The band comprises Supergrass members Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey, who have teamed up with Radiohead producer, Nigel Godrich, to create an album of eclectic covers. The band's live performance is based around pre-programmed audio set to a click track, making IEMs a necessity.
Previously an analogue engineer, Gavin McComb set out to find a user-friendly and analogue-sounding digital alternative that is both compact and can manage both FOH and monitor mixing, selecting an iDR10 MixRack with iLive-80 Control Surface.
McComb explains, "The iDR10 houses the inputs and I am Y splitting everything internally in the desk so that I have separate FOH control for EQ and dynamics, with an independent list of inputs for the IEM mixes. Running monitor and FOH mixes from one board usually causes communication problems but we have avoided any issues by saving each song as a different scene and storing all the nuances for each track in the IEM set up."
The system uses Allen & Heath's proprietary 64-channel bi-directional ACE (Audio and Control over Ethernet) link to connect the rack and the surface, providing control and audio over a single Cat 5 cable up to 120m, enabling an even leaner equipment set up. The system is also fitted with a Mini Multi Out (MMO) card to give them ADAT recording facilities.
"I like the creative side of mixing where you are changing things every day. It is very apparent that the desk was designed with engineers in mind. The editing power is massive, I can access EQ and channels quickly, and the colour coding is very easy to set up. It is well designed and they have put a lot of thought in from start to finish."
(Jim Evans)
