"Earlier this year we were able to secure a production budget to carry consoles, so we started shopping for a desk to rent," says Rich Caldwell, Flyleaf's front of house engineer. "We wanted to go analogue at the time, but it's just not practical for a multi-band bill and limited trailer space. After several lengthy conversations with Vince Kapchinski, the owner of Backstage Sound and Lighting [of Bryan, Texas], we decided to take out the Vi6. He kept raving about how 'analog' the Vi6 digital sounded and insisted that we give it a try."
For the first leg of this tour, the Flyleaf crew used the Vi6 at monitor world. "We really wanted the band to hear what we were spending their money on," Caldwell notes. "They are very frugal so it was important to us that they felt like they were getting their money's worth. They immediately fell in love. It's one thing for a bunch of engineers to geek-out about the minute differences in desks, but it was really rewarding when the band could really hear and 'feel' the difference that this console makes. The desk just sounds real."
"The Soundcraft definitely has a warmer tone," says Sean Patrick, Flyleaf's monitor engineer. "There is an 'openness' to the console that we haven't found with other digitals. The mix is very reactive and gives you the feeling that all the energy they put into the performance comes out in the final mix. Plus, the onboard Lexicon reverbs are very realistic, so it allows me to build a big spatial environment in the in-ears without it sounding like I just dumped a bunch of reverb on the mix."
For the second leg of the tour, Sean Patrick had to swap from the Vi6 to the Si3. "I figured out a way to bus the tracks out analogue from the Vi6 directly into the Si3, so the day before we left for tour we sat both consoles next to each other at the shop and I built all my in-ear mixes. Next time we can add a MADI line down the snake from FOH and hit both desks for virtual soundcheck simultaneously with only one Pro Tools computer."
(Jim Evans)
