12 October 2009

COMPACT SYSTEM FOR SUPERGRASS SIDE PROJECT

The Hot Rats, a side project of top British Indie band, Supergrass, recently embarked on tour with a compact Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system to manage various live performances and media appearances.

The band comprises Supergrass members Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey, who have teamed up with legendary Radiohead producer, Nigel Godrich, to create an album of eclectic covers. The band’s live performance is based around pre-programmed audio set to a click track, making IEMs a necessity.

Previously an analogue engineer, Gavin McComb set out to find a user-friendly and analogue-sounding digital alternative that is both compact and can manage both FOH and monitor mixing, selecting an iDR10 MixRack with iLive-80 Control Surface.

McComb explains: “The iDR10 houses the inputs and I am Y splitting everything internally in the desk so that I have separate FOH control for EQ and dynamics, with an independent list of inputs for the IEM mixes. Running monitor and FOH mixes from one board usually causes communication problems but we have avoided any issues by saving each song as a different scene and storing all the nuances for each track in the IEM set up.”

The system uses Allen & Heath’s proprietary 64-channel bi-directional ACE (Audio and Control over Ethernet) link to connect the rack and the surface, providing control and audio over a single CAT5 cable up to 120m, enabling an even leaner equipment set up. The system is also fitted with a Mini Multi Out (MMO) card to give them ADAT recording facilities.

The Hot Rats at the Hoxton Bar & Grill, London, during their UK tour

“I like the creative side of mixing where you are changing things every day. It is very apparent that the desk was designed with engineers in mind. The editing power is massive, I can access EQ and channels quickly, and the colour coding is very easy to set up. It is well designed and they have put a lot of thought in from start to finish.”

With a demanding tour and media schedule, comprising dates across the UK and Ireland followed by Japan and USA, iLive’s plug ‘n play and compact size appeals to McComb.

“I’m really championing the iLive system – it’s been a real eye opener. We had a very hectic schedule during the Guinness 250 Anniversary celebrations in Dublin, which we would never have managed if we didn’t have iLive’s small footprint and quick change over capability. The day included a performance on a TV show, where I gave the studio a L&R mix out of the desk and set up a mix that went to their OB truck. They were happy because the whole process was much quicker” explains McComb “This was followed by a venue gig. We were running late because of the TV show and when we arrived the place was packed. However, we loaded in, found a square metre for the iLive-80, ran a CAT5 to the iDR10 rack and were ready to go. It sounded great because everything was preset.”

During the band’s UK tour in October, they were invited onto the BBC Radio 2’s Radcliffe & Macconie show on a day off.

"I ran the band’s IEMs and set up the iDR10 to provide 16 outputs for the studio. The studio’s engineer did his own broadcast mix and gave me a line from the two presenters that I fed into the band’s IEMs. He was chuffed because he didn’t have to worry about doing headphone mixes for the band, and the band was relaxed and familiar with the system,” McComb concludes.

The Hot Rats appearing on FM Radio, Dublin