Front-of-house engineer, Spike Jones, used a complement of Neumann digital microphones for the orchestra, all controlled via Eclipse –which was run in conjunction with an Avid Profile – using its new facility to control and store all parameters of new generations of digital microphones from Neumann and Sennheiser.
‘Archive’s recent shows have included an orchestra as well as the band’s electric instruments, so I’ve been using the Eclipse in conjunction with the Profile to manage the two elements,’ he confirms. ‘Blending the two is invariably a challenge, but the clean sound and operating system of the Eclipse has made the job much easier.
Jones used the Profile for the band mix, and then sent the outputs onto two channels of the Eclipse which also handled all the mics from the orchestra, including the digital microphones on the wind and brass instruments. Effectively this arrangement enabled him to use Eclipse as the main console and included full control of the Neumann digital microphones. ‘I had 38 inputs from the orchestra, six FX stereo returns and eight VCAs,’ he says. ‘The Smart Faders made it really easy to see all the outputs and the reverbs are amazing.’
The tour included a date at the art deco Parisien venue, Le Grand Rex (the first to use the digital microphones) an ‘electric’ show in Karlsruhe, where the band played without the orchestra, and a final show at the concert hall at the university of Berlin which was recorded live using the Eclipse’s Mars onboard digital recorder.
In Karlsruhe, Spike also used the Eclipse exclusively for an Archive electric show which included Neumann digital mics on drums and guitars. ‘It was a challenging club venue mixing with a very dynamic electronic band on a d&b system. I thought it would be an excellent road test for the desk.
‘What impressed me most was the overall sound quality and the input preamps,’ he adds. ‘This board sounded and acted like the best analogue boards. A great example of this was when I pushed the input gain up into the red, I did not have to worry about any digital click. The other thing I noticed was there was no need for unnecessary EQ of the band. The older engineers among you will understand this! What you hear is what you have.’
He admits that there were a few puzzling moments… ‘but I got used to it in no time, and then realized that in fact it makes total sense.
‘For my money, Eclipse is an excellent desk. I was using the original version, which I thought was already very good. I pointed out one or two minor issues, but I’m assured that they have already been addressed in the new GT version, which I can’t wait to see. As far as I’m concerned Eclipse has all the ingredients to become a leading contender in the live pro audio market.’
The desks are digitally linked, with the Eclipse acting as the master, and an Apex Intelli-X² 48 used to EQ house PA systems in the tour’s venues. ‘I have been using it for a couple of weeks and really like it,’ he says. ‘We’ve been using the word clock to sync the console and as the master EQ in AES mode. At the last show, I used it in analogue mode and it produced great results in cleaning up the old club system sound.’
Blending the orchestra with the band’s electric instruments is another challenge the Intelli-X² heps overcome: ‘The compression and notch filtering of key frequencies has been a great help in mixing Archive’s musicians with the orchestra,’ he admits. ‘Compared with an old analogue graphic EQ I was using, the clean sound is so refreshing.
‘It’s also been great using the control software on my Macintosh. The design and use of the unit is very user-friendly and satisfying. I think it’s the best system tool out there for an FOH engineer and I hope to use it on all the dates we’re doing over the next year.’
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