RSS digital console for Birmingham's new MAC

On 1 May, mac threw open its doors to the public, a £15 million newly-refurbished arts centre which is set to change Birmingham's cultural landscape.  2 years in the making, the refurbishment includes a state-of-the-art digital audio system featuring two RSS M-400 digital mixing consoles coupled with the latest battery-powered lightweight RSS Snakes which can be used anywhere inside or outside the building.



Initially established specifically for young people, over the years mac has broadened its remit, and today welcomes over 500,000 visitors each year, including 10% of  Birmingham's population, who come to enjoy a programme which concentrates on the contemporary, showcasing artists across the full range of arts practice: film, theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, music and comedy.

The Edgbaston venue, also known as the Midlands Arts Centre, has made the most of the opportunity to install a cost-saving Cat5e REAC-based network, which provides great flexibility to this hive of artistic creativity. In mac's main 220-seat  theatre, which has been completely stripped out and re-equipped with new seating, lighting and sound systems, a new 48-channel RSS M-400 V-Mixer sits on the network at front-of-house.

Andy Elsegood, the Stage Electrics Business Development Manager who supplied the consoles plus 3x S-1608 Snakes, also recommended RSS' new S-0808 lightweight Digital Snakes.  mac has purchased four of these  8in/8out compact snakes, which support multiple power options including battery power, embedded power over REAC and power over Ethernet (PoE).

mac's Head of Technical Resources Simon Creed has taken two S-0808s and paired them together to create two complete point-to-point 8x8 snake systems, which he can also use as stage input boxes for the RSS V-Mixer, using the REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) protocol running on the Cat5e cable. S-0808 satellite stage boxes are also installed in mac’s cinema and in the music/education studio, ensuring full potential connectivity.



Audio and power is transferred over Cat5e cable using another new RSS product, the S-4000M REAC Merge Unit, which allows distribution of I/O units in a variety of locations, where AC power is not available or inconvenient to run.  Simon Creed explains, “this enables us to take our second mobile M-400 V-Mixer outdoors into the external stage area, a 400-capacity Arena, where we will host gigs.  Being able to use a single Cat5e cable instead of a multicore is a massive advantage in terms of manpower and time.”  mac has also purchased the RSS S-OPT optical converter, which allows them to run signal over distances of up to 2 km using optical fibre.

RSS marketing manager Martin Thomas applauds mac's use of the latest RSS technology: “the S-0808 and S-4000M are ideal for a multi-use venue like mac which requires versatile audio, and will bring a new level of flexibility to the signal path from sources to console.  It keeps the audio in the digital domain, preventing noise and signal degradation, and the space-saving benefits of sending audio over Cat5e cable are clear. Lower material cost, easier installation and, in the case of REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication), intuitive and reliable operation will save mac both  time and effort.”

Further information: www.rolandsg.co.uk





 

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