Earlier this year I visited the RSC's production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Sadler's Wells in London. As well as seeing an exciting show, I also went to listen to a new digital mixing console; the Yamaha PM1D, and to meet the man responsible, sound designer Scott Myers. He told me that the desk is at the cutting edge of sound technology - memorising everything. The operator can set a fader level - reverb - routeing, and just press the store button and confirm. When you return to that scene state, it will be exactly as you set it, just like a memory lighting board. The console along with all the rest of the audio system, was supplied and engineered by Orbital Sound.

The desk houses eight effects units and every input and output has a delay time, which means you can cut out all the outboard gear. Scott keeps the desk in recall safe mode, so that the operator can take instant control. Looking at the desk, I couldn't see any multi-core cables. As it is digital, the desk uses only 4 BNC coax and 2 data cables, which lead back to under stage racks.

With such a fast moving show, I asked Scott how he had the confidence to run an automated sound desk. He explained that the desk simply presents you with a work surface. You have to attune your mind to its mode of operation. "As sound engineers we are having to learn to think differently." There are 96 inputs on this desk; the operator is only looking at 48 at any one time. Hit a transfer button and you can instantly see the other 48.

Sadler's Wells reserved 18 seats for the sound position. A conversional 96-channel control desk would usually fill the rear of the stalls. But the PM1D desk is relatively small. Fitting into the space is an Akai S6000 sampler as well, which holds effects, a MIDI keyboard and an input/output rack. Myers gave ten seats back to the management, the equivalent of over ten thousand pounds over an eight-week run!

Myers explained that it had been a challenge to be the cutting edge of technology. However, for the PM1D mixer to become a fully-fledged theatre sound desk, he admits that there are things which have to be altered. "It's a little bit slow as one has to learn to trust the controls. The hardware is really good and the sonic quality of the desk is quite phenomenal, but we have to work on the software. For example, when DCA changing (Digital Control Amplifier instead of a conventional analogue Voltage Controlled Amplifier) the mic is normally 'out and off'. However, when we step into a mic that is live, it becomes instantly 'on and up' under DCA control. Having that across 28 radio mics became a bit of a nightmare". He had to find a way to keep the mic down until required. This was achieved by recording them 'out and off' in the previous state.

As a back-up and just in case anything should go wrong, there is a complete system sitting in the sound box, waiting and ready to go. Everything from stage is split, ready to feed the back-up. If the PM1D desk fails the operator can fall back to the manual system. But Myers is quietly confident he wouldn't be using the back up. Orbital Sound have worked closely with Myers to realise his creative objectives for the show. By combining the desk with d&b loudspeakers, a mix of C7, C7 subs, E18's, B18's E3's, C6's and C690's, Orbital have helped in bringing out the intricate surround sound system, sonic clarity associated with the PM1D.

Myers believes that theatre design and acoustics are more important than any equipment or operator. For The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the sound operator is sitting under a gallery with a letterbox view, relying on mixing major music he can't hear properly. Who would design a theatre and cover it in mesh? The actors cannot get anything back from the auditorium so they end up straining their voices.

"We need to teach the practical aspects of acoustics." Of the National, where Myers has worked for ten years, he says "I walk into the Olivier and ask myself why do they have solid concrete walls and undiffused sound traps beside the stairs? However, at Sadler's Wells the actors voice are lifted slightly to overcome the noise from children within auditoria."

I asked Myers if there was anything in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe he would change. He told me that he loved acoustic music and wished he could have an orchestra pit - "there is nothing better than say, a trombone. It's more dynamic. You can recreate sonically the instrument's emotion through a sound desk. It's similar to seeing an actor on television as opposed to experiencing an actors emotion live on stage."

I then asked what, for him, constitutes a good theatre to work in. "I love the old theatres in this country and in Europe - the plasterwork with cherubs, defuses the sound and you don't get such hard reflections." Myers urges architects to use wood instead of concreate and metal. He also designed the sound for King Lear at The Royal Exchange, Manchester. "using the outside space for sound was so wonderful, different from any theatre in the world".