Pacific Ocean (May 15, 2012)—The United States Navy’s active-duty USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier recently hosted a “Tiger Cruise” from Hawaii to San Diego—a seven-day trip, open to the aircraft carriers crew family and friends (aka “tigers”) as a reward for excellent service. Audio provider Broadcast Support brought a DiGiCo SD11 console along to handle mixing duties.
MacWest rep Steve McNeil, who aided Broadcast Support in the production, checked the mixer as luggage on his flight from Long Beach, CA to the ship, which was docked in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The mixer and a full dB Technologies PA were both craned aboard the ship and hoisted off again in San Diego when the return cruise ended a week later.
For the event’s productions, a stage was built in an enclosed steel room below deck in the ship’s hangar, where planes and helicopters were stored. The SD11 was rolled in and out every night to handle the musical entertainment for the troops provided by the Kelly Bell Band, and presentations which included two air shows, a 26-act talent show performed by service members, a “rap-off” hosted by the band, readings, and an awards ceremony commending top sailors presented by the commanding officer.
“The SD11 was pressed into service handling diverse audio tasks from mixing the front of house PA, monitors and IEM, to the delay speakers from a matrix,” explained McNeil. “Being that this was a working ship, this gig was challenging on so many levels, as we were at the mercy of the ship and the operations crew, and therefore our schedule needed to be flexible. Needless to say, the week-long festivities turned out amazing and the console, operated by our engineer Karl Weidman, performed flawlessly. Karl hung out after every performance to play more with the SD11. He had quite a bit of fun mixing on it and was amazed at the big, open sound he was able to get from such a compact mixer. An SD9 is now his next purchase.”
Broadcast Support
www.broadcastsupport.com
DiGiCo
www.digico.org
