"The D5 Live came out in 2002 - I had one of the prototypes," says Jon. "I've always used DiGiCo consoles. For me, they are the best sounding of the digital desks and the SD range is very reliable."
Promoting their new album, Oceania, the Pumpkin's current tour has taken in a large number of festivals, starting in the US during the spring, travelling through Europe - including the UK's iconic Glastonbury Festival ("It was dry this year, which was great," Jon smiles) - and finishing in the Far East with Summer Sonic in Japan and Good Vibes in Kuala Lumpur. The schedule has been challenging for both the crew and kit and reducing the amount of equipment required, by utilizing a console that delivers almost everything Jon needs without the need for much outboard, has been a definite advantage.
"I've used just about every one of DiGiCo's SD consoles now," he says. "When the SD8 came out, I used that because it's a smaller, lighter package and we were flying around a lot and we didn't necessarily want to fly an SD7. Then, when the SD10 came out, I used that for a while. But the SD7 is my personal favourite."
Being able to integrate Waves software within the SD Range came as something of a revelation to Jon.
"When it first came out, DiGiCo sent an SD10 to my house in Chicago with a brand new Waves Soundgrid so I could get to know it," he recalls. "I had started working with a band called The Fray and I had some multitracks of their songs. It was pretty interesting being able to set up and mix, just with the console at home and a set of monitors. So I decided not to use any outboard at all and simply use the onboard DiGiCo compressors, gates and dynamic EQ in conjunction with Waves plugins."
(Jim Evans)
