Of significance to R G Jones is the company's heavy involvement with the creation of this landmark album for Chris. The recordings were all made during the recent tour of Europe and the UK, for which RG's provided a state of the art sound system. The system had to be flexible enough to deal with 12000 seat cavernous arenas to 1200 seat intimate theatres, with every seat being provided with crystal clear, dynamic sound, and the Synco LA system that RG's now carry was the only choice for engineer Simon Honywill. Audience enjoyment is absolutely crucial to the atmosphere of a live recording, and great sound contributes hugely to ensuring that vibe translates to the end result.
Simon was responsible not only for mixing the live shows, but also for capturing and logging each performance on hard disc multi-track recorder to build an archive from which to produce the album. Technology now makes this a relatively straightforward process, and here RG's were again able to provide a neat and tidy solution. The purchase of a Digidesign Venue Live Sound Environment made both tasks very simple. This is the first digital live sound console specifically designed to interface directly with ProTools, the industry standard digital multi-track recording and editing system. In the past, should an artist want to record a series of live shows, the interfacing of recording systems with the live sound system was often very cumbersome, usually requiring the rental of an expensive mobile studio. For all but the most accomplished of artists, the expense would restrict them to capturing one or two shows, let alone logistical considerations of an extra large truck to accommodate. The Digidesign Venue alleviates all of this by allowing engineers to record directly into ProTools from the console by FireWire, alongside the front of house mix for the show, so all you need is a laptop and a significant amount of digital storage. It's neat, relatively inexpensive, and requires only an extra seat next to the front of house engineer!
The testament to the technology can be heard on Chris Rea's double CD, 'The Road To Hell and Back', the first to be released using the Digidesign Venue to mix and record the performances live, and then create the final mixes for the album. It's an investment that R G's are justifiably very happy with, opening up as it does a whole new area for the company. At the time of writing, the company is preparing a twin console, 96-channel system with ProTools for the performance and recording of a new 'Anthem For The North' at Gateshead's Sage Centre, featuring the Northern Sinfonia and Nitin Sawhney.
(Lee Baldock)
