Mauritius - Opened in 2018, the Caudan Arts Centre is a privately owned theatre and cultural hub in the Mauritian capital of Port Louis. Playing host to an average of 135 shows per year over 300 days, this busy 431-seater venue recently made a significant investment in its live mixing technology with the purchase of a Yamaha DM7 console, supplied by Stage Audio Works (SAW).
“We have a beautiful, high-performance space here at the Caudan Arts Theatre, with excellent acoustics and an exceptional PA system,” comments Kooshal Dwarka, technical manager and head of sound at the venue. “Since the very beginning, we have worked closely with Stage Audio Works. When it came time to upgrade our front-of-house kit, I reached out to the SAW team right away.”
Dwarka sought the advice of Stage Audio Works during negotiations on the mixing console upgrade. Whilst they had enjoyed a good experience with their hardworking Yamaha CL1 and CL3 for more than six years, the in-house team wanted to ‘unlock new levels of control and creativity over their mixes’.
“The DM7 stood out as the right choice for us,” continues Dwarka. “It would have a lot of the features of the Rivage series, in the right size format for us and offered a huge amount of flexibility in terms of user controls and customisation.”
Making this purchase means that the Caudan Arts Centre is the first venue to own this console in Mauritius.
“One of the main motivations for me was the 120 inputs and 48 outputs in a compact console,” remarks Dwarka. “This really opens up creative possibilities in terms of routing and bus mixing, which we are increasingly experimenting with. For its size and price, you get an extremely flexible, powerful and elegant console that saves a lot of time in live event situations.”
In addition to live performances, the Caudan Arts Centre also hosts various corporate events, and the Yamaha DM7 has proven its worth in terms of flexibility and support for diverse device setups.