HALMSTAD,
Sweden – Bringing its unique brand of melodic death metal to its fans across
the Atlantic Ocean, Swedish band Arch Enemy is
currently touring North America with a HARMAN Soundcraft Vi6 digital console at
front of house.
According
to Hagen Weigel, Arch Enemy’s FOH engineer, Arch Enemy’s shows are dynamic and
full of energy and theatrics. “Arch Enemy is a band that has beautiful melodies
arranged around very intricate drumming, which is mixed with heavy shredding
guitars and spiced up with brutal growling to form a nice mélange that feels
like a kick in the face,” he said.
While
“melodic death metal” might seem like an oxymoron, it is in fact a popular
sub-genre that is nonetheless quite challenging to mix. “There are heavily
distorted guitars that are also wide, open, and melodic which mix with very
fast double kick drum playing,” Weigel noted. “Frequency differentiation is key
to the mix—getting all of the instruments to sit and work around each other. I
need to have clarity and separation and still be able to put [lead singer]
Alissa's voice out in front. I'm always looking for the result to be something
that is beautiful and brutal at the same time.”
In
his search for a digital console for this tour, Weigel placed a priority on
reliability. “You can have the best-sounding, most feature-packed desk, but
when it crashes in front of 30,000 people at a festival none of that matters,”
he said. “What Soundcraft has done with the Vi6 is create an incredibly stable,
ergonomic console that still has all of the features that I am looking for.”
Those
features, in turn, are multiple. “In order to fulfill my vision of what the
Arch Enemy sound should be I need really good dynamics—fast responding gates,
compressors that are smooth and predictable in behavior, EQs that are
responsive and accepts boosts well, and effects engines that are able to give
me reverbs that range from ‘80s plate sounds to modern large reverbs,” Weigel
added.
For
all these reasons, Weigel chose the Vi6, which he noted has performed
flawlessly to this point. “From metal to orchestral and symphonic music, Vi
consoles are able to translate the vision you have for your mix in your head to
the PA,” he noted. “It is incredibly reliable and consistent and sounds beautiful.”
Lastly,
Weigel notes the Vi6’s intuitive user interface is icing on the cake. “The whole concept of having a dedicated touchscreen for
every eight channels is great,” he said. “The fader bank, all angled really
steep, gives a very nice feel of having a perfect overview and also puts every
single parameter in reach, all the time. I don't have to step through menus and
sub-menus, it's all right there. In my opinion the Vi interface is probably the
fastest interface there is to work on.”
For
more information on Arch Enemy, please visit www.archenemy.net
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