Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre has installed a new DiGiCo SD10T console supplied by Autograph Sales & Installations.

The console was delivered with dual SD-Racks fitted with the OpticalCon options, the unique T-series theatre software, a redundant engine and fader pod.

Commenting on the new addition at the theatre, head of sound Sorcha Williams said: “Autograph’s Ben Tredwell was very knowledgable on the equipment.

“I’ve always felt that the Autograph sales guys are not just a sales person. They really understand what they are selling and can advise according to your requirements. After-sales is excellent. There is always someone on the end of the phone to answer questions and, no matter how random the question is, they will always have an answer or direct you to the person who can help.”

Williams said that the new console was ordered, because the Royal Exchange is now producing a big musical every year, which means it “has had to invest in equipment that can cater for the diverse range of productions” in order to be flexible with how shows are programmed and operated.

Added Williams: “Our previous in-house desk was a great desk to use, however not practical to move. We therefore hired a DiGiCo every Christmas for the musical and whenever we had a larger scale show that required live mixing mics, most recently on our co-production with Manchester International Festival ‘Fatherland’. With the increase in the need to hire, it made sense for us to invest in our own digital console to replace the existing one.

“DiGiCo is what is always requested by sound designers and the features and expandability it provides mean we can cater for almost any requirements. Physically the SD10 is a compact size for such a powerful console and so suits our space requirements. Being able to position racks in strategic areas for different productions and connect them over OpticalCon fibre gives us a greater use of our infrastructure, and while we currently have to run long lengths of fibre between various points, I chose this option in order to future proof the purchase.”