SYDNEY – The Australian Institute of Music, an education and training institution for performing arts and entertainment management, recently purchased two ETC Element consoles: one for the Pilgrim Theatre Sydney, for their Dramatic Arts program, and one for their multipurpose 220-seat auditorium in Foveaux Street. To educate the students on the new equipment, Jands conducted a special training day led by Rod McKinnon.
More details from Jands (http://www.jands.com.au):
Australian Institute of Music Adds ETC Consoles for Training Program
The Australian Institute of Music (AIM) has grown into a major player in education and training for the country’s music industry, performing arts and entertainment management fields. Recently AIM purchased two ETC Element consoles: one for the Pilgrim Theatre Sydney, for their Dramatic Arts program, replacing the Jands 48 channel ESP, and one for their multipurpose 220 seat auditorium in Foveaux Street, replacing a Theatrelight Scenemaster 24.
The ETC Element control console is designed expressly for modest rigs and maximum hands-on fader control. It is based on ETC’s Eos control operating system but with a simplified feature set in an all in one package.
Jands conducted a training day for the students, with Rod McKinnon at the helm. Students expressed amazement at how quickly they could learn to operate the ETC Element console.
“The training day that AIM conducted was great,” said Peter Loader, Technical Manager at AIM. “All the students and teachers who attended felt confident that they could operate and program the Element after the event. The Jands guys delivered a great teaching session, which gave us all the confidence to be able to operate the consoles well.”
Loader added, “The students love that they can record their programming steps in their show and then come back maybe three weeks later and replay it, or get any other student to run it just by pressing ‘GO.’ So they program their cues with the house rig and then they can come back at any time and operate it quickly and simply.”
The idea behind the ETC Element console is that it’s a great introduction console for operators who can graduate with relative ease to the Ion and then Eos as their careers progress or their shows get bigger.
“The ETC Element saves staff time setting up each production by being able to recall programming or store programs without the threat of losing any programmed work, and if an old rock dog/god like myself can program than anyone can,” said Loader. “It has 40 channels which I can operate just like an old JL24! I’m confident in using it both as a live manual desk or for programming a show. Theater students are programming their recitals and saving cues and looks to memory sticks every day while contemporary students are rocking using the desk manually.”
The Element console has many features to facilitate the use of moving lights and programmable LED fixtures, a factor that was important when considering the purchase.
“Since acquiring the console, we have purchased a stack of PAR64 LED cans and the plan is to purchase some moving head profiles and washes in the near future,” said Loader. “One thing I especially like about the console is the two computer monitors showing what’s live or what’s next. If you are thinking of purchasing a new desk, forget the sales talk, come and play with ours for a while.”
