"The LRX2 performed very well," Barling says. "I used it to both multitrack record the shows and 'virtual soundcheck' at soundcheck time. We ran 28 channels from stage, four lines of music and intro at F.O.H and two audience mics. In total, we recorded 36 channels every night via the two fibre optic MADI cables linked to a Soundcraft Vi6 local rack with MADI outs and one wordclock cable. The audio sounded great."
Barling adds that he used the SADiE MTR software to capture and play the audio back into every channel on the Vi6, as if the band were performing on stage.
"The audio comes back into the desk in exactly the same gain level," he explains. "MTR saved the files neatly onto an external hard drive as Broadcast wav files so I could import them into Pro Tools ready for mixing on the tour bus with headphones."
Because Friendly Fires don't like long soundchecks, Barling made good use of virtual soundcheck which allowed him to tune the system to the band rather than a CD or MP3.
"I normally get a couple of tunes out of them in soundcheck, so using virtual soundcheck was a big help," he says. "I would start the playback and just leave the Kick drum channels on and look in the amp room at the sub amps to see how much I could get out of them, etcetera."
Barling points out that if he was normally to multitrack a gig it would involve hiring a company to come in, bring stage XLR splitters, preamps etc and would involve a lot of money, space and time.
"The LRX2 is the perfect solution to that," he says. "Also from a band point of view, they can hear through the PA system exactly what I'm doing at F.O.H, which gives them extra confidence and creates new ideas, etc. I'm able to try out different FX on things like vocals with the lead singer listening."
(Jim Evans)
