MEXICO CITY and NEW DELHI – Audioco of Mexico City and New-Delhi based Dhawan Electricals Pvt Ltd. both recently purchased Soundcraft Si3 consoles.
According to Jose Antonio Chapa, president of Audioco, the Si3 boasts a variety of attractive features and functions. "The EQ is very precise and powerful, and the gates and compressors are incredible," Chapa said. "The preamps are powerful but silent. The FaderGlow feature makes it easy to tell where you are working, and with the OLED screens you will never get lost."
Audioco's first deployment of the Si3 was at the Metropolitan Theater in Mexico City, where pop artist Maria Jose performed to a capacity crowd of 3,500. After the concert, Maria was complimentary of the Si3: "Awesome, very commendable," she said.
Even more importantly, the engineers using the Si3 on a constant basis have been very pleased. "I've noticed that all the engineers really like the OLED screens," Chapa notes. "Since you have all the information you need right above each fader, it's very easy to understand all the information."
Chapa also finds a distinctive advantage in the Si3's "Both Rows" feature. "Having all 24 aux sends together allows me to send any channel to multiple mixes with one hand, in no time," he says. "Additionally, having the 35-bus graphic EQ, always ready on every single output, makes mixing very simples. The built-in Lexicon effects are simply perfect. It's like a 480 studio effects processor at your fingertips. And now, with the new software, the Si3 is now able to manage analog and digital inputs. With this, the Si3 is getting more versatile and powerful."
Dhawan Electricals Pvt Ltd., meanwhile, is busily giving the Si3 desk high exposure on the Indian sub-continent. Having already used the board to mix one of India's leading rock bands Agnee this autumn, sound engineer Yogesh Dhawan, says that the Si3 has subsequently enjoyed a heavy tour of duty.
"Pathways World School went crazy when I told them that we were going digital for this year's Annual Day," he said.
The two-day Founders Weekend at the exclusive school in early December featured non-stop entertainment on its 30-acre campus, under the theme of the school's motto: Learn, Work, Play, Think, LIVE!
The sound engineer had good reason for fielding the Si3. Over the weekend of festivities he ended up making around 25 cues for each event and used almost 37 channels on the board as a program of Indian classical music, orchestras, theatre (involving many lapel mics) and award ceremonies unfolded.
"I was so comfortable with the Si3 that throughout the programme all I needed to do was push the ‘Next' button and I was sorted," he said.
Another successful show with the Si3 took place at the Ramlila Grounds for Dr. Paul Dhinakaran of the Jesus Saves Society. This time the Si3 was used as a monitor console for the prayer festival. Says Yogesh, "I didn't know whether the Si3 was also designed to mix monitors – but I never thought twice about its capabilities and had a wonderful time working with it.
"I ended up using more than half the board for the gala of instruments and choir on stage for this event – which went on for three days."
Finally, a show for the Spanish Embassy at the Lotus Temple in New Delhi – one of seven Baha'i Houses of Worship in the world – also saw an induction on the Soundcraft board by sound engineer Javi Ustara.
Although he had happily experienced Soundcraft's larger Vi6 he was initially hesitant to use the Si3 until Yogesh provided a quick tour. "He was working on the sound in no time and was delighted with the quality of the sound."
With its easy operation and generous input and bus count the Si3 was perfect for all Yogesh's needs – whether at front-of-house or at the stage end.
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