"When an engineer steps into one of our rooms, they know they will have a familiar rig that they can step up to and use straight away," says manager Jimmy Mac. "Most importantly, it has to have the most up to date features. With so many different makes and models of digital mixing desk in the industry, having a powerful machine like the SD9 and a name like DiGiCo providing support is a winning combination."
Following a training session for Music Bank's studio technicians, run by DiGiCo's Tim Shaxson, the SD9 has been used on a number of sessions, receiving a universal thumbs up from engineers.
"Everyone has commented on the desk's logical use and the freedom to fully customise the layout to fit an individual's needs," says Mac. "Being able to load show files and transfer them through the different models of the SD series means that the flexibility from gig to gig is great. Needing to run just a single Cat 5 cable from the stage rack to the SD9 makes using it in any situation easy, while the virtual soundcheck feature helps both the engineer and even the most demanding of bands to achieve the best sounding rehearsal and gig."
Music Bank is also using a DiGiCo UB MADI, the simple USB-to-MADI converter that can record 48 tracks and connects to either Macs (running OS 10.7.4 onwards) or Windows 7 PCs via USB2.
"The MADI - USB interface allows extremely easy and fast recording methods live from the desk into your computer software," says Music Bank studio tech Will Taylor. "It has saved me a lot of time when sound checking bands and even getting a live session recoded. Again, it's simplicity more than complements its use, with two cables to it and one out, it doesn't clutter up the rest of the desk and is a powerful tool to have alongside the SD9."
(Jim Evans)
