Top UK radio station, XFM, has installed an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system in its live studio
Comprising an iLive-T112 and iDR-64 MixRack, the system is used to record visiting artists for pre-recorded sessions: ‘The studio is busy every day with visiting artists, confirms ,’ says Chris Denman, Live Producer/Sound Engineer at Global Radio Group. ‘This week, we’ve had Phoenix, Rudimental, Tribes, Dinosaur Pile Up and Ben Howard through the door. iLive has been great to work with. I love the transparent preamps and the tracking workflow. I’m a post colour mixer so 64 ins 32 out are a great advantage for our live tracking needs.’
The iDR-64 MixRack is mounted in the studio’s equipment rack so that it can easily be patched to the studio tie lines and building’s technical network. It is fitted with an M-Dante module and connected to a Mac, which has Dante Virtual Soundcard and runs Apple Logic for recording. Mic preamp signals are sent pre-processing to the DAW. Additional Dante channels are used via the iLive patchbay inserts to access plug-ins in the DAW. The choice of Dante networking permitted the stage box to be taken to the roof terrace on occasions to record a session upstairs, while mixing downstairs in isolation but with full control over Cat5.
Additionally, up to ten stereo auxiliary headphone mixes are provided for musicians’ personal monitoring. Musicians can also tweak their mixes using an iPad running the A&H OneMix app.
‘I find it is very quick and easy to set up monitor mixes I can create an amazing stereo mix and then copy/paste across the auxes and only have to make minute adjustments for each band member,’ Denman says. ‘This creates a very relaxed and pleasant environment for tracking.’
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