MONTREUX, Switzerland (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The Montreux Jazz Festival, now celebrating its 40th year, is moving into the digital age with Digidesign's VENUE live sound environment. Under an exclusive partnership for the next three years, Digidesign will be the official Montreux audio sponsor and will install VENUE systems into each of the festival's three major auditoria: the Stravinski Hall, Miles Davis Hall and Casino Barriere.
This year's festival takes place from June 30-July 15 and features Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Black Eyed Peas, Gnarls Barkley, Massive Attack and Richie Hawtin. Digidesign's VENUE console will be placed at both FOH and monitor positions on each of the three main stages, bringing a new level of flexibility and sound quality to the show.
Montreux will also be taking advantage of the VENUE system's ability to interface directly with Pro Tools|HD. This allows engineers to conduct "virtual soundchecks" by recording a performance and then later using Pro Tools playback to fine-tune the mix. In addition, the Pro Tools rigs will allow Montreux organizers to capture live recordings of the 16-day festival's performances. Pending artist participation, these recordings will be sent overnight using Digidesign's DigiDelivery file delivery system to a Pro Tools|HD-equipped studio in California, mixed and then posted to the Internet the following day for the world to enjoy.
Montreux sound director Patrick Vogelsang made the decision to employ VENUE after his experience with the console the previous year. "We knew from last year that there wouldn't be a problem with the console, and that the system's intuitive control surface meant that engineers could walk up to it and instantly generate the mix they wanted," he said. "With the high visibility of VENUE in the field, many of the top engineers that will be mixing at the festival already have experience of the system." –Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
