Multiple Grammy award-winning audio engineer Orlando Calzada of OSA International will be mixing FOH on the Canadian leg of writer/producer David Foster’s The Hitman tour using with an Allen & Heath dLive S5000.
A 16-time Grammy winner himself, Foster will be performing songs he has written and/or produced over the past four decades. Foster’s recent US tour – first in eight years – presented Calzada his first opportunity to assess the dLive S5000. His production company, OSA, wanted to source the best available technologies while ensuring that Calzada had the console he needed to create his mix. ‘Initially I was searching for a bigger drum sound,’ he reveals, ‘I needed more compression with added warmth. I had no idea then that I would also be getting a lot more in terms of how I handle my workflow.’
Prior to the US tour, Calzada had little time to assimilate to the dLive S5000 beyond being able to use a show file in the shop as the basis for going through his channels and dialling-in his sound as best as he could. Without the benefit of a single rehearsal, his first night out was one of both discovery and realisation of his goals.
‘The preamps are fantastic,’ he reports. ‘The way they work harmonically provided the basis for the drum sound I was seeking, all without distortion. I didn’t notice any latency either. In the past when I added a channel to my drum group – a plug-in compressor, for example – there was noticeable latency. On this console there’s none.’
The dLive S5000’s control surface flexibility also improved Calzada’s workflow. Combining his input/output matrix groups and aux sends all on one page of displays, he summed two kick drums in one group and placed the ride cymbals beside them, then added his drum VCAs. For vocals that constantly required his attention, he created a fader that was accessible on every page.
‘I don’t know of another console that can do that so easily and intuitively,’ he says. ‘Now I can always work the way I want, and go my own way. I’m both faster and more functional.’
More: www.allen-heath.com
