Ineffable Music Group, an Oakland-based “independent coalition of artists, managers, and promoters” that organizes music festivals, reopened the Ventura Music Hall in southern California this past March as part of its mission to present first-class concerts, chosing a pair of DiGiCo SD-Range consoles as the flagship audio technology for the renovated 635-capacity venue.
Specifically, an SD12 at front of house delivers mixes to the room’s d&b V-Series loudspeaker system while an SD9 is used for monitor mixing for d&b M4 wedges, and both consoles are paired with a D2-Rack. They’re linked to the PA system via MADI: the SD12 on coax and the SD9 over Cat-5 cabling.
“DiGiCo is what almost every touring artist coming here already uses,” says Courtney Panton, Ventura Music Hall’s production manager, who previously worked at the original Brooklyn Bowl location in New York City that also employs an SD12. “It’s simply the premier board for music. We have bands that have their own, and are happy they don’t have to unload and set up their console when they’re here, and young bands that we’re introducing to DiGiCo for the first time.”
Dirk Schubert, senior partner at Schubert Systems Group (SSG), lives in nearby Ojai, making his connection to the venue and project personal. “Ventura Music Hall is in my backyard, so I wanted it to be the best-equipped venue in Ventura County and the number-one choice for artists playing the area,” he says. “SSG predominantly caters to touring artists and large events in general, so our original spec for the venue was somewhat ‘tour-centric.’ Thankfully, Courtney has had a lot of experience working for top-shelf club venues and suggested some changes to the mic complement, cabling and splitter that were really smart choices. So we were happy to accommodate him to help fulfill our goal of making the venue the best it could be.”
While the leaders of companies like Ineffable Music may be more at home reading a balance sheet than a schematic, they state that they’ve become more aware in recent years of the economic importance of choosing the right technology for their venues. “Our main responsibility is to the artists, their teams, and their fans, to make sure they all have the best experience possible,” says co-founder and president Thomas Cussins, whose group also organizes music festivals like the California Roots Music and Arts Festival and operates various venues, including the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre, and Cornerstone in Berkeley, among other properties. “Working in secondary and tertiary markets as we do, it’s a constant effort to deliver the same kind of experience one would get in Los Angeles or New York in terms of sound and lights. That’s why we chose DiGiCo. It’s what we saw on most of the contract riders, and what the teams ask for when they come here on tour.”
Since it reopened, Ventura Music Hall has hosted an eclectic variety of touring artists, including Thievery Corporation, Flogging Molly, Switchfoot, Trevor Hall, Mike Campbell, SOJA, The Garden, Hot Chip, Citizen Cope, Weyes Blood, and many others. Plus, Allen Stone, Mat Kearney and Hermanos Gutierrez, Bad Suns, and Atmosphere will all be performing there soon, in what the venue is calling “Fall at the Hall,” adds Cussins, who lives in the area. “We’re not just a business in Ventura, we’re part of the community. We wanted the best for this venue, and DiGiCo is a big part of that.”
