To what extent do today’s all-singing, all-dancing digital consoles provide live sound
engineers with everything they need… or do they still have cause to revert to tried-
and-trusted outboard gear? And what about the new generation of consoles set to
offer lighting control and other non-audio functionality? David Davies samples
opinion from some of the best in the business.
Garrick Van Der Tuin
Favoured console? Yamaha CL5
Why? Many consoles today seem to be offering more and more of the same tools.
The thing I really enjoy about the CL5 and most other Yamaha consoles is the
nature of the workflow and the ability to navigate in an easy and familiar way. The
Dante capability and DAW control are amazing, while I am also excited by the
collaborations with Steinberg and Rupert Neve regarding integration into the studio
world. On top of all this, the console has a small footprint and operates equally well
in theatre, studio or live concert environments.
Negates the need for outboard? Entirely – both in the studio and for live. On top of
the basic channel strip and standard effects, the CL5 is packed full of premium
plugins which use VCM modelling technology with classic studio hardware
emulations.
Recent projects with this desk? A performance in the garden of the residence of the
Governor of Calabar in Nigeria, featuring [trumpet legend] Hugh Masekela.
View on consoles featuring lighting control etc? I would imagine that the technology
is there and it should work well, but frankly it sounds like a real pain to me!
Mark Malherbe (from Prosound)
Favoured console? Midas PRO9 (or any other PRO Series console)
Why? Essentially I have been a Midas boy since the late 1970s and I find the PRO9 a
very quick console to navigate, especially in a multi-radio mic format where the
rapid and easy changes between VCAs in cues allow for rapid location of my ever-
changing primary mics. The analogue feel works in my favour, although this is not
to overlook the Midas EQ and front-end, which I am very used to and which work
very well for me.
Negates the need for outboard? The Midas dynamics have never let me down and
the supplied units [for effects] have also always met my requirements. However, I
do have a few outboard units that I return to – primarily for reasons of familiarity –
such as TC Electronic’s M6000 reverb.
Recent projects with this desk? Rewind Festival, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, the
Nelson Mandela Memorial and many more.
View on consoles featuring lighting control etc? I generally find this a really strange
concept. My opinion is that the evolution of the digital audio console should be
aimed at making our lives easier in terms of control so that we can concentrate on
the overall audio quality – not to make time for us to operate lights or read a novel
during a show!
Richard Smith (from Sound Harmonics)
Favoured console? Cadac CDC four:m
Why? Sound Harmonics is driven by quality and so our choices in equipment need to
reflect it at all times. Cadac has had a long heritage of pristine audio quality and
exceptional build quality, and the CDC four:m continues this tradition. Its preamps,
EQ and dynamics sound more smooth and natural than consoles that are many
times the price.
Negates the need for outboard? For the most part, yes it does. It is application-
dependent but I would estimate that I probably use minimal outboard gear 5% of
the time. I do have one particular artist that insists on an Avalon Mic Pre on his
vocals and he prefers the way Yamaha delays work to most others, so typically on
his shows I will use the Avalon along with two Yamaha SPX2000s for his vocal
effects.
Recent projects with this desk? South African rock band The Parlotones, The Comics
Choice Awards, [UK light operatic singer] Paul Potts.
View on consoles featuring lighting control? I can see why certain users might want
it, but for the most part I don’t think it has a place in the high-end professional
market. Most shows I’ve seen that have required a single operator have had
lighting, audio and video all sync’d, and at the moment there isn’t a single product
that could handle that level of sophistication.
Trevor Peters (from Matrix Sound)
Favoured console? Soundcraft Vi6
Why? The speed of operation and accessibility of all features. First up, you have 32
input faders at your disposal on the operating surface, so you are not excessively
switching between pages / layers to access inputs. Also, you can store inputs in an
up / down manner, ie. left channel on layer A and right channel directly below it on
B. In effect this gives you many additional channels without changing layers. The
ability to make the last eight channels absolutely any input or output by simply
touching the control screen is very useful, too.
Negates the need for outboard? I have seldom employed additional outboard when
using the Vi6. The majority of the bands, large corporate events and sound designs
that I do can be serviced by the onboard dynamics and effects on the Vi6. My
favourite piece of kit used to be the BSS Audio DPR-901 frequency sensitive
compressor, but I don’t use outboard any longer.
Recent projects with this desk? Discovery Conference at Sandton Convention Centre
in Johannesburg.
Views on consoles featuring lighting control? I can see the benefits in terms of cost-
and space-saving for theatre musicals or small installations, but would be hesitant
to embrace this kind of desk for larger events.
Wes Maebe
Favoured console? Yamaha CL series.
Why? During my time with Sting, I was using a lot of M7CLs, PM5Ds, DM1ks and
even LS9s, and my main gripe with those was that I needed a lot of analogue front-
end to warm up the sound. I always found the Yamaha pre-amps a little harsh.
When Yamaha brought out the CL, they got me over to the warehouse in Milton
Keynes, UK, to test-drive one and it immediately became clear that they had done a
lot of work on the pre-amps. They are a lot warmer and yet haven’t lost any of
their clarity. [More generally] Yamahas have never crashed on me, where as others
have, and [as a manufacturer] they try and lay things out as humanly as possible.
Negates the need for outboard? The CL series have onboard effects and they now
have some really cool plug-ins like the Neve Porticos, the Universal Audio
compressors and the Pultec Style EQ. So, if I really want to, I can just turn up, turn
on the console and it is all there. [But I also] generally carry an API Lunchbox,
loaded with 525 compressors and 550b EQs, and a rack with an 1176 comp for
parallel compression, a TC Voice Live rack and a dbx 120.
Recent projects with this desk? [In a live context] I have worked on several
consoles – including Yamaha, Digidesign, Midas, DiGiCo and Allen & Heath – for
artists including Jahmene Douglas, Paul Rodgers, Praying Mantis and the Deborah
Bonham Band.
Views on consoles featuring lighting control etc? It is possible to design a product
that incorporates FOH and monitors, lights, video and even pyro. But you cannot yet
design a human being that can focus 100% on all these factors of a live event. You
simply can’t be good at all those things at the same time!
Console creation
Our featured engineers’ preferences for audio consoles are highly diverse, but what
unites all the manufacturers is their consistent demonstration of creativity these
past few years. For it’s undeniable that in the digital era, the pace of upgrades and
new system launches has accelerated considerably.
In the case of Yamaha, the most recent developments include the launch of the QL1
and QL5 mixers at Pro Light + Sound 2014. Featuring most of the facilities of the
larger CL series desks, the QL consoles incorporate Dan Dugan’s innovative auto-
mixing technology, making them suitable for applications including speech and
broadcast.
The latest addition to the Midas PRO series, the PRO X, was also on display in
Frankfurt. The live performance digital console features 168 inputs and 99 mix or
103 output channels simultaneously, while the NEUTRON Audio System Engine is
capable of up to 800 audio channels that can be routed on a point-to-point basis.
At the same show, Cadac turned the spotlight on its CDC eight “flagship’ digital live
sound console. Designed specifically for the demanding worlds of concert touring
and fixed installation, the desk incorporates a “high agility’ user interface accessed
by 24-inch touchscreen.
Further emphasising the impression that after a general industry focus on compact
consoles there is a renewed emphasis on larger-format desks, Soundcraft has
recently introduced the Vi3000 digital live sound console, including internal DSP
Soundcraft SpiderCore, a new industrial design, 96 channels to mix, Dante
compatibility and more.
Finally, although they are not directly addressed by our featured engineers, plenty
of other manufacturers have brought fresh product to market during the first three
quarters of 2014, not least DiGiCo (new D-2 Rack for use with the SD8 and SD9
consoles) and Allen & Heath (Qu-24 compact digital mixer).
