The Cavern Club, located on Liverpool’s Mathew Street, has purchased two Soundcraft mixing consoles as part of a major equipment upgrade.
When Cavern’s director Bill Heckle realized it was time to retire the venue’s old FOH mixer, he harbored ideas of deploying a large-frame 48-channel MH3 to mix monitors from the FOH position.
Heckle explained, “With the improvement of the club’s infrastructure, we needed to give the place a boost with the standard of equipment we could offer visiting production crews and our own LIPA engineers. We initially spoke to two companies but were more comfortable with Soundcraft, as their desks convert theory into practice and I know I will get the after-sales service.”
Because the club has limited available space, he was advised by Soundcraft’s live sound sales manager, James Baker, and Adlib Audio’s Andy Dockerty, who has a long relationship with both the club and Soundcraft, that the better solution would be to opt for the smaller-footprint 40-channel MH3, with a separate Soundcraft GB4 taking on dedicated monitor duties.
Ideally suited for dual-mode operation, the MH3 is extremely versatile. The touch of a button places either Groups or Aux Masters onto faders, delivering intuitive and uncompromising operation in either application, while the desk contains a new high-headroom mic amp, classic British EQ and rigorous circuit design.
Sharing the same ‘family aesthetic’ with GB30 mic preamps and EQ, the GB4 boasts a rugged construction designed to perform reliably in an arduous stage environment.
The new desks are likely to be fired up for the first time to coincide with an appearance by Cavern favorite, Rusty Anderson, a guitarist for Paul McCartney, on January 19 2005. Two weeks after playing to 300 people in the Cavern, Anderson will be playing at the Super Bowl in the United States with Paul McCartney and his backing band.
For more information, please go to www.soundcraft.com.
