San Luis Obispo, CA (April 16, 2019)—The Harold Miossi Hall at the San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo, CA is a busy place, hosting multiple shows a week, ranging from pop artists, symphony and jazz concerts to travelling ballet companies to Broadway shows. Through it all, there’s aural continuity thanks to the venue’s audio crew, led by lead audio technician Robb Albrecht, who confirmed, “We host some diverse performances here at the PAC and each has their own set of challenges.”
Albrecht and his staff manage the audio with an Allen & Heath dLive S7000 Surface and DM64 MixRack for FOH, an S5000 Surface and DM0 MixRack for monitors, a C3500 Surface and CDM32 MixRack in a control booth and a pair of DX168 expanders located where needed. The system is networked with Allen & Heath gigaACE, fiberACE and Dante cards and was purchased from Bill Gaines Audio of San Luis Obispo.
Albrecht explained, “We had older digital mixers in each of these roles. But, when funds became available, I knew that I wanted something more advanced. We have an Allen & Heath GLD-80 in our black-box room and it’s really cool. And, when I saw the dLive at NAMM, I realized it’s even another step beyond the GLD. The local Allen & Heath rep brought us a demo and I was blown away with how easy it was to get around on. Now, when we get road shows that don’t carry their own desk, it’s easy to train their engineers and they all love the dLive.”
Albrecht uses the dLive Director software to create show files away from the system. dLive layers and DCA spills help manage multiple sources and mixes and Albrecht adds dLive scenes for selected performances. He adds, “We have a storage room full of compressors, gates, reverb units, and EQs that I rarely use anymore because the effects in the dLive are amazing.”
Albrecht commented, “Compared to our old system, the sound quality is like night and day. When I’m on stage, I can stand by a musician playing a violin and listen to the articulation of their fingers. Now, I can go back to the desk and hear that same detail and that is pretty amazing.”
Allen & Heath • www.allen-heath.com
