DiGiCo D5T is console of choice for New York's Acme Sound Partners

The D5T mixing consoles have been purchased by separate New York based rental companies, who are also supplying full sound and communication systems to the individual shows. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is being supplied by Sound Associates, while Spamalot has chosen ProMix as the rental provider. Each of these systems comprising a D5T together with D5TC operators console & a D5T-RE redundant engine, giving fully switchable backup should the need arise.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels debuted at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego last Autumn, before moving to New York's Imperial Theatre for its Broadway premier on 3rd March 2005.Based on the 1988 film that stared Michael Caine and Steve Martin, it is set on the French Riviera, where two con men meet and decide that the town isn't big enough for both of them. They agree to a contest and a hilarious battle makes for a very entertaining evening.

Spamalot, a new musical lovingly written by Eric Idle, from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail, initially opened at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago and will preview at Broadway's Shubert Theatre in mid February before opening on 17th March 2005.The Chicago run was extended because the box office was sold out before the run began.

Nevin Steinberg explains how Acme Sound Partners came to specify the DiGiCo D5T's for both these shows. 'We had attended a few D5T demonstrations in New York and Mark Menard, who has a long standing relationship with Autograph, had worked with Andrew Bruce on the 2004 refit of Les Miserables in London, the first show to utilise a D5T. Mark reported back on the excellent sound quality and flexibility of the software, and that's when we decided to specify it for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I travelled to London myself and spent five days at Autograph while Andrew and his team prepared for Mary Poppins. They took me through the hardware and software set-up process on the forthcoming Poppins console, which was an enormous leg up for us on Scoundrels and a big confidence boost going into production. By this time Acme was convinced that the D5T was also the right console for Spamalot.'

Lew Meade,A2D's US director, is very pleased with the way in which the US theatre market and its designers have so quickly embraced the D5T's technology. As an ex-rental company proprietor, he is also very aware how this console would also excite producers with its much smaller footprint, returning to them a significant number of saleable seats. 'I am thrilled that the Designers and the Theatrical audio rental companies have so easily adapted to the digital technology and have seen the immeasurable benefits that the DiGiCo D5T and its family of products can offer.'

Scott Kalata from Masque Sound says: "We are very enthusiastic about the use of the DiGiCo D5T on We Will Rock You, this console has definitely initiated a new era in theatrical sound design. It's a highly refined product that even Broadway's most particular designers are keeping a very close eye on. Let the revolution begin!"

The D5T is the result of an 18-month collaboration between DiGiCo and Autograph's Andrew Bruce, which has transformed the D5Live into its theatre counterpart, the D5T. The first fully featured console was installed in March when the London production of Les Misérables transferred to the Queens Theatre from the Palace, its home for 19 years.

Three things distinguish the D5T from D5Live. The behaviour of its surface controls, under the new LiveUpdate mode, allow controller changes to automatically track from cue to cue as if it were an analogue console but is also supplemented by several logical improvements. Two other significant enhancements take the form of a dedicated operator's control surface, labelled the D5Tc and an integrated software package specifically tailored for the cue-driven world of musical theatre, dubbed CueEditor.

All these new features have been subjected to an extensive testing regime since the beginning of the year and were finally rolled out for the Les Misérables move.

Bobby Aitken, sound designer for We Will Rock You, has embraced this new digital mixer technology and plans to specify the D5T and its new features on all future productions. Bobby's long running association with Autograph and Andrew Bruce, with whom he co-designed Mamma Mia, will also spec the D5T for upcoming productions of this hit Abba musical, now in its fifth successful year.

Identical versions of the D5T package will be seen on the forthcoming Disney/Cameron Mackintosh production of Mary Poppins, as well as a new UK tour of Miss Saigon and the New York production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Lew Mead, A2Ds US Director, says: ' We are delighted to make this sale to Masque and to be involved in the first US production of 'We Will Rock You'. This sale signals a significant milestone in the development of Digital consoles in the theatre environment.'

Oct 03 - Autograph Sound has incorporated a new company in the international theatre capitals of London and New York to develop and promote the sales of selected digital products specifically aimed at the theatre market. Named Autograph A2D, it aims to advance the acceptance of digital mixers and infrastructure in the predominantly analogue world of theatre.

In the UK, the company will draw on the combined experience of Andrew Bruce, Duncan Bell of Autograph and Nigel Olliff, co-founder of BSS Audio. The US company will be led by Lew Mead, former owner of ProMix, a New York based rental company whose association with Bruce and Autograph spans 15 years.

It has secured the exclusive distribution rights for the DiGiCo D5T, the theatre version of the D5 Live, in the United States and will be working very closely with DiGiCo to promote the D5T in the UK and the rest of the world. Autograph A2D has been working on the development of the D5T with DiGiCo for almost a year and the specialised software package together with a dedicated add-on theatre operator's console is set to be unveiled at the AES in New York in October.

The software package comprises a two-part enhancement consisting of dedicated "theatre" software running on the console as well as an external data-entry programme to assist and shortcut the programming of cues.

Autograph has been active in the field of mixer control software since 1989 when it commissioned its own designer and software writer, Matt McKenzie, to produce alternative software for the Cadac E-Type. Subsequent collaborations with both Soundcraft and Cadac, building on the practical experience of its in-house designers, has uniquely established Autograph as a specialist on the theatre console user interface.

At the D5 Live's launch at last year's PLASA show, Autograph director and sound designer Andrew Bruce recognised it as an ideal core for the first truly dedicated, assignable digital theatre console, a project into which he was keen to channel Autograph's previous development work. Fortunately, it transpired that DiGiCo were equally keen to move on to the next stage in the expansion of the D5 family.

"Since it can simultaneously display any 24 of its input channels in 3 banks of 8, it is entirely intuitive for any engineer brought up on analogue to grasp. As a consequence it goes a long way towards allaying the fears of operators for whom, hitherto, the predictable criticism of all assignable consoles has been that 99% of the console is always hidden. Frankly it's a wonder nobody came up with it before. What's more, it incorporates several features from previous projects that we'd been hoping would see the light of day again. We have been working with DiGiCo to merge in some of the more esoteric features that we have come to rely on in a theatre console." Says Bruce.

"We all share a sense of real excitement at making a significant contribution to the digital mainstream in the theatre".