding, and the capability it offers, compared to what we could achieve with the previous mixers, is way more advanced.’

Orchard and the team are also very content with the support provided by DiGiCo and AS84 Ltd.

‘It’s second to none, for instance, we were lucky enough to host the first weekend of the BBC Proms last year involving a three or four console set up and integrating racks together, and the DiGiCo team offered us great advice,’ says Orchard. ‘Likewise, the service we get from Andy Magee is exceptional. I have worked with Andy since the building opened and he has been involved in a lot of our audio installations. Andy gives us solid support and we have a great relationship with him.

‘We are very fortunate to be able to offer good quality equipment. Our ethos is to ensure we’re able to deliver up-to-date, well-maintained equipment by a technically knowledgeable audio team,’ he concludes. ‘Purchasing the SD12s is part of an ongoing process, and with a full fleet of DiGiCo desks in front of us, we are ready to welcome any production to our venue.’

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