Having the D4 and using Fixture Exchange has not only meant: "No more re-programming shows on sunny afternoons with no time!" says Marks, it's also saved him from worrying about whether the fixtures for the day are Martin, Robe, Vari*Lite. Whatever they are, his show remains the same.
Marks 'converted' to the D4 at the beginning of the summer after many years of running Status Quo's show on a Diamond 3. Now he's using the D4 and the very latest software versions which refine Avo's Fixture Exchange facility. He says: "It's absolutely rock solid, and has done more than I ever expected. It's quick, user-friendly, hugely flexible, and really makes for a stress-free day on any festival tour."
He actually has 12 different shows stored in the desk, and can choose the closest one to "today's" rig, wherever he happens to be and with whatever kit - to recall all his positional and palette information and all cues and programmed effects.
He also saves each show to his USB key (there's capacity of 80 on one key) for additional security. This further enables him to edit and programme on his laptop using the Avolites Visualiser and the D4 Virtual Panel.
He visited Avolites' West London HQ for two days before the tour kicked off to convert the summer show from D3 to D4 and also to get the feel of the D4. He says: "The ergonomics are great - really comfortable to use and work on. I didn't need any formal training on it, picking up the basics in about 10 minutes, and from there, it's either really obvious where to go or the console prompts you what to do next!"
Quo's summer festival touring rig is based on four straight trusses with four floor-mounted vertical sections of truss at the back. For the Swedish tour, the trusses were all trimmed at different heights - with the front being at 30 feet - headroom permitting - and the back at 16 feet high. This enhanced the general spatiality and perceived depth of the stage.
As always with Mark's rigs, every lamp has to work hard! The rig consists of twelve 6-lamp PAR 64 bars, eight bars of ACLs, eight Source Four key lights, four 4-lite and ten 2-lite audience blinders, 20 Martin MAC 700s and six MAC 600 washes - so not a large rig for the stages and audiences they are playing - ranging from 3000 to 8000.
Other D4 functions he's finding really useful include the shortcuts for calling up pages and the fact that pages can be assigned to preset buttons. He's also using the cue and fixture Move and Copy functions extensively. "This is one of the most flexible, powerful and easy to use desks on the market right now - and I love it!" he concludes.
Marks is joined on the FOH platform by sound engineer Andy May, and Quo's monitors are being mixed by Tim Franklin.
Quo are currently scheduled to be touring up until Christmas.
(Chris Henry)
