In last month’s column, I expressed the opinion that the greatest challenge in making a digital console platform change is coming to terms with the data legacy of one’s digital history. Saved within the Avid VENUE platform, I have compiled and stored seven years of complete console data from several tours with James Taylor, Mariah Carey, Joe Walsh, Cher, Bette Midler and Five For Fighting. Among these archives are extensive input/output patches, complete channel libraries, EQ libraries, and individual libraries for an extensive number of Waves, TC Electronic, Trillium Labs and Avid/Digidesign plug-ins. I have repeatedly employed this store of information contained in these libraries to quickly and easily construct shows for varying band formats or random one-offs with entirely different bands. Having this dense repository of information literally at my fingertips is a luxury to which I have grown rather accustomed.
However, as rewarding my past work habits have been, my desire to experience an improved mixing environment has resulted in a greater motivation. The time has arrived to explore alternatives to the comfortable, yet now dated VENUE worksurface. It’s a difficult decision to move away from the reliable technology and strong support system that has yielded such excellent results, but I feel driven by both professional responsibility and artistic curiosity to explore the potential benefits reaped from employing newer technology.
In order to successfully migrate a show across manufacturers’ digital mixing environments, the key factor is the allocation of adequate time — specifically, hands-on time with the console and relevant musical source material. An extended rehearsal period is the best opportunity to gain familiarity with a new console, but that luxury will not be available to me when James Taylor hits the road again in May. Instead, I have had to solicit cooperation from manufacturers and prevail upon their hospitality to allow me one-on-one time on their mixing systems.
When I reviewed the new SSL L500 Live Console in this column, George Horton, Fernando Guzman and Phill Scholes at the Solid State Logic office in Los Angeles provided me with detailed operational instruction and afforded me extended private mixing time on the new desk. Although the L500 is a completely new format, I felt immediately comfortable when I first sat in front of it. My positive feelings were further enhanced as more details of the console’s functionality and operation were revealed to me. My full analysis and commentary can be found in the August and September 2013 issues of this magazine.
As impressed as I have been with the SSL L500, I am also very much aware that this marvelous console is still a work in progress. Therefore, when Clair Global asked me to indicate my choice of FOH console for this year’s James Taylor tour, I was not yet ready to fully commit to the newly released L500. In addition, Clair had not yet placed an order with SSL for any Live consoles. The particular constraints involved with availability and delivery time would have made it necessary to rent an L500 Live Console from a third party. This would have resulted in a significant additional weekly cost to my employer. That particular expense compounded over a seven and a half month tour became a consideration that heavily influenced my eventual decision.
A Suggestion from Clair
Clair Global had suggested exploring the DiGiCo SD5 console as an alternative. Clair representatives informed me that the company possessed a number of SD5s in their inventory and assured me that one could be made available for our tour. At that point, I had only seen the console in the photographs of the brochure and the renderings in the user manual. I needed some first hand experience before getting onboard with this idea.
In a fortuitous stroke of timing, I was going to be in Washington, D.C. in early February working with Mariah Carey at the BET Honors Show. In a further coincidence, both the FOH and monitor consoles used at this event were DiGiCo SD7s. I had the opportunity to speak with FOH engineer, Ron Reaves, about his experience with his SD7, and he had nothing but great things to say about the console. Monitor engineer Mike Bové, also related glowing praise about his time on the SD7. At that point, I called Clair and asked if they had an SD5 in the warehouse. When they replied in the affirmative, I called American Airlines and changed my flight back to Los Angeles to allow time for a side trip up to Pennsylvania.
The drive to Clair Global in Lititz, PA from the Reagan International Airport is about two and a half hours. On the day after the Mariah Carey performance, I had Enterprise pick me up and I guided my rented Prius northward. Clair senior VP Greg Hall and James Taylor’s systems engineer Andy Sottile met me on arrival, and we spent the rest of the day going over the specifics for the upcoming tour. As it turned out, the SD5 was being used in a class being conducted at Clair by my old friend, Greg Price. But I was able to sneak in the room at lunchtime and at least get physically acquainted with the SD5. The worksurface layout of the desk is the best ergonomic design I have seen from DiGiCo, and I was becoming convinced that choosing this console would definitely be a step in the right direction.
A Few More Details
When I returned to Los Angeles, my first call was to Matt Larson at DiGiCo USA. I let him know about my intention to specify the SD5 this year, and he communicated that DiGiCo would cooperate with me in every way to make that an attainable goal. In an incredible display of company support, Matt offered to make a SD5 available to me at my house so that I could have ample time to pre-program the show. That extent of personal service is truly remarkable and was an unprecedented way of welcoming me into the family of DiGiCo users. Matt also let me know that he or Taidus Vallandi would be available to spend one-on-one time with me when the console was set up in my garage. My confidence in the choice that I had made was growing stronger each day.
The next step was to load the James Taylor input list onto the SD5 and discover if I could create a user-friendly arrangement of inputs, effects sends and returns, DCAs and outputs. I always want the setup to be both logical and rapidly accessible so that my work flows in an organic, not mechanical, way. I called my friend, Bryan Bazilsky, down the hill at Delicate Productions in Camarillo and asked if he had a SD5 available for me to work on if I promised I wouldn’t get in the way of the company’s activity. Bryan let me know that one of Louis Adamo’s Hi-Tech Audio consoles would be there and that I was welcome to come down and put in some programming time. I then spent the next two days working out a very successful layout and exploring various operational features of the desk.
The final step will be getting the SD5 set up here at the house and putting in some serious time tweaking the inputs, programming effects, integrating Waves plug-ins via DiGiGrid and building snapshots for individual songs. When we all arrive in Portland, OR, for the first tour date, most of the console should be show-ready. I am incredibly grateful for immense support given to me by my friends in the industry who have helped to make this process of transition flow as smoothly as possible. I will describe the specifics of the programming and the overall experience of the SD5 in my next column.
Safe travels!
