Allen & Heath has announced the sale of the 1,000th and 1,001st iLive mixing consoles to Sound Image. To mark the occasion, Allen & Heath presented a commemorative award to Sound Image at the recent NAMM Show. American Music & Sound (AM&S), the U.S. distributor for the consoles, made the presentation during a press conference.
Sound Image President Dave Shadoan noted that his firm had actually purchased two of the consoles. "The products we purchase have to make good business sense – basically, to make our clients happy," he said. "To get this much flexibility and DSP capability in a console, at this price point, made purchasing these two iLives a no-brainer for Sound Image."
Rick Stanley, director of corporate & regional events for Sound Image, said the staff was swayed by a demo. "Our goal was to check it out and see what it does," he said. "Dave Lewty from Allen & Heath did a one-hour presentation and left the demo unit with us. Literally by the next day, I had nine engineers who were ready to take it out. It's a really intuitive layout that can be set up to accommodate monitors just as easily as front of house, or even both. Perfect for a sound company."
Sound Image opted for the iLive-T112 with iDR-48 MixRack for a 48-in, 24-out configuration at the stage, with the control surface offering another 16 line inputs, eight stereo FX returns, and 12 additional line outs. What attracted Stanley was the board's value, with the iLive T-Series having the same DSP engine, preamps and architecture as the premium iLive line.
"It's really a value issue. For a console at this price point and size, it meets all the technical requirements," said Stanley. "I love the Allen & Heath approach to DSP, with all that processing power available all the time. You don't have to compromise, and you don't need any outboard gear. That's a killer combination in a lot of touring and festival situations, especially support acts who want their own desk but need to store it in the cargo bay of a bus."
Stanley added that he expects to see a full season of both touring and local duty for the two new iLive-T consoles at Sound Image.
"In addition to touring, we do a lot of local shows and festivals, and I expect these consoles to be employed constantly for both," he said. "Hands down, the T112 gives us a lot more flexibility than any other console at this price point. Once I had seen the demo, I knew it would be really advantageous to have the iLive in our arsenal. That's why we bought two of them."
