New Innova-Son At Bucknell’s Weis Center

For Dale Hourlland, technical director at Bucknell University's Weis Center for the Performing Arts, (Lewisburg, PA) recently chose an Innova-Son Grand Live Digital Console to replace the facility's old mixing desk. The Weis Center for the Performing Arts features concerts, theatrical productions and dance presentations. "Most of our programming is composed of music," Hourlland explains.

"We are fairly close to New York City, so we get a lot of productions that are making a stop here on the way to New York."

The building is approximately 12 years old. "All of our sound equipment is, essentially, original," he says. "We needed to replace our mixing console because it was in terrible shape.

Hourlland opted for the Innova-Son console because only a large-format digital mixing desk could replace the original customized console. "We effectively replaced every microphone cable in the hall because we don't use them anymore," he notes. "We can put inputs anywhere we want, because the cable we use to get to that rack from the console is a standard piece of video wire. Also, I can swap the input and the output cards from rack to rack, so I can put outputs on the stage if needed.

The circuitry of the Innova-Son Grand Live, coupled with convenient install recall feature, enhances the ability of front-of-house engineers to attain consistently seamless productions. These capabilities also decrease the length of training time required for engineers to learn the “ins and outs” of the board - an important factor, considering that most live sound engineers work in a high pressure, tight timeframe environments. In this application, short learning curve is especially key since many of the Weis Center's productions are student-operated.

Currently, Hourlland is looking at another Innova-Son console to mix monitors on stage. "I can't say enough good things about these consoles," he concludes. "They're light years ahead of analog consoles."