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| HARMAN’s Gert Sanner with the new Soundcraft Si Performer. |
LONDON, United
Kingdom — Whilst many first-time-out products choose a local village
hall or a modest event to dip its toes in the water, HARMAN’s Soundcraft Si
Performer didn't mess about, and dived head first into a packed Royal Albert
Hall for the Sunflower Jam.
Sunflower Jam is a live music event with a difference.
Founded six years ago by Jacky Paice, wife of Deep Purple drummer, Ian Paice,
it was set up specifically to raise money for underprivileged and sick children.
Two years ago the event outgrew its modest Porchester Hall location in London's
Notting Hill, and upped sticks to the unmistakable and prestigious Royal Albert
Hall, which has been its home ever since. This year's guest performers included
Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickinson, Kerry Ellis, Brian May, and the quite incredible
English tenor singer, Alfie Boe.
Sunflower Jam gave Soundcraft's latest console, the Si
Performer, its live show debut. Connected via MADI to a Soundcraft Vi6 at FOH
position, it controlled "everything except the live band" according
to HARMAN's Gert Sanner, who mixed all of the acts on the night. Sanner,
incidentally, has mixed the last five Sunflower Jams, a job he took on after
forging a working relationship with Ian Paice during his time as FOH engineer
for Deep Purple.
"My idea was to bring in the 24-channel Si Performer as
my 'get out of jail' mixer, as my Vi6 was loaded with all the band stuff coming
off the stage," he explains. "Basically it allowed me to keep the Vi6
completely clear of everything other than the band."
And being a 'jam' of sorts, Sanner says the free flow of the
event and number of artists involved leaves little rehearsal time, which means
he never quite knows what's coming next. This was another reason for utilising
the Si Performer.
"We don't change anything during the show, and
everything has to be set up, ready to go at all times, therefore we need a very
high channel count at FOH; essentially, the Si Performer also took some of the
pressure off of the Vi6," he states. "I used some of the Vi6's tie
lines to get the inputs, and patched in about 12 lines which allowed the Si
Performer to deal with the two narrator mics, all of the DJ element of the
show, and the VT stuff. Basically, whatever audio was sent from the recording
truck came back on this console."
Although Sanner had never actually worked on the Si
Performer before, he says it was very easy to get around.
"It's a great little desk, and I knew how to use it
without referring to the manual," he smiles. "This event's such a
good one to be involved in, and a great test for a brand new product."
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