Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Delivers Exceptional Sound with Avid VENUE | S6L

InfoComm (Booth #C11908), LAS VEGAS, NV, 2016/06/08

Educational and performing arts complex at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign invests in Avid’s versatile live sound system to deliver outstanding mixes for a wide range of performances

InfoComm (Booth #C11908), LAS VEGAS, NV, June 8, 2016 – Avid^® (Nasdaq: AVID) today announced that the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has invested in an Avid VENUE | S6L live sound system to serve all of its diverse needs. Krannert Center plays host to world-class artists as well as the University of Illinois Department of Theatre’s Masters of Fine Arts program in theatre sound and design. VENUE | S6L gives the university’s students access to cutting-edge technology while providing a system that’s universally accepted by accomplished artists and engineers.

Taking up a full city block, Krannert Center houses four indoor theaters, five indoor stages, and an outdoor amphitheatre. After renting an Avid VENUE | Profile System for several years, the center decided to invest in a VENUE | S6L system acquired through Chicago-based audio equipment provider, TC Furlong, to support its wide range of performance requirements.

“VENUE | S6L gives us the best of both worlds,” said Rick Scholwin, Audio Director at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. “There are many great consoles out there, but keeping in mind the educational aspect, it was a no-brainer for us to go with Avid.”

VENUE | S6L is primarily used in the 979-seat Tryon Festival Theatre, where musicals as well as rock bands and jazz artists like Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman take to the stage. It will also be used in the 2066-seat Foellinger Great Hall—a huge symphonic space that hosts everything from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to opera stars like Renée Fleming—as well as the 678-seat Cowell Playhouse which is the main space for the Illinois Theatre.

“The S6L makes a lot of sense for us. On one hand, we want any marquee artist or outside engineer to be comfortable with the console. And on the other hand, we want to educate our students and give them access to cutting-edge technology,” said Alec LaBau, Assistant Audio Director at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. “We analyzed all the riders that we’d had for the past 18 months and discovered that Avid fills the bill for 95 percent of our riders, which no other brand could say. In addition, Avid Pro Tools^® is still the industry standard, which benefits the educational aspect of the university, while enabling us to serve our clients’ every need as they walk out on stage.”

Powered by the Avid MediaCentral™ Platform, VENUE | S6L features the industry’s most advanced live sound engine to provide live sound professionals with unprecedented power to handle huge channel counts while ensuring maximum stability and the lowest-possible latency. VENUE | S6L is powered by the same easy-to-use VENUE software as other Avid live sound systems, enabling engineers to quickly transition from other VENUE systems they’ve used previously.

“Krannert Center is a well-respected thought leader in the performing arts community so it was no surprise when they chose the Avid VENUE | S6L as their flagship console purchase,“ noted TC Furlong General Manager, Jeff Cech. “S6L checked off all the boxes for a roadhouse and producing center like Krannert, including rider acceptability, reliability, I/O density, and expandability. We were pleased to be awarded the S6L sale in the competitive public tender situation and look forward to supporting Krannert for years to come.”

“Throughout the world, performance venues like Krannert Center rely on the versatile VENUE | S6L system to deliver the best sound for their artists and events,” said Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Avid. “With its unmatched integration with Pro Tools, cutting-edge capabilities, and VENUE’s universal acceptance by live sound engineers, the award-winning console enables the Krannert team to take on even the most challenging performances with ease.”