Having previously worked with Christophe Willem, Zazie and 1789 Les amants de la bastille as PA tech, FOH engineer Thibault Maestracci joined Bent in November 2013 at the start of the tour. For this production, he takes approximately 50 channels from the stage and handles FOH mixing with a system that incorporates two Pro Tools HD rigs.
"The first Pro Tools system is used as a 'toolbox,' mainly for effects for 'stem group' processing," he explains. "The second system functions primarily as a backup during the show, but I can also use it as a multi-track recorder/player for rehearsals. The microphone preamplifiers are located on stage and are connected to the FOH console using SSL's Blacklight II audio transport on two optical fibre connections. Alex [Maggi, the monitor engineer] and I have independent control over preamp gain for each desk."
Maestracci is very happy with the results he gets with the SSL Live. "The sound quality is excellent and preamplifiers have the headroom to accept high input levels," he adds. "I don't need an external preamplifier with this desk - even for the lead vocal! The fader and encoder layout is great, and the way you can deploy the channels on different banks is very useful. You can put what you want where you want it. Once you understand the logic behind the desk, it is very easy to customize, and the ability to use both screens simultaneously is a powerful feature."
(Jim Evans)
