Granite Rocks Live, located in Southern New Hampshire not far from Boston, has been mastering the art of multiple inputs and multiple mixes for stage shows with the help of APB-DynaSonics. As Granite Rocks owner Steve Devino puts it, "Musical theatre is unique in that it generally involves a whole lot of channels to accommodate thirty-plus wireless microphones, enough wired inputs for the orchestra, and plenty of channels for sound effects. And if that wasn't demanding enough," Devino adds, "a multitude of mixes are required as well. We added the Spectra Ti48 console specifically to handle some very large channel count shows we had schedule for the fall and spring.The very fist show we used it on was Stagecoach Production's performance of Parade in Nashua, New Hampshire, which used all 48 inputs,” he continues. "The board has also seen action in productions of Hello Dolly, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.
”Community theatre has a very short production schedule with a typical setup time for techs of two to three days. The flexibility of routing and the outstanding audio quality of the Spectra Ti make meeting the technical challenges almost a non-issue,” Devino says.
Devino adds that the APB Dynasonics board with a rack of Metric Halo 2882+DSP Mobile IO's to cover the needs of all his outboard duties. The APB and Metric Halo combination is, in his words, “really killer.”
”The Spectra Ti features individual balanced send and returns on its inserts,” continues Devino, “which allows my outboard to run with 6dB more usable range and take advantage of the dynamics plugins available on the Metric Halo units. This gives me the best of both analog and digital in a very compact footprint,” he adds.
This same combination was put to use at a recent bluegrass festival held as a benefit at the Stockbridge Theatre in Derry, New Hampshire featuring favorite regional bands the Tough Cats, Pine Hill Ramblers, and Blackstone Valley Bluegrass Band. According to Devino, “They were blown away with the quality of the sound we were able to get with the APB. The board also allowed us to change over from band to band by actually providing enough unique channels to cover all three bands. We simply re-patched the stage and brought on the next act.”
Granite Rocks Live continues the journey from theatre to theatre with up coming productions of Sweeney Todd and Once On This Island at the Derryfield Repertoire Theatre this summer.