USA - Billsville House, an intimate house concert venue, has been enhancing the live music experience for a decade, evolving from its roots in Williamstown, Massachusetts to its current home in Manchester Centre, Vermont. Founded by Doug Hacker and Caroline Schneider, with their sons Ethan and Kai Hacker handling production, sound engineering, and ticketing, Billsville has cultivated a space that warmly embraces both audiences and musicians.
The genesis of Billsville stemmed from Doug and Caroline's passion for live music and the challenge of accessing good venues in rural Massachusetts, especially with young children. Inspired by a friend's house concert, they reached out to musician Joe Pug, who agreed to play a small show at their home, leading to a new tradition.
This led to their distinctive operating model: offering musicians 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales, along with "a fine helping of our vegetarian cooking, and a place to stay for the night," said Hacker. "It's a deal that makes sense to everyone involved."
This arrangement allows indie and touring musicians to turn potential daily losses between show days into a profitable and enjoyable evening. "We attract really incredible acts," said Hacker, including Grammy-winning artists like Sierra Hull and Tony-winning writer Anais Mitchell, who have performed in their living room and backyard. The venue prioritises an intimate listening experience, with focus on the music in a cosy home environment.
Ethan Hacker's journey into Billsville's sound engineering began in 2011 with a simple four-channel analogue mixer. "Our goal has always been to create a sonic experience and optimise the space as a listening room," said Hacker. As more elaborate acts came in, he recognised the limitations of his setup - and has since upgraded to an Allen & Heath SQ-5 digital mixer and a GX4816 stagebox.
Hacker found the transition to the SQ-5 remarkably smooth. "I kind of jumped right into it," he said, adding that he spent a few hours familiarising himself with the workflow before feeling confident enough to mix a show the very next day. "I felt like it was a really fast learning experience," said Hacker, "it was very intuitive."
A significant improvement was the SQ-5's capacitive touchscreen, which was ideal for navigating menus compared to their previous non-touchscreen console. "The customisable fader banks are also really huge for my workflow," said Hacker. "Having my input channels and DCAs and groups on the same fader bank was a big improvement."
Hacker also immediately noticed improved sound quality. "I hear a lot more punch straight out of the preamps," he said. "That simplifies gain staging during soundchecks with a more confident head amp level coming in."
The SQ-5's built-in FX engines have also been highly beneficial. "The SQ's reverbs got me to a place that I was happy with quicker," said Hacker. "In a living room with minimal natural reverb, being able to just dial the slightest amount in - and to have so much granular control over it was really nice."
For their L-shaped living room, Hacker uses SQ's matrices to feed two sets of mains, a front fill, and a sub, ensuring all processing and tuning are handled directly within the console.
Hacker also leverages the SQ MixPad app on his laptop and iPad for initial setup and soundcheck. "The wireless control allows me to be connected with the musicians on stage, especially if I'm running their monitors too," he explained. "I can listen to them and make adjustments without being stuck behind the console."
