Post-production house Goldcrest Post Production has chosen an Avid Pro Tools S6 control surface for its newly-opened Dean Street Theatre 1, a purpose-built Dolby Atmos mixing theatre based in central London. Goldcrest’s Soho facilities are now home to three Pro Tools S6 control surfaces that have been supplied by Scrub, a division of HHB Communications.
 
The Dean Street Theatre 1 control surface is a 32-fader M40 Pro Tools S6, integrated with an AMS Neve DFC3D digital mixing console. Custom furniture enables the number of Pro Tools S6 or DFC3D modules to be increased or reduced depending on the mixer’s needs. For example, the mixer could have more Pro Tools S6 faders than DFC3D faders, or vice versa. Goldcrest Post Production’s Simon Ray, Head of Engineering, and Rob Weatherall, Studio Manager, were instrumental in the implementation of the hybrid mixing desk.
 
Each of five Avid Pro Tools rigs has a DAD DX32 audio interface, which has both Dante and MADI out. The MADI can be routed to the DFC for conventional mixing or to a sixth rig with a DAD AX32 converter system for ‘in the box’ mixing. A custom BSS monitoring solution can be accessed from either the AX32 or DFC. Simon Ray, Goldcrest's Head of Engineering told us...
 
We can also instantly switch between the increasingly varied mixing formats that are now required: 5.1, 7.1, Dolby Atmos and most recently DTS:X. The DAD interfaces give us so many options as to how we route the audio around the theatre and we are only just beginning to realise the potential of DANTE. The modular nature of the S6 means we can configure a setup to a mixers specific requirements.
 
Goldcrest has just completed the second job in the room, which was eight weeks of final mixing on a big Hollywood feature. They already have a number of similar projects lined up for the next year, that will take advantage of the Dean Street Theatre 1 seven-metre-wide screen, a 15-metre throw and a six-metre ceiling height throughout. The opening of Dean Street Theatre 1 brings the number of Dolby-licensed mixing theatres to three within Goldcrest London.