As Kasabian embarks on the 2015 summer festival season - with two warm up shows at Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg and Groningen's De Oosterpoort in The Netherlands, at Belgium's massive Rock Werchter festival and then headlining multiple festivals across Europe - Front of House engineer Paul Ramsay and monitor engineer Wayne Rabbit' Sargeant explain why DiGiCo's SD7 is their console of choice.
We're not taking any PA on this run, just FOH control and monitor system, explains Paul Ramsay, who has been working with the English rock band since the end of 2011. But due to distances between some of the shows we're carrying two separate, but identical, systems (A and B), so we can physically get the equipment to all the shows.
Paul's SD7 system is equipped with two Waves extreme servers running Waves plugins. I have a Lake LM44 for system EQ with a wireless tablet and Waves BCL hardware unit over the master buss, he says. Other than this I'm using no external outboard. I use the internal SD Gates, Compressors, Effects and Waves plugins as required.
Paul has mixed on DiGiCo consoles since the beginning of 2003, starting on the company's first offering, the D5 Live. He has used DiGiCo consoles ever since.
The DiGiCo control surface is by the far the best out there, hands down, he says. You can pretty much do whatever you want with the SD7 and it will make it work. With the newer SD Racks running at 96K, the audio signal has also stepped up another level; it sounds stunning and adding Waves plugins for some different flavours is excellent.
Paul uses one full SD Rack of inputs, with 56 channels from stage, around 10 stereo effects engines and a few playback stems, giving approximately 90 inputs in total. For outputs he takes AES feeds into his Lake LM44 for PA inputs, but also has some stems for sub mixes for the broadcast truck.
I have at least one Snapshot per song, with a few having two for when there's a major change required, he continues. The Snapshots scope is fairly basic, doing faders, mutes and effects changes song to song - for this show I don't require anything more detailed, but this alone puts me in the right place for the start of every song and then I fine-tune on a daily basis.
Paul carries out a virtual sound check every day using a DiGiGrid MGB, both with near fields, to tidy up Snapshots, work on songs and in the PA itself in the morning as the band are not able to do sound checks at any of the festivals.
To be able to hear last night's mix and walk the field in the morning is essential for us to know how the PA responds, he explains. Also, with Snapshots - although I'm not using them to full capacity - just being able to hit one button and change 10 different effects units for the next song, with all my parameters correct, is great. I also use Macros a lot; with one button press I'm able to change a whole host of things that I couldn't do on the fly, but I can nail it every night with Macros, which are an excellent invention.
At monitors Rabbit is new boy to the Kasabian fold, having started working with them at the beginning of this year.
Why the SD7s? Because they rock!, laughs Rabbit. They've got so many inputs and outputs, they're very versatile and I feel they're the best, most user friendly desk out there; they're designed by engineers, not geeky designers. I love them.
As a monitor engineer I need to get around things quickly and confidently and, ideally, not take my eyes off the band. I feel that I can do that with the SD7 because I can custom build any of my fader banks, inputs and outputs - in fact, everything.
I've set up a number of banks for the individual musicians. This means I can hit their mix and it's ready for me. After having spent time with the band for the past few months, I pretty much know what they're going to ask for, or what areas I need to concentrate on in certain songs. That means I was able to start to build Snapshots before the beginning of the run- the SD7 has got great Snapshot capabilities! and develop them, along with Macros, to use for each song.
Like Paul, Rabbit's outboard rig is almost non-existent. Everything is on the SD7, he says. It's got great EQ and Multiband Compression and that's really all I need for monitors. I don't need any outboard other than a TC D2 and that's simply because [guitarist and vocalist] Sergio [Pizzomo] particularly likes it.
To give myself a fighting chance, I run virtual soundcheck to tune and balance the festival sidefills - as Paul said, we don't have any rehearsals. I'm also using an iPad running the DiGiCo SD App to EQ whilst away from the desk.
Rabbit's set up is, he says, a simple system that is compact and bijou. I try to fit everything under the desk, then I have the SD Rack as well. I have a total of 56 inputs and 32 outputs as a general rule, but for a lot of the headline shows we also have a four-piece string section, which will add to that. I could have had a smaller console, but I have dual redundancy backup here. It's all about not messing up really, isn't it.
And what of the human element of backup? My system tech Adam Smith is the best in the world, Paul concludes. If budget allowed, I'd take him everywhere with us. When we are on our normal shows, we tour an L-Acoustics K1 system and he makes it sound stunning, and at festivals he is someone I can trust as another set of ears to walk the field.
And from back in 2003, they guys at DiGiCo have always been a phone call away, whatever the time of day is. They can usually talk me through any issues or, if needed, have a replacement part to me the next day, with a technician if required.
In reality, I rarely have to call them other than when I want to pop
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
02/06/2024
AE add 3D motion to still photographs
Brie Clayton June 2, 2024
0 Comments
AE add 3D motion to still photographs
May 30, 2024COW Featured Resume: Pa...
01/06/2024
Dustee Jenkins, Chief Public Affairs Officer, Spotify
With billions of people from over 50 countries heading to the polls to cast their vote, 2024 is shaping u...
01/06/2024
Busy this week catching up from the Memorial Day holiday? Our TV Tech weekly wrap-up of all our coverage of new products, services and deployments will get you ...
01/06/2024
Young Sherlock, with Guy Ritchie directing and executive producing, is a go at Prime Video. Hero Fiennes Tiffin plays Sherlock. Prime Video calls it the origin...
01/06/2024
The Los Angeles Sparks-Indiana Fever game on Friday featuring the top two WNBA draft picks, Caitlin Clark and Cameron Brink, was the most watched WNBA game on I...
01/06/2024
Lionsgate, which increased its majority stake in 3 Arts Entertainment in January, said it named Brian Weinstein co-CEO of 3 Arts....
01/06/2024
Netflix is launching four video games based on unscripted series this year. They...
01/06/2024
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates switched from their regular programming to carry live coverage of the verdicts in the porn star hush-money trial of former Pres...
31/05/2024
A U.S. Marine fires an FIM-92 Stinger missile during a training exercise in Yuma...
31/05/2024
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising h...
31/05/2024
In a new analysis of what services might make up a good bundle and what services might benefit the most from bundling, Antenna has released new data that highli...
31/05/2024
Global SVOD revenues will increase by $116.6 billion by 2031, a growth rate of 13.3% per year over the next eight years, according to a new report from MIDiA Re...
31/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The FCC Media Bureau has announced that effective August 1, 2024 the Commission's TVStudy software will incorporate the most recent U.S. Ce...
31/05/2024
NBCUniversal has announced that its FAST channel TNBC will be rebranding to NBC Comedy Vault on June 1 and that the free streaming service will officially launc...
31/05/2024
PARIS Ateme has announced that the Indonesian public broadcaster TVRI is making the transition to 4K UHD OTT streaming using Ateme technologies....
31/05/2024
The proposal had received support from James Cameron, Andy Serkis, Paul Greengrass, Richard Curtis, and Jeremy Irons
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: May 31, 2...
31/05/2024
According to multiple reports, the new bid from Skydance offers a better deal to Paramounts Class B shareholders, who were said to be unhappy with the companys ...
31/05/2024
The awards recognise women and companies who are stand-out performers, innovators and leaders in the broadcast media technology industry
By Matthew Corrigan
...
31/05/2024
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising has expanded the reach of its measurement software development kit to include Sam...
31/05/2024
The rise of digital platforms is fundamentally changing the broadcast newsroom and its investment in technology according to Jon Roberts, director of technology...
31/05/2024
In a new analysis of what services might make up a good bundle and what services might benefit the most from bundling, Antenna has released new data that highli...
31/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Fifty state broadcasters associations, including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, have sent a letter to Congressio...
31/05/2024
EVS has announced the appointment of Richard Katz as senior vice president of operations for the North and Latin American (NALA) region. This appointment is par...
31/05/2024
CommScope has announced that it was selected by Casa Systems, Inc. as the highest to acquire Casa's cable business assets and that the two companies have en...
31/05/2024
Robert De Niro won't be receiving the Service to America Leadership Award from the NAB Leadership Foundation after all....
31/05/2024
Viant Technology said it formed an integration with Google Cloud's BigQuery data clean rooms...
31/05/2024
The CW said it will broadcast the 2024 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop Last year, The CW aired the game when it was called Bar...
31/05/2024
Allen Media Group said it made a deal with Amazon's Fire TV Channel that will make content from several of Allen's outlet available via Fire TV and Echo...
31/05/2024
Robert De Niro, announced as the winner of the NAB's Leadership Foundation's Service to America Leadership Award on May 28, will not get the award. The ...
31/05/2024
Comcast Technology Solutions was selected by AccuWeather to create, manage and distribute linear and over-the-top video channels....
31/05/2024
Connected TV is becoming a bigger deal for consumers and advertisers, according to a new report from TVision....
31/05/2024
By Craig Anderton
Let's get right to what this sounds like. It's not quite feedback or tape reverse, it's well, listen to what it does in this blue...
31/05/2024
31 May 2024
VEON discloses April YTD trading update at its AGM Amsterdam, 31 May 2024 07:00 CEST -
VEON April YTD 2024 Highlights
Total revenue of USD 1,278 ...
31/05/2024
31 May 2024
VEON Announces Its New Board, Names Founder Augie Fabela as Chairman Amsterdam, 31 May 2024, 16.00 CET: VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam...
31/05/2024
May 31st, 2024
TRIBECA FESTIVAL AND OPEN AI ANNOUNCE SORA SHORTS'
Five Commissioned Short Films Created Using Sora Debut at 2024 Tribeca Festival
New ...
31/05/2024
In-Venue Technology Wrap-Up: How 4K, IP, and More are Changing the Game Pres Gam...
31/05/2024
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: The host broadcast facts and figures for Real ...
31/05/2024
UEFA Europa Conference League Final 2024: Bringing the broadcast to global TV sc...
31/05/2024
Willow Offers Free 2024 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Preview via DirecTV, Verizon, ...
31/05/2024
Women's College World Series: ESPN Brings Live Drone, Two-Point Cabled, and ...
31/05/2024
SVG College Summit Brings Video-Production Industry Together in Atlanta in the M...
31/05/2024
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: CBS Sports' UCL Today Studio Show Is Pitch...
31/05/2024
Back to All News
Master of the House' Unveils a Scandalous Tale of Power and Greed on July 18
Entertainment
31 May 2024
GlobalThailand
Link copied to ...
31/05/2024
Back to All News
JEEtu Bhaiya is Back: Kota Factory' Season 3 Arrives on Netflix June 20
Entertainment
31 May 2024
GlobalIndia
Link copied to clipboar...
31/05/2024
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
With around 9,000 employees, Ground Transportation Systems is a global leader in Rail Signaling and Train Control Systems, Telec...
31/05/2024
RT 2FM is the home of music this summer, entertaining listeners across the day and night, with the best music, chat and interviews providing the soundtrack to ...
31/05/2024
After the 2008 financial crisis and increased risk-management regulations that f...
As Kasabian embarks on the 2015 summer festival season - with two warm up shows at Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg and Groningen's De Oosterpoort in The Netherlands, at Belgium's massive Rock Werchter festival and then headlining multiple festivals across Europe - Front of House engineer Paul Ramsay and monitor engineer Wayne Rabbit' Sargeant explain why DiGiCo's SD7 is their console of choice. 
