Ray Furze, one of the first sound engineers to test the desk at a live show, said: "I used the board on a one-off show with The Beautiful South and was sold on it straight away. I liked the new pre-amps and my first impression was that the EQ has a feel that reminded me of Neve EQ with a very polished top end and warm lows. I have enjoyed using the PM4000 on what I think has been some of my most successful work over the years, but I think the PM5000 is an improvement and I look forward to using it on tour with Westlife, and later in the year with The Pixies, two very different sounding acts that will provide a good testing ground for the desk."
Mark Littlewood, FOH engineer for Atomic Kitten's recent farewell tour was similarly enthusiastic. "It's very much like a PM4000 in format, just a shade deeper. What I like is it seems more responsive, like a Midas - you can actually hear it doing things."
Having done several shows already he had more to say on the specifics of the board. "12 VCAs is always handy. Vocals is the big issue with Atomic Kitten and the EQ section of the desk is excellent; with the improvements in the mic pre-amp it's altogether a warmer sound." Littlewood used no external EQ on the girls voices, just DBX Compressors, and a frequency-sensitive Drawmer MX50, "to moderate the voice when they're really stretching themselves. Singing and dancing can pull the voice into a scream," Between desk EQ and the Drawmer, Littlewood was left providing an overall impression of a quite natural vocal sound in his mix.
Furze visited the Atomic Kitten tour to hear the desk being used by Littlewood, just before he went into rehearsals with Westlife. "What I heard confirmed my decision, the high-end especially sounded sweet; 6kHz and upward was very smooth. That's what I meant by the Neve sound, didn't the old Neves have a knob for 'sheen'?" Apparently they did, maybe Yamaha should call this desk 'The Sheen'.
(Lee Baldock)
