When dealing with either sound or images in modern production, techs on both sides of the fence work with LED/LCD screens, whether making exposure adjustments on cameras, selecting images from switchers, etc. In audio, the issue comes down to reading meters, channel displays, laptops, DSP plug-ins or dealing with the all-too-frequent DAW at FOH. Fortunately, we audio types usually work in dark indoor venues, where screens are usually legible.
For outdoor gigs, all bets are off in terms of being able to read a screen. On a lesser scale, this happens to all of us when using cell phones in sunlight, which is annoying but not disastrous. However, when trying to mix an outdoor show — whether a street fair, winery show, rodeo or festival stage — we’ve all struggled with un-viewable displays, even when shielded by an overhead pop-up enclosure. Over the years, this has led to innumerable improvised solutions — tarp tenting, gaff tape and cardboard creations and so on — just to shield the display from the sun.
One company — Hoodman Corporation — even created an industry of offering solutions that provide glare-free viewing of outdoor monitors and viewfinders. Unfortunately, while great for controlling drones, the hood approach doesn’t translate to an FOH engineer trying to view a display from five feet away while standing behind a console.
With this in mind, I was thrilled to hear that DiGiCo has incorporated ultra-bright, true daylight-viewable touch screens into its new flagship Quantum852 console (profiled on page 40). No more improvised gaff tape and cardboard creations? That alone, in my book, constitutes the start of a revolution. Sign me up!
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