Albuquerque, New Mexico is home to a rich and vibrant arts scene that houses not one but three community theatres, each which present a wide range of programming.
Josh Bien serves as Assistant Technical Director at the Albuquerque Little Theater, as well as Technical Director for both the Vortex and Blackout, using an arsenal of Lectrosonics equipment at all three venues.
Combine these responsibilities with knowledge that Bien is also an actor and one quickly realizes that Josh is a very busy guy.
Being actively involved with all three theaters, Bien summarized the personalities of each venue and explained why Lectrosonics wireless technology plays in important role in his job.
The Albuquerque Little Theater is one of three oldest, continuously running community theaters this side of the Mississippi,” said Bien.
“Currently in its 80th year of operation, the Little Theater hosts a wide range of programming that includes family theater, musicals, and shows.”
“This is a large proscenium theater with seating for nearly 500 people. By contrast, the Vortex is a black box theater (a small, intimate venue that is highly configurable in terms of seating and stage arrangements) that hosts surprisingly varied theatrical fare, though they are not as readily able to accommodate large shows, such as musicals.”
“Blackout is a nomadic troupe—performing whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself, though we take residency at Albuquerque’s The Box Performance Space.”
“With the FCC ruling that prohibits the operation of wireless microphones in the 700 MHz band,” he continued, “we not only needed to replace a fair amount of our older wireless equipment at the Albuquerque Little Theater, we wanted equipment that didn’t have that ‘wireless’ microphone sound.”
“Upon investigating the wireless products of several companies, I found that, in addition to offering the best performance, Lectrosonics is also used extensively in theatrical applications.”
“Being in charge of sound at each venue, I wanted the best possible equipment and this led me to the company’s Venue receiver systems with a mixture of LMa and MM400C transmitters. Equally important, the Venue’s modular 6-channel design makes it far easier to transport a wireless system, which is important to a nomadic troupe such as Blackout. ”
The Albuquerque Little Theater is now equipped with sixteen Lectrosonics LMa beltpack transmitters and three Venue series receiver mainframes—two fully stocked with six VRS receiver modules and the third outfitted with the four remaining channels.
The Vortex Theater is outfitted with two Lectrosonics MM400C water resistant miniature transmitters and a Venue receiver housing two VRS receiver modules, while the Blackout Theater is equipped with six LMa beltpack transmitters and a Venue receiver with six VRS modules.
“Everyone has been really impressed with the Lectrosonics sound quality,” states Bien. “In the past, you could always tell which actor wore a Lectrosonics mic and which had another brand of wireless mic.” Now, all the performers just wear Lectrosonics.
In addition to the various wireless microphone systems, the Albuquerque Little Theater also has a Lectrosonics DM1624 audio processor that helps simplify mixing chores for the volunteers that find themselves behind the audio console.
“The DM1624 enables us to confidently place volunteers at FOH (front of house) because, other than the occasional muting of channels, there isn’t much more that they need to be concerned with,” says Bien.
“On that note, Lectrosonics has been a first-class company in all aspects. Technical support provided charts to assist us with frequency coordination on the microphones and they even sent a technician on site to help me set up the DM1624.”