Installation Case
- category:
- Event
An Ultra-Exclusive Birthday Celebration at Dorchester Hotel
— PM5D Delights the Dorchester —
Overview
It’s a very special type of birthday party that is spectacular enough for an international superstar to be flown in to give a private performance at London’s luxurious Dorchester Hotel. But there are a lucky few who have the funds to be able to throw such lavish celebrations, and understandably they are not going to go to all that expense and trouble only to have the performance blighted by sub-standard sound.
Such was the case on January 5, when Lionel Richie was flown in from Los Angeles to perform for a few hundred lucky partygoers at an ultra-exclusive triple birthday celebration for a high-flying City financier, his wife, and daughter. With The Searchers and compére Jimmy Tarbuck also performing, plus various speeches to be made, nothing but the very best in audio quality was acceptable.
Production manager and front of house engineer for the night was Arthur Anderson from Bedford-based production company Transmedia742, for whom a Yamaha PM5D was the console of choice.
- Place:
- The Dorchester Hotel
- Performers:
- Lionel Richie, The Searchers
- Interview date:
- 01/2007
Product List
- Mixers:
- PM5D-RH
Details
High Fidelity for High Fliers
“The client explained the format of the evening and that the entertainment would include Lionel Richie, who was to be specially flown in along with his band and entourage,” he says. “We also had The Searchers and a number of handhelds would be required, so the channel count would require 48 inputs. The money spent on these corporate style events means that they demand the very highest in sound quality, so the Yamaha PM5D was the ideal front of house console.”
The flexibility of the PM5D was key to the success of the evening’s audio production. In addition to the main stereo mix, Arthur had eight further sends for in-fills and side clusters positioned at various parts of the Dorchester’s ballroom so that no matter where they were seated, every guest would get the same high quality sound.
Offline Editing Beats Tight Schedules
As with all corporate-style events, timescales for the load-in and sound checks were inevitably very tight, so the offline editing facility of the PM5D was very important.
“Using the PM5D software manager, I was able to pre-program all the input/output channels, along with graphics and effects while back at the office. This meant that I’d already done 90% of the setup when I arrived at the Dorchester,” says Arthur. “In addition, the onboard reverb is, in my opinion, the best of any of the other digital desks out there.”
Friendly and Logical
But it’s not just the PM5D’s excellent sound quality, programmability and onboard effects that helped to make the event such a success for Transmedia742 – it also made the mixing experience itself pleasurable for Arthur, an engineer who has spent much of his career using analog consoles.
“For a 56 year old analog engineer I find the layout very friendly and logical,” says Arthur. “To be honest, all of these are reasons why I love using the PM5D.”
