he says . “ I know a lot of production companies have put something similar into their shops or in the warehouses , but I wanted to take a different route and use a venue in order to , a ) bring some stuff through a venue , they ’ re having a tough time right now too , and b ) use the space as an element of the shoot . There ’ s really no better venue in the city to do something like this .”
Based on the brief amount of time I was able to spend inside the venue seeing The Hub up close , it ’ s pretty apparent as well why this particular spot was Paquette ’ s first and ultimately only choice to play host to his brainchild ; the vibe in the room is certainly far more electric than a shop or warehouse , and offers an exponentially grander feeling than a studio live floor , both in front of and behind the camera , thanks in part as well to a phenomenal lighting design by LD Curtis Leroux . Plus , for performers or presenters coming in , the added sentimentality of taking the stage at The Opera House undoubtedly adds a special mystique in and of itself .
For performers , the experience is just about as close as one can get to playing a full-production live show barring the lack of audience . PRG ’ s taken full advantage of their dormant equipment , providing The Hub with a delightful helping of equipment covering audio , video , and lighting and have left nothing on the table in terms of production value .
Starting on the stage , eight d & b M4 monitor wedges are available for players , while a further eight channels of wireless are available over Shure PSM1000 systems , with a Shure Axient Digital Wireless system in place as well . Monitoring is handled by a DiGiCo SD9 Core 2 console , typically helmed by Opera House head audio tech Dan Cumming , a touring veteran in his own right .
PRG ’ s mic package includes a large helping of live staples from Shure and Sennheiser , including an abundance of the ubiquitous Shure SM57 and SM58 in various uses , as well as a variety of Shure ’ s Beta series mics in addition to the KSM137s , which were used for drum overheads during my visit . Sennheiser ’ s e900 series is also very well represented across many sources . Cumming explains that there ’ s not a particular through-line in terms of how he mics the stage , as requirements and mic choices change depending on the event , and depending on whether or not an event brings its own engineer .
Since there ’ s no live audience , front of house for The Hub is actually located in the venue ’ s foyer , where all stage sources are fed to an FOH setup that would look quite at home in a TV truck ; all productions are mixed live on a larger DiGiCo SD12 console running out through a pair of Genelec 804A nearfields , with up to 56 tracks of audio recordable at once at a 96kHz sample rate . With no need for a PA , performances are instead mixed much more like a record than a show , and according to another veteran Opera House audio tech , Will Schatz , this setup is more than adequate ; however , it certainly does vary from what he ’ s used to , which is the venue ’ s live FOH setup run from an Avid Venue SC48 , blasting through the PA in the hall rather than a pair of nearfields back in the foyer .
With that comparison in mind , Paquette notes that this particular undertaking has been unique for him as well , being more accustomed to the spontaneity and hustle of the live touring circuit rather than the more clinical “ studio ” approach to recording audio . However , he explains that this overall broadcast model is here to stay within the industry . “ In general with venues , I think a lot of them will keep a lot of the livestreaming models in place because everybody ’ s used to it now . A lot of venues have purchased equipment to do stuff like this ; of course , none of the other venues in town are really doing it at this level . We wanted to bring a bigger production .”
And a bigger production they brought . In front of the stage , rather than eyeballs , performers are watched by full-size HD broadcast cameras on the floor at stage left and stage right , as well as a wide-angle camera tucked further back into the hall near video world . Four robo-cams are deployed stealthily throughout the venue as well , culminating in a video package that allows individuals on-stage to perform completely uninhibited , while also allowing the audio techs to mic up stage audio sources without any video equipment in the way . However , I was particularly intrigued by a small and unobtrusive camera that could be mounted inconspicuously anywhere on stage , allowing for some unique angles . Behind the performers as well is a gigantic and gorgeous 31- by 13-ft . Absen LED video wall , which is used for everything from displaying logos or backdrops to live feeds from the cameras .
Altogether , The Hub represents the culmination of a timeless venue , a powerful and innovative vision , and the cooperation of some of the best people this industry has to offer , and while it ’ s currently not guaranteed how long the setup will remain in place , it has more than made good use of a beautiful space that would otherwise have been left empty .
With the building in use by The Hub and the PA essentially inactive for the time being , eventually returning show-goers will find themselves pleasantly surprised by what they ’ ll see and hear at the venue post-pandemic ; the venue ’ s decades-old Adamson Y10 PA has been replaced by a brand-new CS-Series rig .
PRG ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE ERIK PAQUETTE , TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF THE HUB
CS10 LINE ARRAY AT HOUSE RIGHT
“ They ’ ve had an Adamson Y10 system since the dawn of the Y10 ,” says Brian Fraser , head of product and technology at Adamson Systems . “ In fact , they have Y10s with the original model low-frequency driver , which is a paper cone rather than a Kevlar cone , which became the standard later on .” On the Y10 system , Cumming comments , “ 21 years we ’ ve had the Y10 rig in here , and that thing was indestructible . It has gone through some of the loudest , most ignorant shows you ’ ll ever see in your life , but it just kept working .”
However , Schatz points out that despite its bulletproof history , the aging system was beginning to show some signs of fatigue . “ It was just starting to show its age a bit . When I was the head tech before I passed the gig onto Dan , it was starting to become kind of a waking nightmare just to make sure it stayed working all the time . You knew at one point something was going to go wrong . Nothing major ever really did ; it ’ s just this constant
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