ST. LOUIS, MO — The Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, located on the campus of the University of Missouri/St. Louis, houses the 1,625-seat Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall. Its audio production hub graduated from analog to digital with DiGiCo’s SD8. The venue, used for theater, musicals, opera, dance and music ranging from classical to jazz to world music, is part of a project involving Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the architectural firm of architect I. M. Pei. Although the total budget was $72 million, the portion devoted to audio production gear was considerably less.
As with other construction projects facing budgetary constraints, it was a few years before the funds were allocated to replace an aging analog console. At that time, James Campbell, director of audio/video services, test-drove several DiGiCo systems with the help of AVA Reps’ Ben Shipman before choosing the SD8.
“We checked out everything that was out there, digital-wise,” Campbell recalled. “We steered away from other consoles, mostly because they either offered older repackaged technology or had no compatibility between competitive products. The SD8 uses MADI so we were able to use the console with a variety of vendors — hardware and software.
“The console offered a smooth workflow because the worksurface is laid out for an engineer, plus we were able to handle multiple consoles” with the built in DiGiCo digital splitter, Campbell added. “Overall, the SD8 offered a better price point, exceedingly rich features and a fantastic interface, and with the new FPGA processing chip and all the onboard features, you’ve got a great, all-in-one, product that’s got an unbelievable bang for the buck. It’s all that we could ever need.”
Jeff Griswold, audio lead and stage supervisor for the theater, agreed. “I had not used any DiGiCo consoles previously, and as a matter of fact, had pretty limited experience with digital desks in general. But I love the way the SD8 is laid out. Everything is tightly packaged and it’s easy to get around on with the touch screen. It’s very versatile and also very easy to teach. We have a lot of people who come through and are using the desk who have a relatively small knowledge of audio, and have found it pretty easy and straightforward. Also, the sound is very good and crisp overall.”
As far as recording, James says they’re taking advantage of the console’s MADI capabilities to multitrack many of the performances using the RME MADI face and Nuendo. “We’ve got a variety of mic pres all running on MADI, and using the RME MADIface, we are merging all of our signals from the other theatres to the MADI matrix mixer and into our recording rig. All of that is backed up on an 18 terabyte server and it’s worked very well for us.”
At the heart of the SD8 is DiGiCo’s use of Stealth Digital Processing (combining Super FPGA and Analog Devices Tiger SHARC chipsets in its Tiger SHARC FX engine), offering effects, reverbs, dynamics, output matrix and more. The DiGiCo SD8 has 37 touch-sensitive moving faders, multi-function control knobs, electronic labeling and a 15-inch touch-sensitive, hi-res TFT display.
Acting as the console’s primary command center, the TFT works with every other control of the console, automatically displaying functions relevant to what’s being done. A physical fader, knob or backlit electronically labeled button is either provided for every major mix function or can be programmed onto one of the provided user macro buttons.
All 24 channel faders and 12 assignable aux/master faders also can be assigned as channels or masters, allowing 36 main faders to control inputs, if desired. Also standard is a 12×12 output matrix — its 12 buses additional to the console’s 24 stereo, solo and master buses. Sixty mono or stereo channels — the equivalent of 120 DSP channels — can run full DSP simultaneously.
Features found on other D-Series consoles, such as 20-step LED bar graph meters next to each channel fader and the same snapshot automation control (with removable USB storage of sessions and setups), are also incorporated, as is a 48×8 Stage Rack with remote control of its studio-grade preamps, and a 100-meter MADI digital snake with the ability to connect to the standard DiGiRack. The SD8 includes onboard local I/O with eight mic/line inputs, eight line outputs and eight AES/EBU inputs/outputs.
For more information, please visit www.digico-sd8.com and www.digico.org.
