Built in 1927 and renovated in 2012, the Norwood Theatre, a performance venue that hosts concerts, plays, musicals, and comedy in Norwood, a suburb of Boston, has been equipped with a new Soundcraft Vi3000 digital console in a project by integration firm Pro Sound Service in collaboration with theatre staff.
As part of the 2012 renovation, Braintree, MA-based Pro Sound Service installed JBL VT4886 and VRX Series loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, BSS signal processors and a Soundcraft Vi1 console at front-of-house. The production staff was satisfied with the workflow and sound quality of the Vi1 but wanted to upgrade to a similar desk with more faders, with outgoing production manager Ed DiMarzio and current production manager Jeff Morley working with Charlie Tappa of Pro Sound Service to implement the Vi3000.
“The system we installed in 2012 was part of a huge renovation,” says Tappa. “We did analysis on what would be the best products to fulfill their needs, not only for live music performances, but for pro theater as well. The combination of the JBL loudspeaker system and Soundcraft mixing solutions has worked very well for them. All through the 10 years since that installation, the customer said that they wish they’d invested in a larger console. They didn’t need more inputs, but they wanted more faders on the control surface. The Vi3000 was the next natural progression.”
The Vi3000 can accommodate the new Soundcraft Realtime Rack, a hardware/software unit that provides access to 74 industry-standard UAD plugins, and it’s also the first Soundcraft console to incorporate a Dante interface for audio networking.
“I really liked the sound of the Vi1 and its workflow but wanted more faders on deck,” Morley adds. “I also wanted the additional flexibility it has with built-in Dante for recording and the capability to support both a stage box and the Soundcraft Realtime Rack plugin engine via MADI. The other nice thing is the patchable BSS DPR901ii dynamic EQs — they’re a great tool to have on hand when mixing.”
Tappa also points to the Vi3000’s VM2 wireless system status monitoring as a benefit to the staff because they can monitor information about their Shure wireless systems. “It allows integration with Shure wireless systems, which is a big thing for them,” Tappa concludes. “They’ve got many channels of Shure digital wireless. The engineer doesn’t have to look down at the wireless rack or at an outboard computer because they can see all critical information about the wireless systems directly on the Vi3000 touch screen.”
