DiGiCo Heads To the Far Nor For Haalogalan eatre

When Haalogaland Theatre in Tromso in the Nord-Norge, the northernmost region of Norway, needed to upgrade its digital mixing system, it looked for the most flexible platform for theatre use. Its final decision was to invest in DiGiCo, purchasing an SD7T, an SD10-24T, two SD-Racks and five Orange Boxes, along with five Optocore boxes.

We needed a large format digital console for the main stage, and a smaller digital console for our touring district, and both of them had to work with the same show files, etc, explains Jim-Oddvar Hansen, Head of Sound at Haalogaland Theatre. Our touring district is one of the most demanding areas in the world, located in north Norway, well north of the Arctic Circle. In fact, one of the places we visit is North Cape and the town of Honningsvaag, Europe's most northern point. Our consoles need to be able to stand up to the demands placed on them.

Jim-Oddvar and his team tested all brands and platforms. They then went into a long tender process where they specified a clear list of how many consoles, channels, I/O boxes, digital transmissions, etc, they required, based on what they were going to need for the future.

I had contacted Jim-Oddvar previously and he told me that they were in the process of deciding what mixer the theatre should invest in this year, recalls Asbjorn Boyesen, Pro Audio Sales at Scandec Systemer AS, DiGiCo's Norwegian distributor. I caught a plane right away and visited Jim-Oddvar at their facilities.

A week or so after his initial visit, Asbjorn, Jim-Oddvar and his colleague Dagfinn travelled to DiGiCo's head office in the UK to have a closer look at the SD7.

A demo from Autograph's Andrew Bruce on the theatre specific T software was included, as well as a visit to the show Made In Dagenham, says Asbjorn. When the tender came out in June, one could read between the lines what they wished for.

We made a preliminary visits to all the manufacturers of digital consoles, adds Jim-Oddvar. Our visit to DiGiCo was definitely one to remember. We had great service from DiGiCo's Tim Shaxson and his team. For me, the highlight of the visit was to meet Andrew Bruce at his company, Autograph Sound, where we had a very exciting time. I have to thank Andrew for spending the time with us.

At the end of the process, Scandec won against sharp competition and the theatre purchased the SD7T, SD10 24T, two SD-Racks, five Orange Boxes and five Optocore boxes - which includes two X6R-FX with 16 mic input each, two V3R with eight analogue out and 16 AES3 I/O each, as well as a DD4MR FX with two MADI streams of I/O and an Aviom D-800 Dante box for monitor mixing - all tied together in a redundant optical loop. Each SD-Rack has 56 inputs, 40 line outputs and 16 AES outputs.

We went for DiGiCo because of its fantastic theatre software, FPGA processing, and the fact that, all in all, it is a really reliable product line, says Jim-Oddvar. Scandec Systemer AS and Asbjorn Boyesen have given us the best service. I have written a lot of tenders in my time, but Asbjorn and his team gave a textbook answer; one of the best I have ever seen. And, after we decided that DiGiCo was for us, the follow up service was outstanding. Big thanks also for the support from DiGiCo, for always taking us seriously, and for always replying really fast. This is extremely important for us, living such a long way up north!

When the DiGiCo system arrived in October, the theatre had just started rehearsals for its largest musical, which was to start just two days later.

We started from scratch and just went with it, says Jim-Oddvar. We found a lot of new features every day and when the opening day came we were really happy with the console.

We know that we have just scratched the surface of a really great digital platform, with an amazing theatre software. We are really looking forward to using DiGiCo in the future!

For more information about Haaloglan Theatre, visit www.ht.tr.no

For more information about Scandec Systemer AS, visit www.scandec.no/

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