Lincolnshire, IL (November 24, 2014)—Out in the suburbs of Chicago, The Marriott Theatre draws massive crowds nightly; after nearly 40 years in business, the venue sells more than 400,000 tickets a year and has presented more than 165 productions to an estimated 8 million people, as well as hosting everything from children’s shows to Beatle tribute acts. Helping provide sound for all those shows is a new DiGiCo SD7T console.
Robert Gilmartin, The Marriott Theatre’s resident sound designer, chose the SD7T desk supplied by TC Furlong Inc. of nearby Lake Forest, IL. The console reportedly worked without a hitch throughout the entire run of its first 2014/2015 season production, On The Town, which ran from August 13 through October 12.
Gilmartin had a full month to become familiar with the console in the theatre’s rehearsal space before opening night. “It’s been very smooth; all the preparation and testing really helped,” he explains, adding that Group One Limited’s Matt Larson and theatrical audio consultant Zac Jac Duax spent a productive training day that brought Gilmartin up to speed with the hardware and software.
With singing casts of as many as 32 actors on stage, having enough input channels to accommodate everything was absolutely mission-critical. The SD7T offers up to 253 input channels. “Everybody is miked,” says Gilmartin, noting the need for multiple tracks on the console. “We mix manually by hand and bring up one at a time—depending upon who on stage is singing or speaking—which cleans up the audio.”
Gilmartin says the best compliment about the capital expenditure came from a gleeful Terry James, The Marriott Theatre’s executive producer. Following On The Town’s opening night, “Terry said, ‘I forgot all about the new board.'”
The Marriott Theatre
www.marriotttheatre.com
TC Furlong Inc.
www.tcfurlong.com
DiGiCo
www.DiGiCo.biz
