If you’ve visited or read about London, you’re probably familiar with Piccadilly Circus, a busy public square in London’s West End, in the City of Westminster. Located a short distance from the River Thames, it’s famous for its late nineteenth century fountain, neon advertising, and, well, for being famous.
An even shorter distance from the Snohomish River, about 30 miles northeast of Seattle, the Piccadilly Circus English Pub and Steakhouse offers a taste of London, Pacific Northwest-style, with some audio assistance from Mackie.
In addition to classic pub drinks and food-and some offerings you won’t find in the average London pub-the folks at Piccadilly Circus offer a variety of events. You can enjoy live bands, naughty bingo, karaoke nights, paint night, theme parties, and, as the pub’s web site puts it, “whatever we can think of to let go and have a good time.”
Several of these activities obviously require a PA system, and Piccadilly Circus is well equipped with Mackie SRM Series active loudspeakers.
In addition to the Mackie SRM loudspeakers, the pub boasts a Mackie ProDX4 digital mixer. The ProDX4 offers many benefits, including Bluetooth wireless control and audio streaming, but to understand why it has proven especially useful for Piccadilly Circus, you need to think like someone who operates a restaurant or bar.
“We almost always play background music,” reveals events and bar manager Amanda Gilpin. “But often I’m the only one working, and even when that’s not the case, I’m serving and trying to help customers. I can’t leave my customer to run over to a control panel or a mixer and make adjustments. The Mackie ProDX4 lets me control the system from my phone so I can make adjustments from anywhere in the room.”
For instance, a wide variety of people frequent the pub, which results in a lot of different opinions on not only volume, but also song choice.
“People might want to hear a different style of music, and I can change it on the fly,” Gilpin explains. “With the ProDX4, I don’t have to leave what I’m doing; I just use the Mackie MixerConnect app to change things from my phone. MixerConnect was really easy to learn. I like the way it’s designed because I can find what I want quickly, make my change, and focus on serving customers. Now I use it every day. It saves me a lot of time, and time is crucial in my business.”
Piccadilly Circus is a relatively small, intimate pub, and space is at a premium. “That’s another reason we really like the Mackie ProDX4,” confirms Gilpin. “It’s small and doesn’t take up much room. We have it tucked away on the side of the bar, and we control it wirelessly. And it’s easy to use, which is awesome for me.”
Another big plus for Gilpin is that the Mackie ProDX4 easily ties into the bar’s TouchTunes system, which allows customers to choose their own music.
“It’s simple to connect the ProDX4 to whatever you need,” she observes. “We have it wired to speakers all around the room, and it also connects to our TouchTunes system, which uses the same speakers. When a customer selects and pays for their music, it starts and ours stops. When their music is done, the ProDX4 takes over with our music. I don’t have to go over and adjust anything.”
A wireless mic is kept plugged into the ProDX4 so the mixer also handles announcements. “It works great for me because we like to host events,” Gilpin enthuses. “I can announce winners of a raffle, do the New Years Eve countdown, and make other announcements, and I can control it wirelessly from my phone. Having a system that’s so easy to use and doesn’t restrict my ability to do my job makes dealing with the sound and making announcements much less stressful. It’s actually kind of fun.”