Responding to the demands of the UK’s 2011 summer festival season, the SSE Audio Group has added four Soundcraft Vi6 consoles to its hire inventory for monitor duties – bringing its total to eight, with a further six Soundcraft Vi1s also in stock.

According to Project Manager Pete Russell, all have been out on front-line duty more or less permanently since their arrival: ‘A lot of our business is supplying control and monitor packages, and the Vi6 is proving extremely popular with bands. Monitor engineers choose to take them because of their intuitive nature, their compact footprint and the fact they are good “on the fly”, when they have to be set up quickly. They also like the sound and the intuitive nature of the desk.’

Supplied by Sound Technology, all the Vi6s were out with artists during August, including Mark Ronson, Chase & Status, Tinie Tempah and the Kooks, and also at the Global Gathering festival. At the same time, a pair of the equally popular Vi1s were out with Bullet For My Valentine and elsewhere at Global Gathering.

‘The Vi1 is a perfect solution for those requiring all the facilities in a really compact form factor,’ says Russell, who was an early advocate of the desk as an easy transition to digital working. ‘For small tours it’s ideal – and we are also selling a lot of these desks.’

In conclusion, he is a fan of Soundcraft’s Vistonics II platform— aside from its suitability for first-time digital users: ‘It’s the most intuitive of all the digital desks,’ he says. ‘And with the Vi6 you can’t overload the DSP with plug-ins because they have separate cards for the FX, which is great. Engineers also love the quality of the sound.’

For SSE Audio Group the 2011 Festival season has been busier than ever. ‘We have a fantastic design team working on festivals, and from a sound perspective manage to achieve the best result for the punters while at the same time keeping the licensing authorities happy,’ Russell concludes.

More: www.sseaudiogroup.com
More: www.soundtech.co.uk/soundcraft