Soundcraft Vi6™ Digital Consoles Provide More Headroom For ‘Marie Antoinette’ In The Bremen Musical Theater

The legend of Marie Antoinette became synonymous with the French revolution in the 18th century and today, The Bremen Musical Theater in Germany is launching a new and impressive production of the musical by the same name. Providing the sound reinforcement for ‘Marie Antoinette’ are two 96-channel Soundcraft Vi6 digital consoles supplied by the German rental company, Avilux GmbH.

In total, the Soundcraft Vi6 consoles supply 192 channels and operate at the front of house and monitor positions for the production. Demonstrating the interconnectivity and versatility of the consoles, both Vi6 consoles are placed at the FOH position and operated by a single sound engineer.

The complex sound design of ‘Marie Antoinette’ required a detailed audio system designed by technical director, Athanasios Rovakis. He had two major targets; the first was to deploy one engineer to operate the Vi6 at the FOH/monitor position and secondly, he wanted to pre-program the show and save the settings for a convenient setup.

The Vi6 consoles allow the engineers to record 128 tracks of the live stage show or rehearsal onto third-party recorders. Recordings can be replayed into the desk for a virtual sound check, switching channels between a live signal or playback, providing a smooth transition. These flexible features make the setup easy and efficient. System checks, corrective actions and re-configuration can take place almost instantaneously and the handover of the show to new staff is much faster and easier.

The sound engineers for ‘Marie Antoinette’ appreciate the clear and logical design of the Vistonics™ II user interface. “A lot of changes on the Vi series are resolved in parallel with the actual workflow and these features make it possible to work as fast as necessary with the desk during a musical show,” comments Rovakis. “As a sound engineer in a musical production, you need a very ergonomic and well-arranged working environment to handle the number of switching and mixing actions and both desks operate without any failure.”