DiGiCo SD11 accompanies Petula Clark on Australian tour
Published: ASIA
AUSTRALIA: A DiGiCo SD11 console supplied by Group Technologies was used for the recent Petula Clark tour in Australia. A five-piece band played on all 17 shows, which saw Australian sound engineer Ernie Rose assume monitor and FOH duties.
‘It's amazing that this level of technology can fit into a portable package,’ Mr Rose enthused. ‘Besides the fact it sounds great (which quite a few people were taken by), it's so compact, light, powerful and flexible – I was carrying the SD11 around like luggage.’
Mr Rose stated that ‘the great advantage of doing front of house and monitors with the SD11 was the fact that during setup, I could physically move the console from the side of the stage for monitors then to FOH for the sound check. This meant most of the work was done before the show,’ he added. ‘It's really a bit of a modern miracle in that respect.
‘After the first setup, each new venue we went to just needed minor tweaks,’ he furthered. ‘The sound was also far more consistent than using the house gear at each venue, which can vary quite a bit both in terms of usability and sound quality. Setup time after the first show was literally two minutes.’
A DiGiCo D-Rack was also placed at the centre of the stage, which everything was patched to. ‘It worked so well and it was really simple,’ said Mr Rose.
Mr Rose was also particularly impressed with the console’s fast recovery time after one of the venues experienced a power failure mid-show: ‘At a show we did in Albany, western Australia, the whole town had a power outage, and it took 11 seconds for the SD11 to start passing audio after the power resumed. Petula, the band and even the audience were very impressed – as was I!’