The newly opened Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix is using an Avid VENUE digital mixing/production system in its theater to support live performances of internationally renowned artists from every corner of the globe.
MIM is the first museum of its kind to collect, preserve and protect musical instruments from every country in the world and share them with the public.
For its 299-seat theater, MIM needed a live sound console that would work within a small control room footprint, provide the ability to control the mix remotely while away from the console, support a wide range of artists with diverse requirements and conduct live track recording.
Based on these requirements, systems integrator Sound Image selected a VENUE Mix Rack HD 64 Bundle – a package that combines a VENUE Mix Rack System together with an upgraded Pro Tools|HD 3 Accel system for live sound mixing, Virtual Soundcheck, and multitrack recording.
VENUE provides MIM with plenty of DSP power plus two professional plug-in bundles. Sound Image also selected a C|24 control surface to give MIM engineers direct, hands-on control of Pro Tools mixing, recording, and editing outside of the live performances.
“The reliability, sound quality, and intuitive layout of the VENUE system makes it my ‘go to’ console, and it was the natural fit for us when we were evaluating live sound systems for the MIM Music Theater,” says Ryan Baumann, sales engineer at Sound Image.
“From a musical perspective, the MIM Music Theater will support two to three performances a week, which can include everything from a taiko drum band to a single musician on the stage with a sitar. Given the variety and volume of performers coming through the space on a monthly basis, VENUE will help keep things running smoothly by providing MIM engineers with fantastic snapshot recall capability, allowing them to pull up settings quickly and conduct rapid sound checks.”
“To ensure an optimal mix, the MIM Music Theater takes full advantage of the VENUE Mix Rack system’s built-in ECx Ethernet port, which allows a sound engineer to take wireless remote control of the VENUE Profile™ console.
“Using an iPad to tap into the computer that’s remote controlling the VENUE system, sound professionals at the MIM Music Theater are able to be on stage with artists to make adjustments to patching, levels, plug-ins, and snapshots.
The MIM Music Theater also needed a system that could enable audio and video archival of master musicians playing their instruments. To support these efforts, the Pro Tools|HD system features 32 additional channels of recording capability for use in the MIM Music Theater isolation booth, which is attached to the control room.
With 16 channels of Grace Design mic pres and separate converters, engineers can record a variety of artists and unique instruments that come through the space all at a high-resolution 192 kHz. For video, the team added an Avid SYNC HD interface to the system, which provides SMPTE time code to sync Pro Tools sessions with the MIM’s HD digital video recorders.
