 |
Tristan Mallett, FOH engineer for Ray
Davies, with the Soundcraft Vi6 console. |
NORTHRIDGE, California
— Building on years of success
with HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi1 digital mixing console, rock and roll legend Ray
Davies used a Soundcraft Vi6 as the front of house console for his recent tour.
Davies,
co-founder of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members The Kinks, recently embarked
on a tour through Canada and the United States, with Los Angeles-based group
The 88 serving as Davies’ opening act and backing band. Davies’ performances span
a seemingly endless catalog of legendary songs, a few of which include, “You
Really Got Me,” “All Day and All of the Night,” “Sunny Afternoon” and “Waterloo
Sunset.”
Tristan
Mallett has been the FOH engineer for Davies for 15 years, working in coordination
with monitor engineer Chris Wibberley, who has been with Davies for the past 12
years. Mallett is a longtime user of Soundcraft’s middle-footprint Vi4 digital
console.
“I’ve also used
the Vi1 quite a bit and I love it equally,” Mallett said. “It’s nice and
compact, sounds great and I love the idea that one show file fits all. Having
everything fit on a Vi1 allows me to get a bit more indulgent with my music
pages on the Vi6. However the small footprint of the Vi1 makes it perfect for
music festivals.”
As Davies’
set ranges from softer acoustic tunes to some of the heaviest rockers,
Mallett’s responsibilities include accommodating for a massive dynamic range.
“I need something that will be low noise at low volume and then also something
I can drive hard, without running the risk of it overdriving,” he said. “With
the Vi6, even if you do hit red lights, you don’t hear them. Transparency and
faithful reproduction are vital and very important, especially with guitars.
This is why large diaphragm AKG 414 microphones are used on the guitar amps and
combined with the Studer microphone amplifiers before entering the digital
stage.
“Mic amps
are the highest priority for me, plus the Vi Series has everything in one
package, with no need for outboard gear,” Mallett added. “There are some really
nice reverbs in there. The Vi’s de-esser is also amazing—I don’t even need to
know how it works, it just does the job seamlessly!”
In addition,
thanks to the Vi6’s Vistonics™ II user interface, Mallett finds the Vi6 very
easy to use.
“The whole layout
is very accessible and with the Vistonics interface I don’t think I’ve ever
lost my place on the board,” Mallett noted. “The operation of the Vi6 is very
intuitive and almost foolproof in that respect.”
In addition
to the Vi6 console, Davies relies on a variety of HARMAN’s AKG microphones.
“For Ray’s vocals, we’ve used a D7 exclusively for the last 18 months—it’s an
outstanding vocal mic,” Wibberley said. “We have 414’s on the guitars, which
are great, as well as some D5 and even 535 microphones on stage.”
Like many
live sound engineers, Mallett’s transition from analog consoles to digital
several years ago was one he was reluctant to make. However, friend and
longtime Soundcraft supporter Paul Hatt of CS Audio Ltd. England, turned
Mallett on to the Soundcraft Vi Series.
“I’ve always
liked analog but we of course are now in the age where digital consoles are so
much more reliable, so I entered the digital world kicking and screaming, but
the Vi consoles helped tremendously,” Mallett said. “The Vi is very forgiving
and feels like an analog board. It takes a lot of punishment, which is a
requisite for rock and roll!”
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