Las Vegas, NV (July 3, 2012)—Replace Abbey Road with the Vegas Strip and you get BeatleShow! at the Saxe Theater in the Planet Hollywood Resort Casino. Without George Martin and EMI Studios around, however, audio duties fall to front of house mixing producer/engineer Mick McCoy and his Yamaha PM5D digital mixing console.
“I’ve been using the 5D since it came out,” states McCoy. “I was on the team that built Disney’s Hyperion Theater at Disneyland as the A1, and we were on the initial beta-test team for the PM1D. What an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the whole Yamaha digital platform.”
“The integration of Logic and a dedicated iMac show control is something I’ve worked on for about two years,” says McCoy. “Larry Hopkins, a musical and tech guru from Technicolor in LA, really showed me the possibilities for inexpensive automation. For BeatleShow! I use a MOTU D/A to run multiple streams of audio, including a tempo map and cues to musicians, all getting stereo in-ear mixes from the PM5D, and stage monitors that are active terraced versions of the house mix—a very easy and cool 5D trick. In addition, a “tech track” or stage manager in a box connects to Clear Com to direct technicians on scenic moves and cues. MIDI output also controls scene changes on the Yamaha PM5D, and all the lighting cues that are generated in a Hog3 PC, as well as keyboard and guitar patches.”
“Out of hundreds of cues for the show, there are only four scene changes on the Yamaha PM5D that need to be triggered manually, and this is done via a switchbox I built for just a few dollars to address the GPI port on the console.,” said McCoy. “It enables me and other engineers to be out of the booth and ‘in the field’ where our ears should be. A PC laptop with Yamaha Studio Manager running on it is wirelessly connected through an inexpensive router, so tweaking audio from the house is possible, including ancillary systems like front fills and monitors. For the price of a cheap laptop and router, an engineer can mix from anywhere in the room.”
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.
www.yamahaca.com
