Paul Nicholson who runs Salisbury based Midas ProSound and Red Square Audio has toured with Toyah for almost 20 years and is in charge of specifying, supplying, and operating the sound equipment for the Toyah band and her other project The Humans. For the UK Toyah tour, Nicholson specified the Roland M-300 Live Mixing Console together with the Digital Snake and S-1608 stage unit running both FOH and monitor mixes.
With a hectic schedule of performances over a short period, the Toyah tour needed a system which could load in and out of venues quickly and easily, trying to avoid the problems commonly associated with using 'hired in' or venue PA systems such as lengthy EQ'ing and sound checking before the gig.
"The M-300 and Digital Snake system fits our requirement perfectly. Because there is minimum product involved, it's very quick to setup and the sound check time is massively reduced which saves us having to arrive early at every venue. In fact, I can fit everything plus microphones, stands, DI boxes in the back of my car without folding the rear seats down, so it couldn't be easier," commented Nicholson.
For each performance, Nicholson has left and right coming either from the desk or the stage unit. All band members are on in ear monitoring - the only monitors on the stage are for Toyah herself as she has costume changes and a radio pack would be an issue. There is no backline on the stage as everyone is DI'd. Mixes from previous gigs are used so no real repeat sound check is needed. The M-300 has the capability to allow one of the XLR inputs to be used as a talkback facility to AUX mixers, matrices or LCR, in this instance, used as a talkback mic from the desk to the stage to allow communication with the musicians when necessary.
(Jim Evans)
