DiGiCo at the double on Gerry Cinnamon dates
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Martin Capaldi and Will Nicholson (monitors and FOH respectively) worked extensively with Cinnamon through 2021 as live performances got going again post-COVID (see LSi December 2021 for more on this). The shows were some of the first in the UK to use DiGiCo’s new Quantum 338 at FOH, with an SD12 on stage, both supplied as part of the audio package by the production’s rental company of choice, Wigwam, part of the Solotech Group.
Having built a large and dedicated following in his native Scotland, Cinnamon has since been making increasingly frequent appearances at major festivals including Benicàssim, Isle of Wight, Kendal Calling, and Glastonbury. In 2019 he supported Liam Gallagher in Cork and on his Australian tour, then played headline shows at the new P&J Live venue in Aberdeen, which broke the record for highest attendance at a Scottish indoor event with 15,000 people.
His UK and Ireland tour scheduled for early 2020 was (as so many others) moved back a year. A series of stadium shows have been announced for 2022, as his reputation as a hardworking songwriter, outstanding performer continues to attract new fans.
The two engineers talk here about their experiences with this fast-rising star and DiGiCo’s tools of the trade.
“I've been working with Gerry on and off for over 10 years in a couple of different capacities, but I only came on board to start doing monitors for him in May 2019,” says Capaldi. “The first shows with Gerry this summer were the Leeds and Reading Festivals, the penultimate slot before Liam Gallagher, so the pressure was on - we had a couple of blocks of pre-production but there is nothing like going into a festival slot like that, on a gig of that size, with no previous shows.”
Capaldi had used various DiGiCo models over the years, but mainly as house desks. His first show with Gerry was on an SD11 in Cork supporting Liam Gallagher, with only a couple of days to find his way around it and a lot of learning “. . . on the hop”. Moving on to an SD12 was the logical step up from the SD11. He continues: “Going forward into next year, I'm looking into possibly moving to Quantum 5 as I've always been a fan of large analogue desks and this would feel more suitable with more faders, more screens and more going on in front of you.”
At the other end of the (digital) multicore, Will Nicholson is Cinnamon’s FOH engineer. He also mixes FOH for Dua Lipa, coming on board with Gerry to do the shows this summer
The choice of DiGiCo was Nicholson’s, following direction from production to hire what he wanted and though rehearsal time was minimal, he is able to work quickly on a DiGiCo. Tom Bush from Wigwam offered him a Quantum 338, which could more than accommodate the number of inputs required for the shows.
Nicholson is mixing around 54 inputs with Cinnamon and his band. The musicians move on and off stage during the show and he uses the console’s automation heavily to take into account the fluidity of the lineup and the nuances of the set. His outputs run straight into the PA and he also used a UAD-2 (MADI effects processor) patched in via an Optocore DD2 FR and a selection of outboard via an SD-MiNi Rack.
