Three and a half years since Leona Lewis won television talent show The X Factor, the summer of 2010 saw her embark on her first headline tour. Themed after the singer’s favourite film, Labyrinth, the tour is a visual feast with set and costume changes a-plenty. With a DiGiCo SD8 at the monitor position, it sounds even better than it looks.
Alongside Lewis, the tour features a four-piece band and two backing vocalists. Monitor engineer Ant Carr chose the SD8 after a lot of deliberation and it’s a decision which has been richly rewarded.
“I’d used D5s from when they first came out, back when I worked for Skan PA Hire. I’d gone away from them for a bit as newer consoles hit the market, but when this tour came up I spent a long time evaluating and listening to the SD8 at the tour’s rental company Wigwam with Alex Hadjigeorgiou’s help,” he says.
“Another desk was an option but the SD8 was the right choice because its preamps are such high quality compared to other consoles capable of the same I/O, which was an important consideration. The dynamic EQ and multiband compressors are a welcomed addition. There was no need or benefit in adding any outboard preamps or compressors to the signal path and the SD8, purely on listening tests, was ideal.”
He continues, “It was also a great fit for the budget we had and it’s widely available, which helps for a tour taking in worldwide dates.”
Running two stage racks and Optocore throughout, Ant is using around 72 inputs, virtually all the outputs with a TC Electronic reverb the sole piece of outboard equipment.
“I’m only using the TC reverb because I’m using all of the SD8’s eight effects engines,” he says. “The effects are one of the major improvements in the SD series and I’m looking forward to the Waves tie-in as well.”
Something that few digital console manufacturers seem to have really got to grips with is giving the preamps a wide enough dynamic range but, as Ant says, this is something DiGiCo has cracked with its SD series.
“I feel like I can work the preamps like I would on an analogue board. I can drive them hard for a kick drum and sit them back for a keyboard and they react as you would expect an analogue board too,” he says.
“On other desks there’s definitely a sweet spot that you have to work everything within, which isn’t necessarily where you want to be, but on the SD8 there’s a great dynamic range.”
Although Ant is heavily reliant on snapshots throughout the show to manage everything from input patch, crossfades and MIDI in addition to using it to control each person’s monitor mix, he’s definitely not become complacent as the tour’s progressed.
“I have never trusted a snapshot set up as much as I do on this. I have a lot going on for a lot of people over about 25 songs, I’ve had to approach it like a theatre show, lots of segues etc” he says, but the SD8 is a great desk to build on. I haven’t just sat on my rehearsal settings and not changed anything. I’ve constantly been working the desk into the show.”
Ant is certain his decision is correct. “It’s the right desk for the job,” he smiles, “and I’m very happy with it, the SD8 is definitely my first choice of desk now. It’s also lovely to be back with DiGiCo. They’re great people and their technical support is superb.”
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