Yamaha and Solotech Outfit 17 Stages at Montreal Jazz Fest -- PM10 Makes Canadian Festival Debut

Yamaha Digital Audio Consoles were used on 17 stages with 12 stages featuring them at both front of house and monitors during the 37th Montreal Jazz Festival (MJF) June 29-July 9. One of the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world with upward of two million attendees and over 500 concerts, sound system provider Solotech and Yamaha Professional Audio (an official sponsor) were once again called upon to provide a selection of Yamaha digital consoles including two of the new RIVAGE PM10 Digital Audio Consoles, used at the TD Stage, the largest of the outdoor stages. All of the outdoor stages each had one or two Yamaha mixing consoles.

MJF is held at the Place des Festivals in downtown Montreal with approximately 50 concerts daily and even more entertainment in local bars, boats, etc. Concertgoers could travel from event-to-event, as all "outdoor" concerts were free of charge. Performers included Brian Wilson, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Christian McBride, Chick Corea, Joe Jackson, to name a few.

Dany Legendre, front of house engineer at the TD Stage said, "What I like about the Yamaha PM10 is the preamp. The system, without using any of the cool plug-ins, sounds great right from the start. But, if you want to get into the plug-ins, it's amazing what you can do with this console. The signal flow is really straightforward. If you're used to Yamaha consoles, it's really simple; it only takes about five minutes to be up and working on the console."

Gaétan Bouffard, monitor mixer at the TD Stage, said, "The learning curve of the PM10 was really easy. I became very confident about using it at the TD Stage as well as being able to show it to visiting engineers. The board sounds fantastic!"

A separate lounge was also set up at the festival housing a PM10 and a CL5 for guest engineers who required some time with the consoles.

In addition to the two RIVAGE PM10 Digital Audio Consoles for the TD stage, Yamaha provided two RPio622 boxes for the stage, two CL5s, and Rios on Stage Ste-Catherine, two CL5s and Rios at Maisonneuve Theatre, one QL5 and Rio at Pub Spectrou, two QL5s and Rio at Stage SNC-Lavalin, and one QL5 and Rio at L'Astral.

Solotech supplied two Yamaha CL5 and Rios for Metropolis, one CL3 and Rio at Savoy, one QL5 and one PM5D for the Gesu Theatre, one M7CL for the Wilfrid Pelletier Theatre, two M7CLs for Promenade des Artistes, two PM5Ds at Parterre, two M7CLs at Ilot Clark Nord, one M7CL at Maison Symphonique, one M7CL at 5th Salle, and a CL5 with Rios for Monument National.

"We are extremely happy to have collaborated with Solotech to support this annual, world renowned jazz festival with our digital mixers," said Marc Lopez, director of marketing, Yamaha Professional Audio. "The festival's decision to select our consoles for 17 stage locations is a testament to their universal engineer appeal."