As Yamaha celebrates 30 years since it produced the world’s first digital mixer, the company’s flagship RIVAGE PM10 digital mixing system continues to win new fans around the world. One of the latest is Swiss live production company smARTec Veranstaltungstechnik AG, which took delivery of two systems in late 2016.
smARTec has used Yamaha digital consoles for over ten years, investing in its first M7CL-48 in 2006. Since then it has expanded its inventory over time to include more M7CLs, as well as LS9s, 01V96s, PM5Ds and multiple CL series consoles.
“Our customers trust us to deliver the highest levels of reliability and Yamaha digital consoles provide that,” says smARTec’s Mark Steinemann. “When we started growing the corporate event side of our business, we found that they also gave us very analytical, accurate audio tools to work with, matching demands for clarity and high speech intelligibility. “Another big advantage is that we don’t have to train freelance engineers on the desks. Yamaha is a very well known brand in the Swiss corporate sector and the majority of the sound engineers already know them.”
In the autumn of 2016, smARTec was asked to service a large scale production which featured a mixed orchestra playing classical, world and pop music. Nearly 100 inputs were needed, along with high demands in terms of audio quality, signal distribution and the number of outputs. It also required a monitor system for 22 IEM mixes, plus ten more on wedges and sidefills. “Demands on our systems were growing in general and on some events the CL consoles were reaching the limit of their capacity. We had already talked about investing in RIVAGE PM10, but this production brought the process forward and we invested in two complete 96 input systems,” says Mark.
The capacity and quality of the RIVAGE PM10 system were key features for smARTec, but the ease with which it integrates with their existing systems was also important. “The quality of the preamps is very impressive. We compared them with other preamps and were simply blown away. But the fact that the TWINLANe networking can handle up to 400 channels and way it can be connected to Dante was also vital - the integration with our current digital audio networks is almost seamless,” Mark continues.
“We have had a lot of compliments on the workflow and overall user experience. Monitor engineers have highlighted the two monitor and cue busses, while FoH engineers really like the integrated processing like the TC6000 and the vast choice of compressors and EQs. I am a big fan of the Rupert Comp 754, which really packs a punch, and the SILK processing. I have found that I use a lot less EQ for things like bringing a lead vocal more to the front of a mix.” Although the RIVAGE PM10 systems only arrived in late 2016, smARTec has already used them on a number of productions and they are booked for events in 2017.
“We produced a private event in an ice stadium in December which had two stages fed from one FoH console,” says Mark. “Using RIVAGE PM10 meant we could take advantage of the twin stereo mixes and separate matrixing to the two PAs, without the need of a dedicated system desk for each one. The channel count also rose very quickly during the planning of the event and signal distribution over TWINLANe was very easy with fibre optic and the RPio 622 I/O Racks."
He continues, “The consoles are ideal for our larger corporate sector productions, concerts demanding the highest audio quality, like classical and jazz, and we will be using them for FoH and monitors at open air festivals next summer. We have also had dry hire requests from our Swiss competitors to use them at larger festivals throughout the year.”
