Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA sought a console that could satisfy all of its audio needs around campus, with Chris Rodriguez, head audio engineer at the college, advising the school to purchase a pair of Soundcraft Vi1 consoles and large stage boxes for respective uses in broadcast mixing and in the new Design Technology building, which is home to a 400-seat theater.
The first console, purchased for permanent use within the broadcast truck located on campus, is well-suited for broadcast mixing and with the optical MADI card, can be synced in order to do splits with the other Vi1 console.
The second console, housed in the new theater, is used for many of the performances in the theater, arts, music, and dance departments, along with graduations both on and off campus.
“I am aware that Studer is the broadcasting standard, however, with that being out of our price range, I looked for the next best thing,” states Rodriguez. “The ‘bang for the buck’ was perfect with the Vi1. The console easily supports MADI, which is huge because it allows us to do everything using fiber, and connect the consoles. Other consoles I’ve seen in this price range do not have an easy solution for this.”
Sound quality also led Rodriguez to the Vi1. ”The first time I heard the console, I liked the way it sounded,” he said. “To sound as good as it does at that price is simply amazing. It responds well and works well with the large stage boxes, and all the functions are smooth and easy to manage. I can’t get everything I need while fitting in the budget with any other machine.”
The Soundcraft Vi1 consoles are the first step in what Rodriguez hopes will become a major upgrade to Harman Pro products for the college. “We hope to get everything together in order to integrate the system with HiQnet System Architect. It will be a major upgrade to our whole system and we look forward to that in the future,” Rodriguez explained.
While using the consoles, especially in an education atmosphere where there are constantly events and performances taking place, Rodriguez explains that the digital aspect of the console helps on a day-to-day basis. “The ISO feature is also extremely helpful as it loads every time with the certain aspects pre-routed, always the same way. Whoever is using the system doesn’t have to worry about patching even when loading a new show, which is nice to know that it’s always ready to go.”
