Deacon Blue's FOH engineer Dave Pringle was previously unconvinced that a digital desk would provide fast enough access, but the XL8 changed his view. "The way it's been designed to bring the channels to you means it's really quick," he says. "It's become like second nature, hitting a VCA and seeing the channels that are grouped on that VCA move over to the left. I've always used Midas consoles, and switching over to XL8 was much easier than I thought.
"It has so much potential and I've been learning something new every day. I'm using the automation, saving a scene for each song, storing the FX and mute groups, and I can imagine building on this over time. I still mix on the fly, so from that perspective it hasn't really changed the way I work. However I've really noticed the amazing audio quality, particularly on condenser mics and overheads, things that sparkle. I bring the faders up and it just comes back really clearly."
EFX's Steph Fleming, Deacon Blue's monitor engineer, has also been won over by XL8 and the band have noticed an improvement too. Keyboard player Jim Prime says: "The sound in my monitor system is noticeably different. The top end has extra headroom and there's a great increase in clarity. I provide vocal cues from my keyboard and it's really precise. It also gives stereo imaging like I've never heard before."
EFX has also been beta testing the Klark Teknik DN9696 high resolution hard disk recorders designed for the live environment, having pre-ordered two systems. "We're very impressed with it so far - it's a great method of recording shows for future reference," says Pringle. "In the past we've recorded every show on DAT, but now we'll be able to have multitracks so the material can be properly remixed. It's also been a useful tool for listening back to channels and tweaking effects on the XL8."
(Jim Evans)
