Joe Byrne from CA

I just received several pictures from Joe.
He just attended our Buena Park session last week.

Pictures: PM5D in Balboa Theater in downtown San Diego, and M7CL in Santa Monica High School’s Barnum Hall

Hey Joe, I think we need a picture with you ;-)


"Unlike most of the other class members, at this point in my career I work for a design and integration firm as a designer and project manager. Because of the fact that I spent some 15 years on the road as a touring FOH and Monitor mixer, a lot of the projects that come our way which have anything to do with live sound get passed to me to manage.

"Although I don’t do much mixing these days, I still need to stay on top of the latest console technology because more and more venues are specifying digital consoles. Most of the time they ask for Yamaha, not only because of the excellent price point and ease of operation but also because so many touring acts carry a 5D or 1D, hence the ability for them to show up, upload their show and GO. As I’m sure you’re well aware, anytime a touring company can leave something on the truck-life is good.

"So, I’ve attached a zip file of one of my latest installations. We put a PM5D V2 into the historic Balboa Theater in downtown San Diego. The venue was originally built in 1924 and has been restored to its original form; they even restored the working water fountains inside the theater on either side of the proscenium opening.


"Back in 2006, I designed and installed a system for Barnum Hall at Santa Monica High School. Now, you may say to yourself “What kind of theater could a high school have?” Well, first of all, SMHS has many children of musicians, actors, etc. that go to school there so their performing arts department is very important to them.

"The hall is very nice, seats about 1200 with a deep balcony. They wanted to also teach production technology there, so I though that a digital console would be the way to go. I chose the M7 because of, once again, the price point and ease of operation. It has a lot of the same features of its bigger brothers, but isn’t quite so overwhelming to the kids. At the very least, it will help them to start thinking in layers.