Midas Consoles Benelux has sold a package of equipment including two Midas PRO6 digital consoles, a Venice 160 console and Klark Teknik Square ONE signal processing to Deltion College in Zwolle, the Netherlands.
The Deltion College provides around 16,000 young people with vocational training and education per year, and its technology courses include Stage and Events Techniques Training.
“This is equipment you won’t yet see in many real-life theatres; a dream come true for every instructor and every student,” says Gert Venema, tutor on the course’s Sound and Theatre Techniques module.
The college’s trailblazing attitude to new technology is largely down to the passion of the instructors, according to Midas Consoles Benelux’s Axel Nagtegaal. “A good specification is wonderful, but without passion it is sterile,” he says. “The real added value and creativity of this project is the way the school, instructors and consultant have worked together in a concerted effort.”
Technical facilities throughout the college are high, and sound is no exception, with two digital Midas PRO6 systems for front of house and monitoring respectively, together with Klark Teknik Square ONE EQ and Dynamics units. The college is also keeping hold of its Midas Verona and Siena analogue consoles which were previously used for FOH and monitors.
“This is a conscious decision so we can be very flexible,” says Venema. “We want to be able to train our students in analogue and digital techniques.”
For Nagtegaal, the equipment sale is just the beginning of his cooperation with the Deltion College. “The school can call us in for training, workshops and master classes, and we are also offering internships to students with the potential for junior and senior management positions,” he says. “Through this cooperation we ultimately hope to work with the best students.
“We can teach them about technology and about working professionally. In return, they provide us with fresh, new ideas. This generation is being trained quite differently than we were and introduces a new culture. I feel this will help us continue our development and also contribute to increased professionalism within the industry.”
