DiGiCo SD7 Makes Light Work at the Lyttleton
The Lyttleton Theatre of London’s National Theatre is one of the UK’s most prolific hotbeds of stage creativity, which means its technical team has to cope with changing between very different productions on an almost nightly basis. But with a DiGiCo SD7 recently installed in the South Bank premises, life is now a little easier.
“We have a connection with DiGiCo because we often use a D1 console for outdoor productions in our Theatre Square venue,” says Lyttleton Theatre sound manager Yvonne Gilbert.
“So we had prior knowledge of the user interface, which helped our choice. But the truth is we looked at a lot of digital consoles and none seemed to do the job we wanted as well as the SD7.
“We’re a rep house, we have a different show each night and they are extremely varied. We needed a console that would give us a wide range of possibilities, from mixing front of house on big musicals to just doing playback of sound effects, but would save costs by meaning we didn’t have to hire anything else in for the big shows. We couldn’t find any others that had enough channels, or whose software was so theatre friendly.”
The latter is, of course, a key point. DiGiCo has long understood that theatre shows are operated in a very different way to rock’n’roll, a point underlined by the introduction of the D5T console back in 2003 and now the SD7T software suite in 2009.
“We do tend to operate shows in a different way to other live events, so having that inherent theatre-friendliness in the operating system was a major selling point,” says Yvonne.
“DiGiCo has a huge theatrical wealth of experience and now that the dedicated SD7T software has been introduced, we will be one of the first customers for it.”
Another key advantage for Yvonne and her team is the SD7’s physical weight - or lack of it.
“We have a limited staff and need to be able to regularly move the console from the usual front of house position in the auditorium, back into the control room and vice versa, depending on the production and if we need to release seats for sale,” Yvonne continues.
“The SD7 is really light, which is perhaps unusual as a buying factor in a digital desk, but was very important to us. We have a fibre optic loop and DiGiCo mini racks installed throughout the building. Giving us the ability to move the console makes the audio system extremely flexible, and with ongoing upgrades to the software, it makes for a long-term investment.”
Used on some of the Lyttleton’s most prestigious shows, including the Olivier Award-winning August: Osage County, Burnt By The Sun and The Pitmen Painters, the DiGiCo SD7 has already made a major contribution to rave reviews by critics and audiences alike.
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