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Florida theater venues choose DiGiCo Quantum225 desks

Artis-Naples is one of the premier destinations for the visual and performing arts in Southwest Florida. The Kimberly K. Querrey and Louis A. Simpson Cultural Campus in Naples includes two performance halls: the Frances Pew Hayes Hall and the Myra J. Daniels Pavilion, as well as The Baker Museum and the Stabile Education building.

Most recently, the 283-seat Daniels Pavilion - whose range of programs includes music, film, dance, comedy, lectures, and exhibitions - received an upgrade in the form of a new DiGiCo Quantum225 console, used for both front-of-house and monitor mixing duties, and sourced through Fort Lauderdale-based Carlton Audio Services, Inc.

Ryan Young, Head Audio Engineer at Artis-Naples for the last three years, says the addition of the Quantum225 is part of a series of upgrades that will also soon see the venue’s PA system replaced. “The intent was to upgrade and modernize our sound, and we are already very much a DiGiCo campus”, he adds, noting the SD12 console installed at the neighboring Frances Pew Hayes Hall and the SD9 that acts as a recording and program playback mixer there.

“We also wanted to have more flexible routing, so we could, for instance, run monitors from front of house”, he continues. “With so many different types of music and other performances here, versatility is the key.” Young says that he and his staff, including A2 Taylor Freydberg, have just begun exploring the possibilities of the console’s Mustard and Spice Rack processing.

On the state’s opposite coast, The Parker, a 1,200-seat venue in Fort Lauderdale and part of that city’s live-performance legacy for nearly sixty years, recently underwent a $30-million renovation. The process was part of an even larger rebranding and repositioning of the venerable venue: for much of its existence it had been the Parker Playhouse, a theatrical venue, and an affiliated venue of The Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Now, The Parker has become a main stop for top touring music artists and shows, with a new D&B Audiotechnik sound system and a DiGiCo Quantum225 console also supplied by Carlton Audio.

“Over the last several years we’ve transitioned to becoming a roadhouse venue”, says Anton Foresta, Director of Production - Affiliated Venues at The Parker. “Still a venue for community and educational programming but with a focus on live concerts at night, and for that, we wanted a rock and roll sound system and a rock and roll console.”

Foresta has been using DiGiCo desks for years, as front-of-house engineer for Arrival from Sweden, “The Music of ABBA” (for which he used a Quantum338), and in his role at The Parker, where he says the vast majority of the touring riders crossing his desk are for DiGiCo consoles. “Our job is to fill that rider and give them what their first choices are, and nine times out of ten, the first choice on that rider is DiGiCo. So rather than renting a DiGiCo, we decided to buy one”, he says.

“We had thought maybe we should get an SD12 because of its 96 inputs, but I knew that the Quantum225 would eventually get the update to go up to 96 channels - and a few weeks ago they released the update”, he adds.

Both Quantum225 consoles were recommended and sold through Carlton Audio Services in Fort Lauderdale. The company’s owner, Chris Carlton, also acts as sound designer and front-of-house engineer for Barbra Streisand, using a DiGiCo Quantum338 console for his live work with Streisand.

Pictured: Ryan Young at Artis-Naples’ new DiGiCo Quantum225 console; left to right: Anton Foresta, Michael Perez (A2), and Gabe Katz (A1) at The Parker’s new DiGiCo Quantum225 desk. (Photos: DiGiCo/Artis-Naples/The Parker)

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