Avid Venue desk used for Sade
Published: MEA
UAE: Live sound engineer Chris Madden put an Avid D Show console to use to mix Sade for the final leg of her world tour in Abu Dhabi in December. He described the show as ‘fantastic’ and had particular praise for the Yas Island audience.
Mr Madden has been using the desk for a number of years with a variety of acts and has been impressed with its functionality. ‘The layout instantly suited the way I work and it also seemed way ahead of everything else when I first came across it.’
The desk was used to mix front of house for the concert and integrated with Pro Tools to capture performances on the tour. ‘I always have a Pro Tools rig with me and it was used for recording the audio for the tour DVD,’ noted Mr Madden.
Ease of setup is one of the benefits the sound engineer has found using the console. ‘I now have my own start up files with my outputs and communication stuff all set up and I then just add inputs effects and snapshots,’ he explained. ‘Because of the nature of the shows I mix, I do tend to have time at rehearsals to get into the detail of my show file.’
Mr Madden uses features such as Virtual Sound Check and snapshots for the work he does with a number of artists, but does have words of caution for new users who are just getting started. ‘Take it one step at a time and don’t dive in by having snapshots and plugins all over the place,’ cautioned the sound engineer. ‘Keep it simple and let the console's involvement in your mix gently grow with your knowledge of the console and on top of all that, enjoy it.’
Other equipment in use for the show included Sennheiser mics, Mindprint DTC, and an HK Audio Lucas system.