SAN MARCOS, TX – The building founded in 1941 as the Plaza Movie Theater has morphed over the decades, serving, alternately, as a movie palace, live theater and restaurant. Earlier this year, it reopened after a $2.4 million restoration as the Texas Music Theater, a live music venue. The renovation included new flooring, décor, and audio system including Aphex digital mic preamps and audio transport.
Rocky Giannetta, principal of Roseville, CA-based Fault Line Consultants, was brought in to design the system, which includes six Aphex 188 eight-channel remote controlled mic preamps and a 1788A-RC remote control unit.
"In designing our sound system, we needed a 3-way split to accommodate a FOH mix, a monitor mix and also be able to capture all 48 channels to a digital multitrack recorder," noted Gray Gregson, the venue's head of production, film and recording. "We wanted good-sounding mic preamps, and the Aphex microphone preamps came highly recommended."
Audio transport is provided by four Aphex Anaconda 64-channel bi-directional digital snakes, connected to two 48-channel Yamaha M7CI digital consoles.
"We don't use the microphone preamps in any of the consoles, nor do we use the internal clocks in the consoles," Gregson added. "We feel that, by using the Aphex remote-controlled mic pre's and the external clock that comes from the Aphex Anaconda digital snake, that our total sound system has been greatly improved. We are thrilled with the way this works. We love the flexibility of the system too. The way it is designed allows us to accommodate any situation or configuration with ease."
The system has been well received by staff and patrons alike, Gregson added. "The Aphex mic pre's sound great. They are clean as a whistle and when we take a live recording we've done here to the post production studio, the results are phenomenal. We get great reviews from all the musicians that play the venue, as well as the patrons that attend our shows."
For more information, please visit www.aphex.com.
