KREMS, Austria – Audio engineers from Soundworx – including Klaus Hübner on monitors and Michael Schmidt at FOH – used a Soundcraft Vi6 console provided by Redline Enterprise for the Donaufestival this year. The event took place near the River Danube over two weekends in April.
Along with Schmidt, a number of visiting artists' sound engineers also specified the desk on their riders for the festival. Promoted by the NOE Festival-Ges for the past two decades, the festival showcases a wide range of artistry – from avant-garde rock, performance art and electronica.
With a multiple-act show occupying three stages – including a Gothic church, as well as several small locations spread throughout the town – the Vi6, running up to 96 channels, was configured with two MADI cards in the local rack for additional connectivity.
The OB Van, which used a Studer Vista 8, also received signals from an active analog split onstage – a stereo sum and FX sum from the Vi Stagebox, configured 64 in / 32 out.
Although Schmidt has worked the festival for several years as a sound tech, this was his first time in charge of the house mix – and he stressed the importance of having a high-caliber sound engineer down in Monitor City. "A very important aspect with ‘hot' inputs – with a high tendency to generate feedback – is that you can rely on each other," he said.
"Many bands came with their own sound engineers, but I had the fortune to mix some on my own, like the Irrepressibles, Lydia Lunch, Gonjasufi, Laurie Anderson and others."
The Wild Beasts' engineer came with a show file created on a Soundcraft's Vi1, and John Cale's technician brought a session that was created on Soundcraft's Offline Editor." The number of inputs varied from 48 (in the case of John Cale) down to just three for Laurie Anderson.
Schmidt said it never took him longer than five minutes to familiarize new Vi6 users with the environment. "As a general rule, I create a specific user layer the way the band engineer wants it – that makes life much easier, especially for an engineer with no Vi experience.
"I remember the old analog days at festivals with up to nine bands per day, where you had to convince a lot of band engineers to go for a generic patch," he continued. "Now it is a real pleasure to offer them a 1:1 patch to the band's input list."
While some bands had ordered an analog graphic EQ, they did not use it once they had tested the board's dynamics. "I had even considered using my own tube preamps, and was happy afterwards I did not have to carry this extra weight back home again. Definitely a good time now to sell them!"
Some engineers used a mix of both external and inline FX, Schmidt noted. "The Irrepressibles had their own FX engineer who received several sends from the local rack into his FX rack, and returned a sum to my band mix. I used the internal FX for backing vocals, drums, strings, wind instruments, acoustic guitar and vibraphone!"
Schmidt found himself using all the desk's internal dynamics, – gates, de-essers, compressors, and even limiters for bands with less stage experience. "The original Laurie Anderson input list comprised more input channels than she sent me from stage in the end, so I had to deal with a stereo sum including all her vocals, violin, vocal effects and additional effects – which made it a little difficult in terms of feedback suppression and using additional reverb."
Summarizing the console's attributes, Schmidt pointed to sonic quality, ease of use, and its effective overview, with all dynamics, inputs and outputs visible at a glance. "Other plus points were the Lexicon FX, the compact dimensions and the fact there is no more layer confusion – thanks to FaderGlow. Also, two engineers can work on the desk at the same time" via the fourth flexible input bay, he noted.
"I have been using Vi6s now for two years – but only for monitor purposes until now," Schmidt noted. "This was my first opportunity to get in deep at FOH, and it did not take more than an hour to establish my basic festival set-up and answer all relevant questions to myself due to the self explanatory surface and software.
"In fact, this festival reinforced the decision that Soundworx will definitely invest in a Vi Series console during 2011."
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