In preparing for the 2010 summer tour season, Rat Sound knew it would be adding some new equipment to its inventory. Starting the season doing five stages at the Coachella festival in April and with several arena tours booked, the company is poised for a big summer. “We’re seeing demand we haven’t seen in several years,” notes company president Dave Rat. “This will definitely be our strongest year ever.”
One area of need was a new digital mixing console. “Knowing our client requirements, we tested several consoles,” notes Rat. “There were two different angles I look at in evaluating a board – me personally as an engineer, and of course, the company as a sound vendor. Basically, we found that the Midas PRO6 has features and usability that I have not been able to find in other digital consoles.”
From a business perspective, Rat Sound’s needs were clear. “Like every successful rental company, we are a mixture of demand-based and the pursuit of quality,” says Rat. “Finding the balance between those two is crucial. We were looking for a premium console that was also in demand, and several of our up-level clients have requested the PRO6. So we knew that Midas digital was in our future; the only question was whether we would sub-hire or purchase the console.”
To answer that question, Rat Sound brought the PRO6 in for a demo. As a long-time user of Midas analog consoles, Dave Rat knew what he was looking for. “This is where it goes back to my personal angle. Does the console fulfill the qualities I’m looking for as an engineer? Yes, the PRO6 has the features and the usability I need. It is the first digital board I’ve found that actually meets the requirements for me to actually carry it and be happy.”
Rat mentioned several specific features and functions in the PRO6 that appeal to him. “The way the circuitry is designed in the Midas, you can actually rely on your ears. For instance, on an analogue board, when you sweep the EQ, you can hear the phase shift that helps you focus in on the frequency to cut,” he explains. “But it doesn’t sound that way in the digital domain. What Midas did was to incorporate a circuit that emulates that analogue EQ processing. So I’m grabbing the same knob and hearing similar results as I would on one of their analogue boards. It’s a nuance, but it’s one of the areas where Midas has really stepped ahead.”
Another feature that differentiates Midas digital desks from their competition is the ability to use dual compressors within a stereo subgroup, an important quality for Dave Rat. “In most digital consoles, if you use two compressors within a subgroup, they are linked, so you have one threshold and a common key filter. That means the louder signal will dominate, which is actually the opposite of what I want,” he explains. “What the PRO6 does is allows you to have dual, separate compression acting independently on the left and right subgroup. As far as I know, Midas is the only digital console that lets me do that.”
Rat also likes the ability to define the PRO6 into two distinct working spaces, called Area A and Area B. “When looking at potential digital consoles, I eliminated all the ones that do not have dual control so two people can work independently at the same time. If we’re under time pressure, I’ll ask my PA tech to work on something else at the same time as me. That was a requirement.”
Ultimately, the features and design of the PRO6 combined to create the degree of usability that Rat Sound was looking for in a new console. Of course, Dave Rat’s familiarity with the brand didn’t hurt, either. “Midas has a great reputation,” he states. “I’m a long-time Midas analogue guy myself, so I know the product will have a great reliability and longevity. That was a huge factor inspiring our decision to purchase the PRO6.”
Leave a Reply