Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre embodies the very definition and spirit of a local theatre. Presenting eight major musical and comedy productions annually, all themed around the city of Liverpool, the theatre also draws heavily on local talent including cast, crew and technical support. The beautiful art-deco building is additionally used for rehearsals and almost everything spent by the theatre is reinvested into the local economy. Find out what’s going on at the Royal Court HERE.
Pro Audio Systems were recently tasked with assisting the Royal Court in upgrading their audio system, which included providing three mixing consoles for in-depth evaluation. This latest phase is part of an established relationship between the theatre and PAS, during which the latter have supplied numerous DPA D:Fine Dual Headsets, a BSS BLU100 Soundweb (with output expander), a QSC RMX4050HD amplifier and more.
Following a thorough evaluation period the theatre chose Yamaha’s new CL5 digital mixing system, supplemented by two Yamaha RiO32/24 stage racks, three Ri8 / Ro8 local i/o compact racks and four network switchers. Replacing the theatre’s much loved and well used DM2000 console, the Yamaha CL5 offers state of the art processing power and control, but critically also features onboard Dante networking facilities – this plus the theatre’s long familiarity with Yamaha products was a key element in their decision.
The Dante networking featured within all the Yamaha units allows any number of input / output rack units to be located according to the demands of the production – for example the theatre might have a 32/24 module for the band, another for the radio racks at side of stage, eight outputs in the amplifier room, an extra eight inputs at FOH plus eight spare outputs, all conveniently connected via standard Cat 6 cable. The four network switches, two at FOH and two on stage plus two runs of Cat 6 cabling also provide full network redundancy.
PAS also delivered six of Lab Gruppen’s IPD2400-series amplifiers, which collectively power the theatre’s in-house loudspeaker system and represent a complete overhaul of the venue’s amplification needs. Although the sophisticated onboard DSP in the IPD-series is not used within the present arrangement it does allow cost-effective flexibility for future upgrades to the system.
The Royal Court’s Head Of Sound Kate Harvey said, ‘It’s been great working with PAS on upgrading our in house system. As our productions have been becoming technically more demanding the need for further flexibility in our sound system was becoming apparent.’
She continued, ‘Dante networking and the CL5 was the obvious choice when looking at a variety of desks. It fits our needs perfectly and my familiarity with these consoles helped in the decision as we only have very short crossover periods in between shows. PAS have been very helpful, knowledgeable and professional to work with. It’s great to have a console in the theatre that provides the sound quality our shows deserve.’
