When the High School of Dundee marked the 175th anniversary of its iconic building in November, a major showcase of the school’s talent was the only appropriate way to celebrate. Playing an integral part in the events was local sound specialist Apex Acoustics, complete with its DiGiCo D1 Live console.
The High School of Dundee is one of Scotland’s leading independent schools and is among the oldest in the United Kingdom. The impressive Doric main building has been a local landmark since1834, when it was constructed to accommodate three schools; the Dundee Grammar School, the English School, and Dundee Academy.
To celebrate the anniversary, the school organised Party On The Pillars – a major outdoor concert held in front of the building’s famous pillared main entrance, featuring the talents of both staff and pupils and enjoyed by an audience of over 2000. The celebrations culminated in a spectacular fireworks display.
With a wide range of entertainment being staged, including rock bands, pipe bands, choirs and dance acts. Apex Acoustics met the challenge head on by supplying a major live rig, including the 56 channel DiGiCo D1 Live.
“We have been involved with the school since 1988, providing sound equipment for many events including Remembrance Day, royal visits, sports days and annual theatre productions,” says Apex’s Paul Smith.
“We took the precaution of housing the console and main mix position in one of our vans, which paid off as – typically – it poured with rain for most of the event, but we had absolutely no problems with the equipment!”
Inputs came from a range of direct inputs and instrument microphones, whilst outputs from the console – manned by Matthew Ferrie of Apex who mixed the entire event – went to a large Meyer front of house system.
“It was a fairly standard mix set-up, but we did save snapshots of all the different acts during the afternoon rehearsals,” says Paul.
“For the show, Matthew was able to recall the snapshots for each performance and it worked a treat. It was an incredibly efficient way of doing a one-day event. All we need next time are some heaters for the van!”
