Flexibility, Portability, Return On Investment - Yamaha Ticks All The Boxes At De Meervaart

When a multi-purpose venue has 17 different spaces where a wide range of events can be held, it is important that the sound mixing facilities are both very flexible and portable. At De Meervaart in Amsterdam, choosing Yamaha has meant that both of these needs can be satisfied. In addition, long-term return on investment has been maximised by the new equipment being able to seamlessly work alongside reliable, older Yamaha equipment.

Located in Amsterdam’s Nieuw-West district, where a major programme of urban renewal has been carried out in recent years, De Meervaart is a multi-purpose venue which includes two theatres, three foyers, two studios and 10 further meeting rooms of different sizes. Between them they can host a diverse range events for between two and 2,000 people. These range from live music, theatre shows and major corporate events in the Red Hall (capacity 800) and Blue Hall (capacity 270), to a wide array of product launches, trade fairs, fashion shows, meetings, drinks receptions and more.

With many international artists performing at the venue, alongside the needs of extreme flexibility and portability, De Meervaart technical head Martin Keereweer has relied on Yamaha digital mixing consoles.

“About 13 years ago we invested in Yamaha M7CL-32 and LS9-16 consoles, which still work flawlessly,” he says. ”But with the busy schedule of events here, there was a constant demand for more equipment. We will continue to use the M7CL and LS9, so it made sense to invest in Yamaha again.”

This opinion was reinforced by Gijs Kater of Kater Audio, a touring veteran of over 25 years who has mixed so many shows at De Meervaart that, as he says, he probably knows the venue and its staff ‘better than his own living room’.

“Gijs is recognized as a walking encyclopaedia, a true ‘audio professor’, so his view that we should continue with Yamaha, because of the solid and reliable performance over the years, coincided completely with ours,” says Martin.

With 11 technicians and a group of freelance engineers working at the venue, as well as visiting engineers, it also made sense to add consoles that are widely known throughout the industry, as well as every mixer being portable and flexible enough to be used on any event in any of the venue’s many spaces.

Supplied by Kater Audio, De Meervaart invested in Yamaha QL5 and QL1 digital consoles, plus two Rio3224-D2 I/O units. Proof of how Yamaha digital consoles provide an excellent long-term return on investment was provided by the purchase of Dante-MY16-AUD2 interface cards for the M7CL and LS9, allowing both the new and old consoles to work seamlessly alongside each other on a Dante network.

Yamaha’s Jan Prins visited the venue to train staff on the new QL consoles, which was a straightforward process. “It was not difficult to learn the QL mixers, because the workflow is very similar to the M7CL and LS9,” says Martin. “With the similarity of user interface and the Dante interface cards for the older consoles, it is perfect for us that the new and old can work alongside each other, enhancing the flexibility of our audio systems at De Meervaart.”