Overview

 

With the solo career of Mancunian legend Morrissey continuing to go from strength to strength, the former Smiths vocalist spent most of 2006 touring the world to promote his UK chart-topping album ‘Ringleader Of The Tormentors’, including two major sets of UK dates and many of Europe’s leading summer festivals.

The tour also took in a number of less common touring territories, including Mexico, Iceland, and Turkey. So it was important that front of house sound engineer David ‘Milky’ Millward’s choice of digital console was straightforward to patch in for festivals, but also well supported in all the countries that the tour would visit. Little wonder that he chose the Yamaha PM5D.

Product List

Mixers:

PM5D-RH, PM5D

Details

Up and Running in Minutes

The first digital console used by David was a Yamaha PM1D. “I used the PM1D on a short tour a couple of years ago. It was a deliberate choice because it was a tour with varying venue sizes – from theatres down to small town halls – and I was conscious of the amount of space required for FOH, plus the channel count was getting high,” he says. “Plus I hadn’t previously used digital and felt that at some stage I just had to take the plunge.”

Having enjoyed using the PM1D, David first used a PM5D in 2005, in a Blue Note club in Osaka, Japan. “I didn’t know what desk was there until I arrived,” he says. “But with a bit of help from a guy in the club, I was up and running in minutes. I was very impressed at how easy it was.”

Since then the PM5D has been David’s FOH console of choice. Its sound quality and flexibility added to its worldwide support base, making it the ideal console for Morrissey tours. He has regularly used both the PM5D and PM5D-RH versions, the latter being his preferred choice for most of the 2006 dates.

Reduced Reliance on Outboards

“When the tour started in March, we had a variety of outboard effects. But we cut it back to a bare minimum fairly quickly,” says David. “Apart from a Focusrite Producer Pack and an Avalon preamp on Morrissey’s vocal, plus Drawmer gates on the toms, we were just using the desk’s internal effects and gates which were great. It’s the most compact FOH setup I’ve ever had and was very quick to set up and break down.”

He continues: “Another great thing about the PM5D is that what you get is the same everywhere in the world. Unlike with other digital consoles, you don’t have to go into great details about how the racks are configured. It’s very easy to go to a country, pick up a locally hired PM5D, load the PCMCIA card into and just go for it.”

Changing Set Lists No Problem

The tour’s set list tended to change regularly, so the ease with which David could recall song scenes was another key advantage.

“I’ve got a scene set up for every song and I’ve been editing both offline and on the desk. I also really like the automation, I find it very straightforward, it does exactly what I want it to do,” says David. “And when you’re touring it’s great that when you switch the PM5D on, it comes up in exactly the same state as when it was switched off.”

Plug In, Switch On, and Go

When it comes to festivals, the PM5D’s flexibility was vital in September, when Morrissey headlined the prestigious V festivals in Staffordshire and Essex. Although in some circumstances David is happy to approach things ‘in the spirit’ of festivals and use whatever desk is provided, at these significant dates he wanted to ensure that everything was perfect.

“As we were headlining the V festivals, we felt it was prudent to have our own desk,” he smiles. “SSE Hire has been our equipment supplier for the UK dates and, as they did the PAs at V, they provided a PM5D set up exactly as we needed at the Staffordshire site. After the gig we took the console to the Essex show, did the show, and afterwards left it there for SSE.

“It was great. Festivals can be very hard work, but with the PM5D we were up and running in next to no time. No worrying about EQ settings and the rest – it was just plug in, switch on, and go”

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