HHB Communications Ltd choose Roland for a discrete solution at Eton College

The refurbishment of School Hall at Eton College provided yet another opportunity for the simplicity and functionality of the Roland REAC system and M-300 mixer to shine. Specified by Andrew Hingley from HHB Communications Ltd for the job, the M-300 was installed alongside S-1608 and S-0816 digital stage boxes to form a multi-function sound system.

The hall itself had undergone a major refurbishment taking almost a year to complete and due to its ornate structure, the sound system installation had to be as discrete as possible. The hall is a large building and with the mixing position being virtually the furthest point from the stage, Andrew had to find a way to cover the distance whilst avoiding unsightly cable runs.

The hall is generally used for assemblies where a simple mic and playback is sufficient but can, on occasions, need to cope with big band jazz concerts and multitrack recording – so the mixer had to offer extensive functionality. Because of the distance to be covered, an accessible and straightforward digital system provided the best solution. Instant recall of saved setups was also very important as the system would be used by less experienced users such as students.

 

The M-300 is a powerful and compact digital mixing console, offering a substantial mixing capability with 32 mixing channels, L/C/R outputs, 8 AUX buses and 4 matrices. Built in REAC allows flexible system expansion and as part of the V-Mixing System including Digital Snakes, Personal Mixers and Multi Channel Recording, the M-300 provides a scalable solution for medium sized venues and is also lightweight and transportable.

The School Hall sound system includes powerful front speakers for music, three pairs of delay fills and one pair of back fill speakers along the sides and rear of the hall to ensure a clear and even coverage of voice amplification. The loudspeaker specification meant the mixer had to cater for delay management to the fill outputs whilst still allowing for front of house and stage foldback. Considering all of the audio processing requirements, cable distances and the limited amount of space at the mixing position, the Roland M-300 mixer with REAC stage boxes provided an ideal solution.

Using the Roland system meant that HHB could run a single Cat 5e cable instead of a traditional bulky 32 channel snake. The built-in delays and eight band parametric EQ on every output also meant that tuning of the system for the hall was a quick and painless process.

M-300

A powerful and compact digital mixing console.

S-1608

S-1608 Digital Snake System stage unit

S-0816

S-1608 Digital Snake System front of house unit