Over the years this has led to some classic 'unplugged' sets in the 900-capacity venue.
"The artists know they have to listen to the room - we ask them to play to the space and many produce shows that they wouldn't normally do," says head technician, Les Mommsen. "The pay-off is that we need to provide the best equipment that will enable them to achieve these lower levels, keeping the performance intimate, and at the same time enhancing the audience experience."
With a sympathetic board of directors, Mommsen recently petitioned for a Soundcraft Vi3000 digital console, the latest acquisition in a carefully planned three phase upgrade of the technical infrastructure.
One of the directors is Charlie Barrett, who has been running Terminal rehearsal studios for many years, and he and Mommsen have masterminded the refit. Barrett, whose familiarity with Soundcraft dates back to the early Mk1 analogue versions, said that brand pedigree had been one of the key drivers.
The Soundcraft console, distributed in the UK and Ireland by Sound Technology Ltd, was supplied by Crystal Pro Audio, with whom Barrett has a long relationship, and the house technicians carried out the installation themselves.
Union Chapel had already invested in an earlier digital desk with different characteristics, but wanted to give incoming production teams a choice of tonality, flexibility and feature set - and so the Vi3000 began life in the monitor position (where Beth Hart's sound engineer, Sebastiano Nacca, had insisted on using it) before relocating to front-of-house.
In outlining the requirement, Mommsen says, "We set a number of criteria; the new desk had to have rider compatibility; be future-proof; give us flexibility for later expansion and meet the budget. Soundcraft ticked all those boxes.
"With four Lexicon FX engines, UAD plugins via Soundcraft's Realtime Rack and access to Waves SoundGrid via Dante or MADI we are well set for the future."
(Jim Evans)
