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VENUE becomes the sound choice of major festivals, music tours, and HOW, theater, and broadcast installations
The Digidesign® VENUE live sound environment has become a standard fixture on major live festivals and tours, in houses of worship (HOW) and theater installations, and for live-to-air TV and radio broadcast applications. FOH (front of house) engineers for major tours, including Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Barbara Streisand, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, Beck, Dixie Chicks, U2, Black Eyed Peas, Dave Mathews Band, Tom Petty, and Pearl Jam, have all put VENUE through its paces. The fact that Digidesign has shipped over 300 VENUE systems worldwide in the past 18 months—a significant milestone—demonstrates the system's appeal within all areas of the professional audio community. And with the addition of the new D-Show Profile™ compact mixing console, as well as the latest D-Show™ 2.5 software upgrade for VENUE, Digidesign is committed to offering products and enhancements to meet the needs of its myriad users.
Robert Scovill, Digidesign's market manager for live sound products, sums up the VENUE system's broad appeal: "It's been both inspiring and affirming to see this level of acceptance by a very wide cross section of users in such a short time. It speaks to a user base that was clearly prepared to accept some paradigm shifts in both workflow and the generally accepted technology used in live sound. My belief is that this marks the beginning of a changing landscape in not only sound reinforcement, but live audio in general, and I'm confident that Digidesign will lead this charge for some time to come."
At prominent festivals worldwide, engineers have embraced the VENUE system's all-in-one solution. One such convert is the Montreaux Jazz Festival—perhaps one of the most renowned music and arts festivals in the world, noted for its diverse line-up and international attendance. This year, producers decided to take the production into the digital realm, and VENUE was the answer to their audio requirements. "In the festival environment, which is always an audio challenge because of the sheer number of bands we accommodate, we knew we would eventually have to move to digital," explains Bernard Natier, senior sound supervisor for the festival. "When we discovered the VENUE, it changed everything. The console has a reputation for its intuitiveness and has begun appearing on many a tour rider. In the past twelve months, it has really taken off."
Fern Alvarez, FOH engineer for the Dixie Chicks agrees: "After using the console on a brief run with Lisa Marie Presley in 2005, I knew that the Digidesign VENUE was the solution for a complete package with the Dixie Chicks. With the on-board features, versatility of the plug-ins, and the quick access to all parameters on the surface, I was thoroughly impressed. How Digidesign was able to create such a product for a live application is masterful. The VENUE has made mixing easy and enjoyable all over again. I can't imagine using anything else but VENUE!"
In the fixed installation market, VENUE has found commanding audience with theaters, television and radio outfits, and houses of worship worldwide for its broad range of features and reliability. "In the current console market, the Digidesign VENUE stands out by a mile," declares Gareth Owen, sound designer for Orbital Sound, which handles many of the live theater shows in London, UK. "The scene handling and recall parameters are way ahead of anything else out there. Combined with advanced trigger and MIDI functions, the D-Show software makes programming a theater show ridiculously easy."
Duncan Stewart, technical director of Riverside TV in London, explains why VENUE is his choice for broadcasts: "We needed a reliable desk that couldn't break down catastrophically, and since we do live shows, one of the first boxes a sound desk has to tick is whether it will stand up to abuse. There's nothing this can't do that a conventional broadcast desk can't—even the mix-minus we can achieve using an aux bus. Once you get into the digital domain, you get so much more with delays, compressors, and gates, and the bonus with VENUE is we can assign a plug-in to any channel. All the sound supervisors love it."
At the Irving Bible Church in Irving, Texas, technical director Dave Younkman chose VENUE, plus a Pro Tools|HD® system for recording their annual Drumming For Jesus event. "When it came time to buy a new console for our room," explains Younkman, "I knew I had to go digital because of how often we changed up our staging and programs. I couldn't get away from analog until I heard the VENUE. I was able to hear the music instead of the 'digital' I heard on other desks. It has tons of great-sounding plug-ins, and it's easy to use. We love it!"
"It is no surprise how quickly VENUE has become accepted by the industry," says Lee Stein, Digidesign's U.S. sales manager. "Digidesign has taken a completely different approach to the digital mixer by providing a unique set of features which addresses both the touring sound and installation markets. The list of users is a 'Who's Who' of music industry notables, and the installation market is booming since the product was introduced."
"The adoption of the product by the world's leading audio professionals and sound companies has been nothing short of phenomenal," enthuses Mike Case, Digidesign's European live sound market manager. "In Europe, VENUE systems are being utilized for many different applications. An overwhelming number of engineers who have been exposed to the console for the first time walked away at the end of their show delighted with the sound quality and ease of use. With the number of VENUE users growing, the system is set to become a standard fixture at all major live sound events in the near future."
For more information about VENUE, visit Digidesign's website at www.digidesign.com
