LONDON – Britannia Row Productions is providing a dual Midas PRO6 system at FOH and on monitors for Liam Gallagher's new band, Beady Eye, manned by FOH engineer Dan Lewis and Josh Lloyd on monitors. Midas has long been a favorite in the Oasis camp, with Lewis using an XL4 for the last few months of the band's final tour.
Beady Eye performed at small rock ‘n' roll venues such as Glasgow's Barrowlands, the Manchester Apollo and East London's Troxy, before hitting club venues across Europe and returning to the U.K. for some academy dates.
Lewis, who had also previously used an XL8 for Noel Gallagher's Teenage Cancer Trust performance, said the new Beady Eye tour "was the perfect opportunity to give the PRO6 a try. I've deliberately gone for a very simple setup as they're not a complicated band – I'm only running 28 channels, so it all fits in with ease.
"In the first week, I managed to find a good formula, which works for them," Lewis continued. "There's very little going on in the way of channel EQ – it's all been about correct mic placement and the right desk. Now I can't tell the difference between a well-set-up XL4 and the PRO6 – both have that warm analog sound that helps smooth over some of the more nasty bits. It's a sound that you want for a rock band.
"The POPulation Groups are great, bringing everything to you," Lewis added. "As far as the onboard processing goes, I'm using a few high pass filters, some EQ on vocal channels, a couple of onboard reverbs and delays and delays for some spot FX on Liam's vocals, but they don't want a huge reverb-y sound, it's all quite dry, as suits the mood they're after.
"The band have been playing really really well, they're a proper rock ‘n' roll band, and as far as audio quality through the PRO6 is concerned, it all sounds really good."
Over on monitors, Josh Lloyd is also using a Midas PRO6, sharing a DL431 mic splitter with Lewis at FOH. "I chose the desk because I know the PRO6 pretty much inside out," said Lloyd, who became acquainted with the PRO6 working as system tech for Britannia Row. "It's a quick surface to get around compared to others, and things like the POPulation Groups are a big help."
Lloyd's PRO6 is pretty much full. "I don't have a massive input channel count, but quite a lot of things are split for different people, and I'm using aux sends to send individual mixes, and VCAs to access things easily," he said. "I'm using lots of the onboard effects: the compressor on some of the vocals, plus some delays and some drum and guitar reverbs. I'm also using the onboard multiband compressors, because Liam's got quite a lot of sibilance on his voice so it's the easiest way to deal with it."
For more information, please visit www.midasconsoles.com.
