CenterStaging of Burbank, CA, a premier rehearsal and backline facility specializing in production and technical support for live performances and television, has taken delivery of a new M-5000 OHRCA digital console from the Roland Professional A/V Division.
CenterStaging will be utilizing the new console both on-site in its rehearsal studios and in the field as part of its backline rental inventory. And it’s already been used during rehearsals for the BET Awards.
“OHRCA” stands for Open, High Resolution, Configurable Architecture, with the M-5000 reflecting this in offering freely definable audio paths, supporting multiple audio format protocols and providing 96 kHz sound quality. The internal mix architecture is not fixed and can be freely defined for mixing channels, auxes, matrices, subgroup buses, and mix-minus buses within a range of up to 128 audio paths.
CenterStaging business manager Will Kerlick states, “As one of the top rehearsal and backline facilities, we have to be ready for a lot. Big acts come through here to rehearse in one of our 10 studios before they go out on tour – that’s about half of our business, and the other half is backline rental. You could say our main niche is the TV market, so we provide gear to programs like American Idol, The Voice, Dancing With The Stars, the Grammy Awards and a lot of other shows.
“The M-5000 is really going to help us on both sides of our business,” he continues. “Obviously it will be a real asset in our rehearsal studios, and it has the capability for broadcasting and streaming applications, which will be very important moving forward. It’s also very easy to see that this is a beautiful console – there’s obviously a lot of thought that went into it, design-wise, and it’s a delight to use.”
Doug Dubin, audio manager at CenterStaging, adds, “What I was attracted to mostly about the M-5000 is its high number of inputs and outputs, which is more than we have with many of our other consoles, so if we get a really big rehearsal in here, it’s the only console that we have that can really do anything over 48 inputs without having to bring in an outside sub-rental. I was also very impressed with its versatility in being used as an front of house console or a monitor console.
“The fact that it’s compatible with Dante and MADI and the rest, through the expansion cards, and that it has high resolution – that will all be really good for broadcast applications. Also, our guys picked it up with very minimal training. There are a lot of things I like about it. We are all very excited to have this console in our arsenal.”