BRANSON, MO —Celebrating 20 years, the Mickey Gilley Theatre gave itself a Yamaha M7CL digital audio console, replacing the five analog consoles and outboard gear used previously. The console, pictured here with FOH engineer Matt Miles, is now being prepped for Gilley’s upcoming road dates.
Gilley, who has 39 hits, 17 of which reached number one on the country music charts, appears at the 1,000-seat venue five nights a week and for an afternoon comedy show featuring Joey Riley. Other entertainers who have appeared over the years include Les Brown Jr. and the Band of Renown, Bob Anderson and Johnny Lee.
“The M7CL console has been absolutely amazing,” said Miles. “At the time of purchase, our theatre in Branson offered four different shows a day, six days a week. I had been using two analog consoles for Mickey’s show along with a smaller 24-channel console as a sidecar at front of house for three other shows and as well as a fourth for monitors.”
The theatre also has a video production department that tapes every show, and a fifth analog console with a sidecar was used for a separate video mix.
“The M7CL was able to replace all five of the analog consoles, not to mention all the outboard equipment,” said Miles. “The audio quality is outstanding, and the ability to jump from show to show using a thumb drive is incredible. The console has been truly a dream come true for me.”
Miles said he was looking at several other consoles but kept coming back to the Yamaha M7CL because of the features offered at its price point.
“This console is by far the best ‘bang for the buck’ out there,” he said, noting that for Mickey’s show, all 48 input channels, 15 monitor mixes, Left, Right and Center main outs, a matrix mix to video, and 32 tracks of direct out recording are put to use. “I’m also using all internal effects and processors, with no outboard gear.”
Miles added that the console has been readied for the road for Gilley tour dates.
For more information, please visit www.yamahaca.com.
