Having has been The Feeling’s FOH man almost from the outset, FOH engineer Jon Sword was on the road with them again for Jeff Lynne’s ELO arena support slot. Supporting him is a Cadac CDC six mixing console.
‘They’re a band who are very into sound, they’re proper audio buffs,’ he says. ‘They can all mix, they can all produce and they can play each other’s instruments. So it is either the best gig you have had, or it’s the worst, it happens to be the best.’
Sword, who toured 10cc last year with the larger Cadac CDC eight, chose the new CDC six coupled with a CDC I/O 6448 stagebox for this outing. As well as arena dates, the CDC six was taken out with the smaller CDC I/O 3216 stagebox, on promo gigs for the bands eponymously titled new album, and also on a short warm-up tour, where it was also used to mix monitors from Front of House.
‘I’ve been using the desk in 300-capacity venues and then on our arena shows with 14 mixes, either way it’s an absolute breeze,’ says Sword. ‘I’ve had zero issues with the desk for the whole tour, and given that I’m walking into the arenas as a support engineer, it’s been great to know I’m in a reliably consistent situation.
‘We like to produce an all-encompassing rock sound, and the CDC six sounds fantastic for this. The signature Cadac preamp makes the CDC Series sound so great – it delivers that warm sound that I really like; it is a serious broadcast quality preamp. I don’t really need to do much compression with the band with a preamp like this; it’s just doing it for me.
‘Plus, it’s a very simple console to use – operationally very musical and creative – and you can do things very quickly, so I get to spend more time concentrating on the gig and not trying to work my way around the desk. It’s all about the control surface being immediate. I can use it like an instrument, very easy to configure and on the fly if you want – it’s just the most simple operating surface. And you really start to feel the weight of it, when you’re pushing up faders. That’s something you don’t get on most digital consoles.’
During the warm-up dates with the CDC six also doing the monitor mixes, the band got to experience the amazing sound quality onstage. As a result, heading out on the summer festival season, they want their own CDC six on permanent monitor duties. ‘I honestly think it sounds better than anything else out there,’ affirms Sword, ‘the best sounding board – for both ends of the snake – the world has ever heard.
‘It simply is an amazing piece of kit and the more I use the desk, the more I want to use it on everything I do. It’s a fool who doesn’t give a go and see – and hear – what it’s like.’
More: www.cadac-sound.com
