Moscow, Russia (January 2008): Midas’ Russian distributor Theatre Technics and Technology (TTT) has supplied a Heritage 2000 console to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Russian Orthodox Church’s largest cathedral, able to accommodate 10,000 worshippers.
The H2000 has been installed into the 1,250-capacity Council Hall of Moscow cathedral, which is used for meetings of Local and Bishops’ councils as well as events ranging from meetings and conferences to orchestral, organ and choral and folklore performances. The multipurpose hall, noted for its beautiful décor, unique architectural features, frescoes, Florentine mosaics and winter gardens, is also equipped with state-of-the-art acoustic equipment.
Head of the department of communication for the cathedral fund, Roman Demidov, explains, “The issue of purchasing a mixing console for the Council Hall had been going on for about a year, and we’d looked at several models from leading manufacturers. As the Hall hosts many important events involving chiefs of state and the Russian Orthodox Church, our basic criteria were reliability, sound quality, number of channels and ease of use without the need for preliminary rehearsals. Considering all this, we decided the optimum solution was the Midas H2000, which can handle a wide range of events with an easy to navigate, ergonomic control surface.”
Once the H2000 had been purchased from TTT it had to be installed within a short timeframe, keeping disruption to a minimum. A week was set aside to dismantle the old equipment, reconnect all cabling, and install and check the new equipment.
“By joining forces with specialists from TTT, the project came in on time, allowing us to hold our first planned event as scheduled,” continues Demidov. “This process was greatly assisted by the technical capability and reliability of the H2000.”
Demidov cites the H2000’s dynamic range, low noise threshold, audio quality and parametrical equalisation as key features, while pointing out that just about every sound engineer who comes to work on an event is familiar with Midas consoles.
“We are now looking forward to the H2000’s reliability proving itself over many years of operation. I don’t have to worry that one day I’ll run out of inputs or subgroups, even when mixing orchestral performances. It provides simple, convenient interfacing with television recording and broadcast facilities when required. The console is also impervious to noise caused by data transmission, and other digital sources. The onboard automation system gives full control over channel mutes and fader positions while allowing instant access to all console parameters, which are the advantages of working with an analogue console. Overall the H2000 is an easy-to-use, reliable console, which also provides superior audio performance.”
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was built to commemorate Russia’s victory over Napoleon in the Great Patriotic War of 1812. It was demolished by the Stalin regime in 1931 and rebuilt after the end of Soviet rule in the late 20th century.