German dance/electronic artist Lea’s recent Between My Lines tour of Austria and Germany saw A/V production company Mint Live Solutions field Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing systems for FOH and monitor duties.
Based in Mannheim, Mint Live Solutions specialises in providing technical and audio support for a variety of events and tours, and has worked with German artists including Lions Head, You Not Us, Selina Mour, Millé, Jack Curley, Fabian Wegerer, and Marie Bothmer.
For their outing with Lea, Mint owners Frederic Michel and Florian Hammer opted to use dLive as their main console from the outset: ‘We have tested many different manufacturers’ consoles,’ explains Hammer, who served as Production Manager and monitor engineer for the tour. ‘In our opinion, dLive is simply the most modern system that had a solution for all our needs.
‘As an example, we’re sending lots of channels and talkback to Lea’s production, and dLive’s Tie Line feature is a huge help. We are also thrilled with the multitude of excellent plug-ins, such as the Dyn8, Opto and 16T, which are just as good as any external hardware but can be used much more flexibly.’
A pair of dLive C2500 surfaces were used for FOH and monitors, along with DM48 and CDM48 MixRacks and a portable DX168 I/O expander. A Waves card was employed for virtual soundchecks, while superMadi cards and an RME MADIface provided recording and broadcast capability.
‘Even the consistent use of 96kHz in the system has brought our sound forward significantly,’ adds Michel Hammer, who is also the musical director and drummer for Lea’s band. ‘Our in-ear mixes are much clearer, more transparent and punchier than our old system – dLive sounds incredibly good.’
