20 October 2009

ILIVE IS BLACK MAGIC FOR BUSY PA COMPANY

UK PA company, Black Magic Audio (BMA), recently added an Allen & Heath iLive-T digital mixing system to its hire stock. Purchased through LMC, the system comprises the compact iDR-32 MixRack and iLive-T80 Control Surface.

“We saw the system at a presentation demo day to a selection of engineers and rental companies, and all of us left feeling pretty astonished by iLive’s feature set and quality, particularly with respect to the system’s sound quality. Compared to other digital consoles in the same price range, iLive represents superb value for money, and sounds better!” explains BMA’s MD, Bill Keown. “The system was bought to service our smaller shows, particularly touring theatre work but has since been used on much more demanding jobs due to the simple, effective work flow of the surface.”

Comedian Tim Minchin performed on the Alternative Stage at the Leeds festival 2009

BMA were asked by sound contractor, ESS, to provide a monitor system for the Alternative Stage at this year’s Leeds Festival, which hosted a variety of comedians, films, DJ sets and bands. Keown decided to use the new iLive system as the monitor console, explaining:

“The equipment set up for the stage was somewhat complicated but iLive is so versatile we knew it would cope with the responsibility. The FOH console was bussed through iLive so that when the live bands had finished each night, we could simply switch off and case up the FOH console, and mix the later DJ and MC acts from side stage on iLive and not have to worry about flying beer. We maximised iLive’s I/O capacity and it didn't have any problems handling the task, in fact is coped flawlessly. On Sunday night, we had 5 bands with short, 15-minute changeovers but iLive’s intuitive surface layout meant we could easily manage the demanding schedule, and had compliments all round from the artists.”