The history of Bradford LIVE goes right back to September 22nd, 1930. Since it opened, it has been a treasured part of the Braford community. The community fought to save it after it fell into disrepair in 2000 and in 2025, after 50 million pounds of investment, it has returned as a multi-use venue the community can be truly proud of. From the 3,500-seater venue at its heart to the ballroom and smaller spaces, this is a venue that knows how to fully maximise a return on investment, and the DiGiCo Quantum 225s, supplied by Solotech, are working just as heard to earn their place there.
Sam Day, technical manager for Bradford LIVE, is in charge of ensuring that everything runs like clockwork. With a small core team and a regular rotation of house-technicians, it is important that ease of workflow matches the sonic quality of the venue’s brand-new sound system. For him, ensuring his team can work smoothly and efficiently to get everyone from Gorillaz to Bill Bailey on the stage is key to keeping the audience and wider community proud of the venue.
“We rely on a lot of people to make the shows happen; we’re a small permanent team, but we have a large support network of fantastic house technicians,” he says. “It’s been a lot of work to make everything in the system operational, but the easiest part was the desks. With a DiGiCo, you know exactly what’s going to happen when you switch it on. It’s great to have a reliable bit of kit that just works!”
The venue reopened in August 2025. Having been the country’s third biggest cinema in 1933, the building was redesigned in the 1960s, with many of the original features being destroyed in the process. The 2025 redesign restored the ballroom and auditorium to their former glory and the results are being noticed not just by audiences, but by touring acts, too.
“We’re starting to get bigger names coming through now,” Day continues. “So, the install is getting properly used and tested every day. Touring engineers really work our systems hard and challenge us, and I try my best to put everything in place that I would want to see as a touring engineer. The challenges make it a fun environment to work in and it’s been a great project to work on.”
As use of the venue grows, the Quantum 225 will be able to grow with it. A whole host of DMI cards are available to help Day and the team as demand expands.
“I think the DMI cards are something we will look at in the future, particularly the DMI Dante cards, as we have another Dante system we could tap into,” he expands. “The system is there for more redundancy or usability in other areas of the building. We have the auditorium and the ballroom, a great space for recordings, which the Quantum 225 with DMI Dante recording options would be great for. Plus, we have other smaller breakout spaces for corporate events or private hires.”
For flexible spaces like Bradford LIVE a key factor for success is the ability to react quickly to changes, including staging or even last-minute room changings. A benefit of choosing the Quantum 225 over a larger console is its portability. Weighing in at 43kg, the Quantum 225 can be easily wheeled between rooms as required, and its customisable surface leaves space for outboard equipment. Knowing that there is a reliable answer to the ‘could we just?’ question is a huge bonus for Day and his team.
“225s are great house consoles because of their size, usability, and number of faders,” he says. “We move them around, but one is typically at front of house and another at monitors. They’re also easy to store when people bring their own consoles. We do a lot of shows that require AV or QLab, so we use the integral laptop stand a lot with QLab, the we can have the other screen off to the side for metering.”
With shows increasing in size for the main venue and greater demands being made on the smaller spaces throughout this iconic building, Day knows the team have their work cut out for them, but with the support of Solotech and DiGiCo, he is sure 2026 is going to be a good year.
“I’m really happy with the Quantum 225s,” he concludes. “The Solotech team have been a real support. I’ve been using DiGiCo for about 12 years, and on a recent training day, even I learned stuff on the Quantum 225 that I hadn’t explored before. That was really cool. There’s always new stuff to learn, and it’s exciting to do that with the experts.”