PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania - December 2021 - It took a while for the Philadelphia Orchestra to get a home of its own. In fact, it was almost 100 years, as plans first begun in 1908 were disrupted by bureaucratic delays, a Great Depression, a couple of World Wars, and other speed bumps. But once it opened in December of 2001, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts was a wonder to behold: a vaulted glass ceiling encloses the entire structure, providing a large common lobby for all the facilities, including the centerpiece of the venue, the 2,500-seat Verizon Hall.
That's also where the Kimmel Center's long journey to completion received the cherry on top this past summer-a new and comprehensive DiGiCo digital-audio ecosystem for Verizon Hall comprising a Quantum338 console, two SD-Racks, and a 4REA4 Processor with multiple controllers. These were sold by Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Bauder Audio, which also consulted with the Kimmel Cultural Campus technical team during their own in-house installation of the gear.
Andr Barette, Kimmel Cultural Campus Director of Production, says the decision process behind the choice of DiGiCo components was lengthy and comprehensive. We have a lot of choices when it comes to quality audio systems on the market now, but we felt that the DiGiCo Quantum console was the one that best meets the needs of the Center's various clients, including Kimmel Center Presents engagements and different touring productions, he explains, noting that the Center is also home to the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Kimmel Center Presents performance series, which features a variety of jazz, classical, and pop music performers. And it's also one that touring engineers are very familiar with and often specify in touring contracts. It's a very rider-friendly console.
While the Quantum338 console and SD-Racks address the Center's immediate audio production needs, the 4REA4 processor is an even more strategic acquisition, he says. It's currently being used as a backup processor for the Verizon Hall sound system, routing paging and program audio to various zones in the venue's back-of-house areas. But, in the future, he expects its capabilities to be extended to the Center's other performance spaces, including the 650-seat Perelman Theater and its 75-foot-diameter turntable stage that permits the space to be used as a recital hall or a proscenium theater, and the SEI Innovation Studio, a 2,688-square-foot black-box theater. The 4REA4 is a very powerful and versatile processor, and we foresee it becoming an important part of our digital audio infrastructure in the future, he says.
Although the console, racks, and processor are the marquee items in this audio upgrade, there are a number of other items that perform equally important tasks. A pair of DiGiCo A168 stage boxes, one on the stage in the Verizon Hall and the other in the venue's equipment room, connect with the 4REA4 processor, extending its reach from the main hall into other areas of the facility, such as the lobby, and replacing a number of older rack-mount mixers and processors.
This combination of the 4REA4 and stage boxes is controlled using DiGiCo's AControl6 and AControl8 multi-layer programmable remote controllers. The AControl8's eight faders and six layers are used to manage audio when the hall is being used by the orchestra by itself, without amplified sound. The console is removed, allowing eight more seats to be made available for sale, and control of basic audio elements such as PA announcements and bell effects alerting patrons that a show is about to commence is handled efficiently by this tablet-like controller. Meanwhile, the smaller AControl6 acts as a compact submixer in the equipment room.
The Quantum338 console solved their input channel count problem, says Brian Naab, Production Manager at Bauder Audio Systems. Before, they had to resort to sidecar mixers as the channel counts got larger for pop shows with orchestras. Now, with the SD-Racks, they have 112 channels to work with, and they've got a lot of console in a small footprint. It's one amazing desk. But the combination of the 4REA4 processor, the stage boxes, and the AControl devices really gives them lots of flexibility in terms of configuring the hall, and for future extension of audio throughout the venue. Eventually, the 4REA4 will distribute and control audio everywhere, so future growth is built into the system.
Operationally, the new DiGiCo ecosystem at the Kimmel Center has made things even easier for Kenny Nash, the Center's Senior Audio Engineer. I've been working on DiGiCo consoles as a touring engineer for years, from the D5 to the SD5 and the SD7, so I'm familiar with their worksurface and software. I was always able to make whatever I needed happen on them, but the Quantum really takes it to a whole new level for me, he says.
For instance, Nash says he's able to distribute audio from a single channel to multiple locations, using the Quantum's inherent routing flexibility that's now also enhanced by the inclusion of an Optocore network that links the console, the two SD-Racks backstage, and the 4REA4 processor by fiber.
We're getting ready to do our A Soulful Christmas' show, and I can route any channel to front of house, to a record feed, or to any of the streaming we do, without having to manually set up multiple paths of dedicated channels, he explains. It so much more efficient. And the 4REA4 pops up as a MADI feed on the console, so that means less cabling is needed. The Quantum is the next step, but it's one that's going to let us be future-proof.
And part of that is due to the fact, Nash adds, that DiGiCo listens to users
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania - December 2021 - It took a while for the Philadelphia Orchestra to get a home of its own. In fact, it was almost 100 years, as plans first begun in 1908 were disrupted by bureaucratic delays, a Great Depression, a couple of World Wars, and other speed bumps. But once it opened in December of 2001, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts was a wonder to behold: a vaulted glass ceiling encloses the entire structure, providing a large common lobby for all the facilities, including the centerpiece of the venue, the 2,500-seat Verizon Hall.
