When DiGiCo introduced the SD9 – a complete, integrated system, which includes the mixing surface, a D-Rack digital stage interface and CAT 5E digital multicore, with the additional ability to simultaneously record 56 channels – we were immediately interested.

After reviewing many other digital mixing solutions we quickly found that the DiGiCo SD9 ticked all the boxes.

It’s functionality and feature’s gave us everything we needed for the continued pursuit of delivering the highest quality audio to our clients. The audio quality surpassed that of any other console we tested. The excellent sound quality of the SD9 was the main reason for us purchasing this desk. It’s ease of use let our engineers get straight to what they do best – mixing your show – rather than fighting through pages and menu’s. It’s small frame size and portability ensures that we do not need to increase prices to our customers in the form of extra staff or transport costs.

The excellent sound quality of the SD9 was the main reason for us purchasing this desk.

It is planned that the SD9 will primarily go out to our musical theatre events as it is perfectly suited to the job. The neatness and aesthetics of the board lets it fit into your theatre without making too much of a visual impact or taking out too many audience seats. The well thought out snapshot features also help with complicated shows. However, this will not be it’s sole purpose. The board will be attending many other events and we also look forward to taking it out on a rock ‘n’ roll tour early next year.

AMP Sound Systems would like to sincerely thank James Lawford of DiGiCo for taking the hours of phone calls to ensure any question we may have had were answered. We would also like to thank Michael, Sean and Gerry from Rea Sound (the Irish distributors for DiGiCo) for allowing us to take the SD9 out for a demo and ensuring our purchase went without a hiccup.

Yeah it's pretty!

The budget has been set aside for the new console – but the search continues to try to find the best performing mixing platform that will add to our already impressive inventory of pro audio equipment. We need something with the highest audio quality, 100% reliability, and a small footprint to keep staff costs down for our customers.

And no more tape!!

So we decided to take the Avid (formerly Digidesign) VENUE SC48 out for a test drive. It ticked all the boxes we were looking for – except one. The console was beautifully simple to use. 2 of our engineers who had never seen the desk before took to it like a duck to water. The audio quality blew the Yamaha’s out of the water. And to keep with the H20 references, we sank like a stone when we tried to lift it! The desk was beautiful, but just too heavy! It immediately added a bill for another staff member for the day, and we were not happy with passing this cost onto the customer.

Easy to love!

We will certainly take it out as much as we can on shows where we have the staff anyway, but for the moment, the search for a compact, small/medium size digital desk continues!

But on the bright side, it does have an awesome Vegas mode! Check out all the flashing lights and buttons in the video below!

Enjoy!

Will that Midas desk really make your band sound better? Surely that Klark Teknik graphic cant make a whole lot of difference? Pay €100,000 for a PA or €10,000?

€18.50

€109

All the above questions are questions that I have asked myself before – other than the band bit, so in my case my client’s band. I ain’t gonna say buy the most expensive gear you can find, and I ain’t gonna say “just buy cheap shit”. With a combination of skill and knowing “the right tool for the job”, this post will show you how to maximize the rewards of spending your hard earned cash!

I like examples to help illustrate my points – so lets base this example on a recent gig. A few months ago, I set up a full PA system in Conary Community Hall. Quite a big system for a small venue – 4 subs and 2 tops. I placed 3 wedges on the stage. I set up a desk for front of house mix. The gig was a stop on a headline tour with Clive Barnes and Luan Parle, so audio quality was paramount.

Click for a larger view of the setup

I had planned to use Shure SM58′s as the mics for all the vocals – Gav Ralston, Luan Parle and Clive Barnes. But all of my 58′s were out on hire, and the person got stuck in Galway so couldn’t deliver them back in time. I had to dig to the bottom of the mic drawer, and embarrassingly had to bring a bunch of Behringer mics to the gig. I had bought them ages ago for dry hire to singer/songwriters etc. Ideal for that type of gig, but I didn’t put much faith in them for a very high end show!

Anyway, soundcheck time came and went. Then gig time came and went. Then many comments like the following came:

Best sound on the tour

- Gav Ralston (Musician with Luan Parle)

You outdid yourself tonight. The sound was fantastic.

- Pat Nolan (Conary Community Hall)

Thanks to Eoin on Sound. It makes our live’s so much easier when the sound is good.

- Luan Parle

Surprisingly these €20 mics sounded amazing!

Gav and Luan giving it socks!

So what just happened here? If I was buying equipment specially for this gig, and had known how these cheap mics would sound, would there be any point in spending 6 times more money to get Shure mics? No is in fact the correct answer. A different mic may have sounded different, but probably not better. In this case, the cheap Behringer mic was the right tool for the job.

But, there are many other factors to consider. Factors about the gig that I purposely neglected to mention at the start. I had a very high quality PA system for front of house. Monitors were exceptional EV wedges. I was mixing on a Yamaha 01v digital mixing console. The room naturally had nice acoustics. I spend 3 times longer setting the EQ on the mics than I would have if they were SM58′s.

So where does this leave us in regard to the original questions:

Will that Midas desk really make your band sound better?

If your PA system is crap, then no desk will make it sound better. If your sound engineer is crap, no desk will make it better. If your desk is crap but all the rest of the equipment is amazing, and you have a good sound engineer behind that crap desk – then it is very possible to have a fantastic sounding gig.

Surely that Klark Teknik graphic cant make a whole lot of difference?

Again, if the engineer can’t set a Behringer graphic EQ correctly, what makes you think a more expensive EQ will sound better? However, a quality engineer with a quality graphic can lead to stunning results!

Pay €100,000 for a PA or €10,000?

Again, if any part of the signal chain is degraded by worse equipment or people, your €100,000 PA can sound like a €100 PA. And the flip side to that… Good equipment and a good engineer can make your €10,000 PA sound like a €100,000 PA!

I’m confused… Do I buy the cheap shit?

Well, I think the main bit of advice is to invest in knowledge rather than expensive equipment. Do not get expensive equipment as a compromise for someone who knows their stuff. No matter how much you spend, your sound will not magically get better.

If you can’t drive, buying a flashy new expensive car won’t make you pass your test! Same goes for audio equipment!

Gavin Ralston, Luan Parle & Clive Barnes

I am a very big fan of the Yamaha M7CL for its ease of use. In fact I have lots of experience on most of the Yamaha digital range – from the 01V to the LS9 to the M7 and all the way up to the PM5D. You can go back and forward on any of those desks and have a very small learning curve. I love them…

But then along comes the DiGiCo SD8, and a lot of my favoritism for Yamaha boards gets sucked away. I have never mixed on a DiGiCo board, but from talking to other engineers it seems that you can take to it like a duck to water. The desk seems very well laid out, and is very very cheap for what you get. Its only £31,539 excluding the VAT. Thats only €44,600 including the VAT!

Take a peek at its overview video, and let me know what you think!