Located in Kirkcaldy, on the north bank of the Firth of Forth, the Adam Smith Theatre serves a wide catchment area which ranges as far afield as Edinburgh, Stirling and Aberdeen. Previously a council-run venue, it is now run by the Arts & Theatres Trust Fife, along with the Rothes Halls (Glenrothes), Lochgelly Centre (Lochgelly) and Carnegie Hall (Dunfermline, not New York - although both were founded by the same philanthropist).
"We put on a bit of everything here," says Paul Robertson, the Adam Smith Theatre's head of sound. "From films and stage shows with just a few sound effects, choral performances where we just need a few floor mics and radio mics, through to major musicals with multiple radio mics and a full orchestra or band. Because of the variety of shows, we need a very versatile system."
For nearly a decade the theatre was host to a 24 channel Yamaha 02R console which served its purpose well, but whose channel count was simply not enough in recent years.
"We have a small front of house area and, because of the size of some of the productions, we had to add an analogue Yamaha console to provide enough channels," says Robertson. "We did one show where there were so many radio mics that I had the 02R's inputs full of radio, plus four more radio mics on the analogue mixer. It caused problems in the space we have available, but it was the only way we could do it."
When Robertson was given the opportunity to replace the mixing console, he chose an LS9-32 with two MY16-AT ADAT extension cards, connected to additional mic preamps, all supplied by Edinburgh-based The Warehouse. Dovetailing seamlessly into the system is a laptop computer running Yamaha Studio Manager software.
"I have a 64 channel system in the space of a 24 channel one - and it's great. I can patch anything to anything now without swapping cables, I can make any fader do anything I need it to," he says.
(Jim Evans)
