Al or ‘Big Al’ Mouat has joined the Adlib Sales team as part of a planned expansion of Adlib’s Sales division that also includes the recent addition of Harry Brown who will be assisting with all levels of sales support and aftercare.

‘We intend to raise the profile of the sales division, expand the client base and generally make people more aware of the many services that Adlib can offer for installations and other sales related projects – from complete turnkey solutions to specialist audio, lighting and A/V designs,’ says Adlib Director, John Hughes. ‘We’re extremely excited to have someone of Al’s calibre onboard. His can-do personality is a perfect match for us’.

Now based at the company’s Liverpool HQ, Mouat is from Edinburgh and brings a wealth of practical and political experience as a production, tour and stage manager, which includes extensive knowledge of  radio frequencies, touring packages and the administration required to co-ordinate these for bands and touring artists. His CV also includes working with a wealth of US heavy metal bands, a demanding world that requires solid communication skills as well as sharp technical acumen.

Having been the go-to person for sound engineers and touring personnel for much of his career, Adlib wanted to harness that potential and knowledge plus the long-term relationships that Mouat has established, all of which fit with Adlib’s goal to deliver world class standards and excellent after-sales support. He first met Adlib director Dave Kay while working on the road for the Scissor Sisters, and has also worked with MD Andy Dockerty and Graham Cochrane, who heads up Adlib’s Scottish office, on their work with Texas and other acts. Having known the company and key people for some time, he always appreciated their people-focused approach.

Mouat also observes that Adlib is universally popular and respected, with a reputation for excellent kit and crew – a fundamental reason to join the team: ‘It’s all about personal relationships, connecting with people and assisting them with challenges and interesting scenarios in a context they understand and feel comfortable with.’

He will also continue to develop the relationships with Adlib’s key brands, including L-Acoustics, Coda Audio, Soundcraft, DiGiCo, Midas, Yamaha, Sennheiser and Shure on the audio side, and Martin by Harman, Robe Lighting, Clay Paky, MA Lighting, Avolites, Panasonic and many more for lighting and visuals.

More: www.adlib.co.uk

Around 3,000 worshippers gathered at London’s SSE Arena for A Day of Prayer for Britain with Christian leaders from across the UK and abroad coming together to pray for unity in the UK. Audio, lighting, and video for the event was handled by Subfrantic Production Services, whose Yamaha Rivage PM10 and PM7 digital mixing systems managed all live and broadcast audio.

David Hathaway’s ministry approached Subfrantic because of the company’s work at The Experience in Lagos – an event that attracts more than 500,000 worshippers – as well as its work on other religious events in the UK.

The event ran for eight hours and featured a mix of Christian worship styles, with a band, choir, and worship leaders including David Hathaway, Betty King, Bishop John Francis, Lou Engle, musical director Phil Woolley and tenor soloist Huw Priday. This provided Subfrantic with a challenge, as the audio production had to accommodate everything from quiet speech and contemplation to rousing speeches, high volume preaching, Gospel worship and different styles of music, including opera.

FOH sound was mixed by Subfrantic MD Steve Davies on the Rivage PM10, with Adrian Chibulcutean mixing monitors on the PM7. Tom Gardner was the system tech, with Charlie Payne patching.

‘This is the third time we’ve used Rivage on a big religious event,’ Davies says. ‘As a mixing system it suits them so well, there’s never any concern about capacity or audio quality. Often, religious or gospel events can end up very different to what you plan, as you’re met with extra inputs and outputs that you somehow need to accommodate. The Rivage system’s capacity means we don’t have to worry about that at all. Similarly, the control surface’s flexibility and custom faders means that rejigging anything is very simple.’

For the first time, Davies decided to share the gain of one RPio622 I/O rack on stage with a second RPio622 at FOH for broadcast ins/outs, and to allow for any unexpected situations. Broadcast feeds included live sends to Christian media network God TV, with a stereo feed plus ambient direct to the OB truck for the event’s live webcast.

‘My biggest worry was the acoustics,’ he says. ‘The SSE Arena is a big shed and I’ve yet to go to a gig there where the acoustics haven’t been cruel to the sound engineer. As always, using the Rivage system’s Rupert Neve Designs Silk processing on all input channels was a lovely addition to the mix. It really helped me get the vocals across, without putting too much energy into the room. This led to the event having a much more intimate feel than I was expecting. Little touches like that really help you take control of what’s happening in the room.

‘The TC reverb and the RND dynamics worked a treat as always, and the Multiband compression helped keep everything nicely in check.’

This event was Chibulcutean’s first time mixing on the Rivage platform: ‘The PM7 is very intuitive,’ he reports. ‘It is straightforward to work with, everything you need is always at hand,’ he says. ‘It’s a very logical system and it was easy to apply the previous knowledge I’ve gained on the PM5D and CL5.’

As the event ended, the client, Davies and the Subfrantic team were all happy with how the Rivage system had performed: ‘It was smiles all round at the end of a long day – and the system was flawless, exceeding our expectations,’ says Davies. ‘It was very helpful how the two consoles worked together as part of a network. I was told that it was the first time this has been done in the UK – I don’t know if that’s true, but it was flawless. I’m happy to report that it works exactly as you’d expect.’

Staged in the courtyard of Mannheim Castle, a recent production of Schloss in Flammen called on microphones from Audio-Technica mics and mixing from Allen & Heath.

The open-air Schloss in Flammen (Castle In Flames) is a highlight in the festival season in Germany – a mixture of classical music and synchronised fireworks. The orchestra and solo singers from the National Theatre of Mannheim perform arias and other parts of various operas. Provided by Auditiv from Kassel/Germany, the desk was an A&H dLive C Class C3500.

‘The big challenge is that we have nearly no time for rehearsals and soundcheck,’ explains FOH engineer, Rolf Dressler.

‘This is where the easy handling and flexibility of the dLive shines and it got even better with firmware 1.4 and 1.5 and new features like DCA spill and the improved scene management. I also love the sound, the compact size and the low latency of the dLive – that’s why I mixed more than 100 concerts and events last year on dLive.’

As the open-air setting lacks the acoustics of a concert hall, Dressler uses dLive’s internal FX library to simulate them: ‘The dLive reverbs sound really convincing and natural,’ he says. ‘I’m using six different reverbs for high and low strings, woodwind and brass instruments, percussion and vocals.’

The show also involves very dynamic signals, including high forté voices captured by headset mics: ‘Normal compressors don’t help here anymore,’ explains Dressler. ‘But the frequency dependent multiband dynamics of dLive let me tame such difficult signals with ease.’

For the instruments, Dressler makes extensive use of Audio-Technica mics: ‘For violins, violas and woodwind, we use the AT4021, for cello and basses  we use the Pro35, and for percussion, condensers like AT4021 and AT2013,’ he says.

Based on the music of Green Day, the West End production of the rock opera American Idiot, finds FOH engineer Oscar Soderland at the helm of Allen & Heath dLive console with a DM64 box and a S7000 surface, and monitor engineer Peter Fredriksson with an Allen & Heath S7000 (with a M-Waves V2 card and M-DL-ADAPT card adapter). Soderland is running Waves using MultiRack SoundGrid.

‘I use the Waves CLA Classic Compressors bundle to smack guitar and drums up a bit, to get that CLA feel – which is very significant to the Green Day sound,’ says Fredriksson. ‘Doing a Green Day musical, you must have that CLA sound. I also use the Waves Vitamin Sonic Enhancer for widening the strings, and the Waves H-Reverb Hybrid Reverb is a favourite on a lot of stuff – it sounds amazing, and it is very easy to use. Waves H-Reverb is great when you need to really fine-tune your reverbs. I’m using the Waves C4 Multiband Compressor to control the dynamic and frequencies on some head mics.’

‘In one of the local card ports I have an A&H M-Waves V2 card, connecting to two Waves SoundGrid Server One units in a redundant set-up,’ Soderland offers. ‘A Waves MultiRack SoundGrid is installed on a MacBook Air; I use it to house and manage my Waves plug-ins. As this musical is based on Green Day’s album American Idiot and some of their other work, it was very important for me to get as close as possible to Green Day’s signature sound. I wanted to get a loud, in-your-face rock sound, but still keep vocals and dialog in focus, without losing attitude. There is a full punk band, 21 singers with head mics, singing on stage and backstage, nearly all the time. The orchestra pit has a string section together with the musical director, who also plays keyboards and operates an advanced Pro Tools project, controlling multiple clicks, LTC, backtracks etc. I knew I would need some clever Waves plug-ins to give me the sound, width and depth required in order to control the difficult and demanding composition of a live punk rock band, multiple head mics and a string section.’

‘There are different ways of approaching and using plug-ins,’ Soderland adds. ‘Sometimes I use them to season a mix, to add that little extra; sometimes I need them to be problem solvers; at times I use them to change the whole feel and sound of my entire mix; and occasionally I do all of these things at once. I love the Chris Lord-Alge Signature Series bundle, CLA Classic Compressors, and especially the CLA-76, which I use for parallel compression on drums, and also on vocals and guitars.

‘On the vocals, it gives me that rich, smooth, expensive-sounding vocal sound. With this plug-in, it’s easy to forget that I have 21 head mics up there at the same time; the CLA-76 gives me a phenomenal large choir sound, together with individual vocal leads. On rhythm guitars, it gives me thick and punchy sound that is still highly detailed and separated. Other than that, Vitamin Sonic Enhancer is my new favourite – it really helps me make room in the full mix. My other Waves go-to plug-ins are the PuigTec EQs on guitars, REDD, the NLS Non-Linear Summer, and of course the C6 Multiband Compressor.’

The recent Sanremo Music Festival in Italy saw Italian pro audio specialist Exhibo using its Allen & Heath dLive, GLD and ME systems for FOH, monitors and broadcast duties. Artists performing at the festival included DJ Lele Sacchi, DJ Ralf, Clementino, Michele Zarrillo, Michele Nuo and Ermal Meta.

The annual week-long event is based around a popular TV singing competition and is staged at Fort Santa Tecla, withartist performances and DJ sets broadcast live on national TV channel, Rai.

Exhibo provided two Dante-enabled A&H dLive S Class mixing systems, along with a S5000 Surface and DM48 MixRack for the FOH and monitors, with an S3000 and DM48 for broadcast and recording. An A&H ME personal monitoring system was also supplied for rehearsals and the drum fill mix, and a Dante-enabled Chrome Edition GLD-80 digital mixer for the DJ sets, where the GLD Remote App was used for remote control of settings, such as EQ, mixing the feed from broadcast desk, and the audio feed from the main competition venue.

‘We had very positive feedback from Rai broadcast and production teams, who all praised the great sound quality and unlimited patching facilities of the Allen & Heath systems,’ says Exhibo Pro Audio Manager, Roberto Marchesi.

One of Poland’s leading PA companies in, GMB Pro Sound selected two of Allen & Heath’s flagship dLive S Class mixing systems from its hire stock to manage monitors at the recent Polsat SuperHit Festival in Sopot – one of the country’s largest and most popular music festivals.

This year’s event featured performances from the brightest stars of the Polish pop music scene, with more than 30 artists appearing including T.Love, Kortez and Sarsa.

Comprising S7000 Surfaces and DM64 MixRacks, the dual A&H dLive system managed all the monitor requirements for the multiple acts over the weekend. The event was also broadcast on national TV, with viewing figures reaching 2.43m.

‘When managing such a large event, it is essential that equipment is reliable, intuitive and fast,’ says Marcin del Fidali from Warsaw-based GMB, who served as Production Manager at the event. ‘These features are easily achieved by the dLive S Class.’

Brazil’s annual Villa Mix festival saw an Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system – comprising the company’s flagship S7000 Control Surface and DM64 MixRack – used at FOH.

Staged at the huge Sambadrone in Manaus, the festival sound system was supplied by PA company Barra Som to serve ten of the country’s top country music artists.

‘It was very important that we had one system to manage the whole event, to eliminate any complexities with changing over systems,’ says Barra Som system engineer, William Souza Ribeiro. ‘The dLive did not disappoint – it delivers a big performance, with great headroom and clarity. dLive presents a new level of sound quality, and with the AES3 outputs at a 96kHz sample rate, the processing capacity is astonishing.’

More: www.allen-heath.com

Among the highlights of 2017’s Glastonbury were Chic and Nile Rodgers, who took to the Pyramid Stage using Allen & Heath dLive S Class mixing systems.

Tech Production Manager and FOH engineer John Ryan,  used a S7000 Surface linked by FibreACE to an onstage DM48 MixRack, while monitor engineer Marco Dellatorre used a S7000 and DM48 with Madi for recording.

‘From the first moment I turned it on, I became friends with dLive,’ says Ryan, who has been mixing for Nile Rodgers and Chic for the past 13 years. ‘The system proves to be fast and easy to set up and have you ready to go on the fly, something that is quite frequent during festival shows where you are almost never allowed a soundcheck.

‘The basic features are easy to spot on the dLive surface – quick assignable function buttons and pots where you would expect them to be, 36 totally assignable faders divided into three banks on five layers, amazingly great-sounding plug-ins, a user-friendly menu and everything you need to know for any selected channel is clearly displayed on the two touch screens. A Help button is available for first-time users.

Dragging and dropping channel strip assignments to your surface is quick, reliable and definitely one of the most useful features when organising your layers, especially when you want to keep specific channels right on top, stored in each song of your set list, without the need for hunting down a channel that is originally assigned to a lower layer. The superb sound quality, processing and nearly non-existent latency almost makes you think you’re working on an analogue desk. The dLive is now on our production rider as my preferred FOH mixer.’

‘I have been using digital desks for many years, and I think I can summarise my experience with dLive in three words – easy, compact, connections,’ says Dellatorre. You only need two minutes to scan and remember all the buttons/knobs on the surface, and then you can mix. Everything you need is there in a small frame – this is very important for monitor engineers.

‘We’re always on the run looking after the musicians, and it’s very helpful to have, and be able to reach, all of the features. Also, I really love the fact that you can switch network protocols just like a matrix dot-to-dot, and this is without using surface processing. You simply plug in the cards you need, cross patch and it’s done. I not think there’s any other brand on the market that allows you to do this. Finally, oh yes, the sound in amazing.’

More: www.allen-heath.com

Allen & Heath’s dLive digital mixing system was employed on the main stage of the recent Bacardi NH7 Weekender, held in RBDSA Sports Complex in Shillong, India. The annual multi-city event is one of the largest music festivals in India, featuring emerging local artists alongside major international acts, and attracting 12,000 visitors.

PA company, Sound & Light Professionals (SNL), has managed sound reinforcement for the main stage since the event’s inception. This year, acts included Steven Wilson, Vertical Horizon, Farhan Akhtar, Dossier’s Urge, Vir Das Allen Chutney, Fossils, Undying Inc, and Aberrant. To meet the technically diverse demands for monitoring on stage, SNL deployed its recently purchased dLive S7000 Surface and DM64 MixRack, supplied by Allen & Heath’s Delhi-based distributor, Sun Infonet.

One of the most anticipated performances of the festival was Bollywood singer/actor, Farhan Akhtar: ‘This was my first experience of using dLive, and there are several features that really stand out,’ says monitor engineer, Madhur Hastikar. ‘First, the headroom is simply remarkable, also, the dual Touchscreens make the GUI very intuitive to the average user, and the rotary controls feel very responsive, similar to that of an analogue desk, which makes dialling parameters or gain a lot smoother.’

‘With dLive, my team was confident it would be able to cover each section of the stage,’ says SNL owner, Manish Mavani. The festival will also be staged in other cities across the country over the coming months.

More: www.allen-heath.com

Manaus-based PA company SPA has brought Allen & Heath’s dLive digital mixing system to the Brazil rental market, adding the flagship S7000 Control Surface and DM64 MixRack to its stock.

‘I was interested in investing in a new console to update our hire stock and went to a demo of the dLive,’ says SPA owner, Pedro Chaves. ‘I love the versatility of the dLive system, the expansion and networking capabilities, and the brilliant tools, such as the compressors and reverbs. The system works faultlessly in Brazil’s climate too, which can be very hot and humid.’

SPA’s new system was used for the first time for the live recording of a DVD, They Sing Samba, hosted at Manaus’ spectacular Amazon Theatre, and for a concert byAlceu Valença, also held in the Amazonas capitlal.

‘This was the first time I had seen this console but it was very easy to figure out and soon I was surfing,’ says Alceu Valença sound engineer, Aurelio Kauffmann. ‘dLive is very simple to use, the workflow is intuitive, and the sound quality is great. I really enjoyed mixing on it.’

More: www.allen-heath.com

Two Allen & Heath dLive S Class digital mixing systems were recently used to manage sound for Taiwan’s Poetry & Cultural festival, held in Taipei.

Comprising a DM64 MixRack with S5000 Surface at FOH and a DM32 and S5000 on monitors, the systems were provided by local PA company, Just Music. dLive managed a variety of acts over the two-day festival, including spoken word performance, an 80-piece orchestra, pop bands, and an Aboriginal band.

‘dLive has proved to be fast and easy to set up, and the system is very versatile, handling a huge variety of different musical genres,’ says sound engineer, Gao Min-Fu. ‘With more than 90 channels and quick changeovers to manage, it was a testing event but dLive made the task so much easier.’

More: www.allen-heath.com

Mexican sound engineer Oscar Tovar, has selected Allen & Heath’s dLive for an extensive tour of LATAM, managing monitors for OV7 and Kabah.

With more than 30 years’ experience, Tovar has worked with top Latin artists, including Rocio Durcal, Gloria Trevi, Rocío Banquells, Mijares, Ana Gabriel, and Eugenía León. Requirements for the OV7/Kabah tour comprise 56 inputs, 21 stereo mixes, and 46 outputs, so Tovar has selected a S7000 Surface and a DM48 MixRack with DX32 expander rack.

‘During the tour, I have had the opportunity to compare it with other top mixers, and I really like its performance and I think the sound quality is amazing,’ he says. ‘The tour requirements are demanding but the capacity of the system is impressive. The quality of the FX and the multiple compressor options, all available on each channel, is fantastic. I’m so happy with the Opto compressor – it’s very clean. Every day I find a new feature. I’m very satisfied with dLive; it has never let me down,’

More: www.allen-heath.com

The third annual Gospel Extravaganza in Nairobi recently gave Kenya PA company Sound Creations its first opportunity to test a new Allen & Heath dLive S Class mixing system.

Comprising the system flagship S7000 surface and DM64 MixRack, the new mixing set-up was used at FOH to serve a long bill of national and international gospel artists. Attended by around 2, 000 people, Sound Creations and event organiser Trublaq Entertainment hosted performances from artists, including Gloria Muliro, Dr Ron Kenoly, Esther Wahome, Size 8, Willy Paul, Solomon Mkubwa, Mercy Masika and Pitson.

Lead sound engineer, Edwin Martin, was overwhelmed by the functionality of the system, remarking: ‘This is the best desk I have worked with.’

Currently on tour around Europe’s venues and festivals, Swedish singing sensation Zara Larsson is using an interchangeable dLive system from Allen & Heath for FOH and monitor mixes.

For the tour, Larsson’s team required an audio system that suited to both full concert and fly-in festival production. In response, Swedish PA company Parashoot provided an inter-changeable dLive system with S Class and C Class units to cater for both.

‘From experience, I know that dLive is trustworthy, and the fact that Parashoot was able to support us with a fly-in option meant dLive was the right choice for this tour,’ explains monitor engineer, Sebastian Meyer. ‘dLive sounds great and is really intuitive to use – I found everything I was looking for almost instantly when I started programming the system, and I haven’t found any limitations yet. The quick copy/paste function has really helped me a lot with spare mics and FX mics.’ 

‘I’ve got hooked on the multiband compressor and the dynamic EQ, particularly for Zara’s vocals but also for drums and electronic sounds. It’s extremely efficient, yet transparent,’ adds FOH engineer, Anna Dahlin.

The dLive system comprises a S7000 Surface with DM64 MixRack for monitors, and a S5000 Surface with DM48 MixRack at FOH, which can be swapped for the ultra-compact C1500 Surface for any fly-in dates. There are also two GigaACE network cards and two FibreACE cards to provide added flexibility, and a Dante card for live recording. ‘Our ability to use either local fibre or Cat5 has saved us hanging around taking multis out on a number of occasions,’ says Dahlin.

‘The fact that we can use whatever multi the venue or festival is running with the different card options is amazing. And with the Dante card, I can easily do multitrack recordings, and virtual soundcheck so I can tweak the mixes when there’s no time for a proper soundcheck,’ Meyer says.

More: www.allen-heath.com

Based in Sao Paulo, Brazilian PA company WR Sonorização recently invested in an Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system for its hire stock.

WR Sonorização selected the flagship dLive system, comprising an S7000 Surface and DM64 MixRack, supplied by distributor Audio Systems. The system is regularly used for live music events staged at TV Station, Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT), where dLive mixes the live PA and monitor mixes for visiting artists, and also provides a broadcast feed to the Station’s master console.

‘Put simply, dLive is both fantastic and powerful. It is easy to navigate and all the key mixing functions are readily available as the Control Surface is clear and intuitive. We still have much to explore and learn about dLive but I confess that even after a short time, I am very impressed with what it can do,’ explains Pantcho, owner of WR Sonorização.

More: www.allen-heath.com

With the likes of Paolo Nutini, Morrissey and Franz Ferdinand in his touring portfolio, monitor engineer Tom Howat has chosen Allen & Heath dLive and ME systems for his current outing with trance act .

‘Above & Beyond’s tour is an acoustic reworking of the group’s popular hits, and involves 17 artists and 80 inputs on stage,’ he says. ‘The Musical Director describes the tour as “widescreen”, and dLive is well suited to this, giving a broad, wide open, expansive sound.

‘What I love most about the fader layout is the opportunity to create your working environment – it’s a powerful picture of the A&H way of doing things. I am enjoying using the touchscreens, and I’ve really taken to the different compressor flavours built into the channels. I am using a number of lovely sounding reverbs from EMT plate and 480 engine programmes, side panels for compressor and gate, and the listen at different points feature in the channel strip to get the FX dialled in nicely, all of which are very, very cool features.’

The gigs see  Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki – all music producers in their own right – using various keyboards and guitars, and accompanied by two drummers using three drum kits, four vocalists, a bass player, the musical director, a four-piece string section, a harpist and a multi-instrumentalist. Howat’s dLive system comprises an S5000 Control Surface with DM64 MixRack and DX32 expander rack, and a ME personal monitoring system comprising a ME-U hub and 4 ME-1 mini mixers for the artists to tweak levels on stage.

‘Tom Howat brought the ME-1s onboard to simplify the monitor set up, and it has worked like a dream,’ says Bid, drummer and assistant musical director for the Above & Beyond Acoustic world tour. ‘To be able to change individual levels instantly without worrying Tom is one thing but also to add EQ and pan makes this such a great tool on this type of production where there are so many people on stage. I’d have been lost without it.’

The tour visits venues including the Hollywood Bowl in LA, Sydney Opera House and The Royal Albert Hall in London. Production for the European dates is managed by Capital Sound, who hired the dLive system from London-based PA company, F1 Sound, the US leg is managed by Delicate Audio, who sub-hired dLive from Clearwing Productions, while JPJ Audio supplied the system for Australia.

More: www.allen-heath.com

Argentinean rock band Airbag took to the stage with a full orchestra at the Usina del Arte, and an Allen & Heath flagship dLive S Class system in the hands of engineer Fernando Parra at front of house.

Rental company Show Room Live provided the dLive system for the one-off performance at the converted electrical plant in the country capital, Buenos Aires. The mixing set-up comprised an S7000 Surface and DM64 MixRack, fitted with Waves SoundGrid networking cards. The system was required to manage live sound reinforcement in the venue, as well as provide redundant multitrack recording and a broadcast feed. AES inputs on the S7000 Surface were used by Parra to connect his preferred outboard equipment.

‘I use 64 channels from the MixRack and eight analogue channels from the Surface to cater for the live FOH feed and provide 80 channels of multitrack recording at dLive’s 96kHz sampling rate,’ Parra explains. ‘The immense capacity and flexibility of dLive made this complex and ambitious event possible, and the huge processing power of the system meant it went without a flaw, producing the finest sonic quality.’

Indian PA company Stagecraft, recently put its new dLive digital mixing system through its paces at the huge Dildar Dandiya dance festival, held in the city of Gujarat in Surat, known as Land of the Festivals.

Organised by Coconut Events, the ten-day festival was staged in the Golden Memories Dome, and attracted 12,000 visitors. Renowned Indian folk singers, Kirtidan Gadhvi, Nisha Barot and Jetal Soni, performed every day.

The festival organisers gave pro rental company Stagecraft a challenging brief. Stagecraft had recently purchased a second dLive system from Allen & Heath’s distributor, Sun Infonet, comprising the flagship S7000 Surface with DM64 MixRack, to join its existing S3000/DM48 system. The S7000/DM64 system was selected as the FOH and monitor mixer for the festival, managing a spectrum of instruments including eight dhols(double-headed drums), six drums, five floor drums, a kick drum, Indian acoustic percussions, bass, guitar, banjo, saxophone, clarinet, melodica, and keyboards, totalling 64 inputs and 27 outputs.

The MixRack was positioned on stage, connected to the Surface at FOH and a laptop running the dLive Director app, which was used as a monitor mixer. ‘dLive worked flawlessly for ten consecutive days,’ says Stagecraft Systems Engineer and Director, Pintu. ‘The flexibility of the dLive surface and complete open architecture allowed me to customise my own surface. The built in features, such as dynamic EQs, multi-band compressor and subharmonic synth, made the job easier, and I could feel and hear each and every instrument. dLive has become my default console for any event.’

Among Europe’s leading music events, Poland’s Jarocin Festival is the largest and most influential in Eastern Europe. First staged in the 1980s, the 2016 event included performances from Sweet Noise, The Prodigy, Acid Drinkers, Slayer and Hunter.

It also featured an Allen & Heath A dLive digital mixing system at front-of-house.

Hunter is a top Polish heavy metal band which formed in 1985. The band’s FOH engineer, Marcin ‘Marcel’ Płoński, requested a dLive for the band’s performance on the main stage: ‘I used dLive at a previous gig, and loved it,’ he reports.

‘I am very impressed with dLive’s simple and intuitive interface, and behind the scenes, has extremely advanced processing power putting dLive at the cutting edge of digital technology.’

More: www.allen-heath.com

A series of important festivals held in China’s Yinchuan City have given Beijing-based PA company Knocklive the opportunity to put its new Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing systems through their paces.

A&H dLive S7000 and S5000 Surfaces, and DM64 and DM48 MixRacks by managed FOH and monitors at the 14^th Singing Festival of Chinese Western Folk Songs and The Flower Elf Game & Animation Music Festival – both held in the city’s Park of Customs and Culture.

The folk festival was staged near the Najiahu Great Mosque, with the S7000 and DM64 at FOH and S5000 and DM48 used for monitors, while the animation festival was held in the Park’s newly-built Music Beach, and featured performances by top artists including Jolin Tsai, Second Hand Rose and Black Panther. This time, the S7000 with DM48 was used for monitors, and the S5000 was employed to manage FOH and recording, with the FOH DM64 fitted with a Dante card to enable multitrack recording via a laptop with DAW control.

‘dLive’s surface design is very user-friendly,’ says Flower Elf Game & Animation Music Festival FOH engineer, Chen Zhiyong. ‘The screen is accompanied by one-knob-per-function assignable controls, enabling the creativity and immediacy of tactile control for key processing features. dLive is designed for live shows, offering intuitive operation, fast response and precise control – it is ideal for applications like these.’

Knocklive’s dLive systems were also used at FOH for the Yinchuan City’s Mid-Autumn & Corban Festival. Organised by Ningxia TV and Ningxia Theatre, the event comprised a poetry festival with recitals by writers and TV presenters, and an all-star concert with performances from artists, including Wangjie, Wangzulan, Huachenyu and Wulantuya. The S7000 with a DM64 was employed for the poetry festival, and the S5000 with DM48 MixRack was selected by the FOH engineer, Wu xiaodong, for the concert.

‘dLive is really intuitive and flexible. I can even customize channels as required. The sound is clear and the mic pre is premium. I like it very much,’ he says.

More: www.allen-heath.com