Autograph is showcasing the new DiGiCo ‘T’ software for the SD9 and SD10 on stand 126 in the Orange Hall. This development has come out of the
collaboration between Autograph and DiGiCo to create a live sound desk tailored
to the specific needs of theatre sound designers and operators.
When it comes to product development, collaboration between companies isn’t a new thing. But sometimes there seem to be forces at work that bring the right people together at the right time to produce something that is, well – right . . .
This is the story of the collaboration between theatre sound design and rental company Autograph and digital console manufacturer DiGiCo. It’s a collaboration that has brought the world of theatre a range of digital mixing consoles so ideally suited to their task that DiGiCo is currently the most-used mixing desk in the West End and on Broadway, and Autograph the predominant equipment supplier.
It’s more than 30 years since sound designer and
Autograph founder Andrew Bruce first started pondering a mixing console that
could provide the tools a sound designer really needs. Along the way, he worked
with other well-known manufacturers to find bespoke solutions, but it took
until 2002 for all the factors to fall into place and for Bruce to begin to
realise his dream of developing a mainstream solution for theatre sound
designers.
It was then, just a year after its formation and
having already made a name for itself in the live market, that DiGiCo decided
to enter the world of theatre. To do this they sought people could help them
develop a mixing solution that would ultimately revolutionise theatre sound.
Duncan Bell, financial director of Autograph, has
been witness to the journey. “This is a collaboration that has been a long time
coming,” he says. “And its ultimate success is because Andrew has been given
the opportunity to work with a company whose developers are interested enough,
well-funded enough, and who have developed the technology to turn what’s been
evolving in Andrew’s mind for the past 30 years into reality.”
By the time DiGiCo came into the market, other
manufacturers had historically looked at developing specific solutions,
involving a lot of costly hardware development in a market too small to sustain
such investment. DiGiCo took a different approach, using the platform they had
already developed for the live market and adding to it a set of software that was
specific to theatre.
“Andrew spent many years formulating the dream
platform in his head and DiGiCo has been able to deliver,” Bell continues.
“It’s a great testament to DiGiCo that they made a decision to do something so
ambitious and that they stuck to it.”
“Working with DiGiCo as a user and a collaborator
since 2002, I have come to expect and rely on software that’s really well
thought out, with hardware to match,” Bruce says. “I saw DiGiCo’s first
console, the D5 Live, at PLASA that year, and recognised that here were people
who thought exactly the way I did about the user interface and even considered
how devoted ‘analogue’ sound designers like myself would make that first tricky
transition to digital consoles in a world dominated by tradition and the
principle that ‘the show must go on’ regardless.”
Sound
designer Bobby Aitken is a long-term DiGiCo user and now utilises the company’s
consoles in the majority of his audio designs, including the massive hits Mamma
Mia! and We Will Rock You, which play across the globe, and more recently in
the opening and closing ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic Games -
productions in which Autograph and DiGiCo were also closely involved.
“We were in at the very start using the D5T and
that was kind of hard work,” recalls Aitken. “Because you are basically buying
yourself into an R&D project.”
But Aitken, along with others such as ACME Sound
Partners in the USA, had faith in Andrew, Autograph and DiGiCo and knew that
although some pain would be involved, the end result would be worth it.
“Bobby committed to the project because he
believed it was a process that you have to go through,” Bell concurs. “And he
knows that if Andrew and Autograph want to commit to something, we do so
wholeheartedly, and make the appropriate commercial and technical resources
available to ensure we can see it through without risk to our clients,
productions or sound designers.”
Aitken’s faith was well founded. “The DiGiCo SD
consoles are really reliable and have a level of processing power that isn’t
currently matched by any other product,” he says. “My latest production is Viva
Forever, where we’re using an SD7T, and it would be hard to do it with any
other console.”
With Autograph and Bruce’s reputation and support
behind it, DiGiCo had cracked the West End. But how did this success transfer
across The Pond to Broadway, where things work somewhat differently? The
decision was made to set up Autograph A2D in Salem, New York, in 2003. Headed
by Lew Mead, it was established primarily to sell DiGiCo theatre consoles into
the US market.
This is a formula that has also proven productive
for Autograph Sales in the UK, a successful dealer for many market-leading pro
audio products. With extensive knowledge of rental stock, sales and installation
experience, combined with in-depth product knowledge, it was the first, and
remains one of the few, carefully selected partners for DiGiCo in the UK.
Bell explains: “As with many Autograph plans, A2D
wasn’t purely financially led. Andrew wanted American sound designers to have
access to what he knew was a great solution and would make their lives easier.”
For DiGiCo, the fact that Bruce put his name to
the business meant that potentially hard-to-reach sound designers, in a
relatively new territory for them, would give them a second look. “The US
operation was established to provide the same philosophy as we do in the UK,”
says Bell. “Lew and Andrew go back a long way, and Lew is well respected on
Broadway, so the US sound designers had a comfort factor with the combination
of Lew and Andrew, as the UK designers did with Autograph. And that definitely
helped gain credibility in America.”
“Our Success on Broadway is not only because we
have a great product, but because we have service right in Manhattan and we do
constant training - seminars, one-on-ones and even groups such as IATSE Local
1,” says Mead. “And we have Zac Duax, who works with the designers, engineers
and shops to provide the training and quick service that the shows demand.”
Bell
continues: “If you’re on a show on Broadway and you need support, Lew and Zac
are who everyone turns to. And that has made a huge difference to the
acceptance and transition to DiGiCo on Broadway.”
Andrew Keister and Brian Ronan are US-based sound
designers who work across both the West End and Broadway, with shows such as
Godspell, Catch Me If You Can, Guys and Dolls, Jersey Boys [Andrew Keister] and
The Book of Mormon, Annie, Bring It On: The Musical, Anything Goes, American
Idiot and Grease [Brian Ronan] to their list of credits.
“The SD7T is proof positive of DiGiCo’s
commitment to the theatrical community. There is simply no other product
available at any price that addresses the unique challenges of designing and
mixing a large-scale musical. DiGiCo’s desire to include its customers in the
ongoing development process results in a feature-rich product that exactly
matches the needs of the end user,” says Keister. “The SD7 platform is highly
flexible and seemingly endlessly expandable. The automation is incredibly
powerful and the software makes it easy to harness the power accurately.”
Ronan adds: “The SD7T is the first digital desk
that makes me comfortable. It has brought what’s best in an analogue console
and combined it with the flexibility and inherent space-saving qualities of
digital. Aside from sounding great, the software is logical and consistent. Its
architecture and routing fold easily into a live theatrical production, which
allows me the freedom to focus on the most important part of my job: the
audience.”
“The combination of the overall power of the SD7
console, with the sheer number of I/O and processing paths, coupled with the
specific theatre software package developed by DiGiCo with Andrew Bruce, has
provided sound designers with the tools required to meet the complex demands of
today’s productions,” says Jack Kelly, from DiGiCo’s US distributor Group
One.
The first shows using SD7Ts began coming on line
in 2008 and the entire DiGiCo team, in both the US and UK, have continued to
work closely with designers and rental company staff to provide the training
and support required by the theatre market.
Bruce concludes: “I was surprised at the outset
at how accepting DiGiCo was of our wish to incorporate features that were quite
specialised towards mixing for musical theatre. But their commitment to support
the theatre mixing style has never let up and they’re as ready as they ever
were to develop and enhance what we already have. For me, and judging by the
almost universal adoption by designers working in the West End and on Broadway,
the SD7T represents the state of our particular kind of art and I, for one,
would be lost if I had to use something else.”
Autograph / DiGiCo shows currently include:
West End and UK The
Bodyguard The Book of Mormon
A
Chorus Line Les Misérables The Lion King The Lion King (UK tour) Mamma Mia!
Matilda the Musical One Man, Two Guvnors Viva Forever! Warhorse The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Phantom of the Opera (UK tour) Privates
on Parade Once Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Broadway Annie Billy Elliot The Book
of Mormon The Book of Mormon (Tour 1) The Book of Mormon (Tour 2) Edwin Drood
Hands on a Hard Body Jersey Boys (US tour) Kinky Boots Mary Poppins (US tour)
Matilda the Musical Newsies Nice Work if You Can Get It Once Pippin The Lion
King The Lion King (US tour) Warhorse Wizard of Oz
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