Hosting many one night theatre shows and a host of interesting music gigs, they wanted a multi-functional console that would be good for busking and fast programming 'on-the-fly' as well as for handling detailed pre-programmed shows.
grandMA was initially recommended to the Albany by lighting designer Lawrence Stromski, and originally they thought it would be beyond their budgets, but then Greenhill and Wallace took the opportunity to check out what MA had to offer at PLASA 2009. Here they saw grandMA2 in action and were seriously impressed. This was followed up by a demo on site by MA UK, after which the order was placed.
The Albany's chief technician is Daniel Whewell, and many of their regular lighting operators are chosen from a pool of freelancers, so Ben, Daniel and the key operators all visited MA UK for training. Wallace comments, "The training was very thorough, and MA are always on the end of the phone if needed."
Greenhill adds, "MA UK's Philip Norfolk's assurance that the company would not sell at all unless it was convinced that it was the right console, and his insistence that they want long term and happy customers was a big plus point, along with all the ongoing investment in the console with software upgrades."
(Jim Evans)
