Overview

 

Taking in a wide variety of venues, including five consecutive nights at London’s Shaw Theatre, Boy George spent most of February wowing UK venues on his Songs That Make You Dance And Cry tour.

Accompanying front of house engineer Jimmy Sarikas throughout has been a Yamaha LS9-32 console, which was not only mixing the auditorium sound, but also doing two completely separate sets of recordings of every show.

Interview date:

02/2008

Product List

Mixers:

LS9-32

Details

A Great Console that Offers the Best of Both Worlds

Jimmy first came across the LS9 in his role as resident sound engineer at London’s Soho Revue Bar. The Soho Revue Bar features a wide range of live music and entertainment, including music industry-hosted events.

“Promoters were booking the venue to do multi-band functions, where I was doing both monitors and FOH from the same console,” says Jimmy. “The changeovers between bands obviously have to be very slick and the bands could vary enormously. When you’re mixing on an analog console, changing over quickly from a four-piece band to an eight- or nine-piece was very demanding. With just me doing it, I had to keep running from the FOH position to the stage and back.”

The venue’s owners were persuaded to invest in a Yamaha LS9 in the summer of 2007 and Jimmy hasn’t looked back since. “The LS9 was a lifesaver!” he says. “Being able to patch everything as scenes and just recall band settings solved the changeover problems at a stroke. Now it’s done in a fraction of the time and I can concentrate fully on mixing each performance, not having half a mind on the next changeover.”

Perfect for Changing Sets and Varying Venues

Jimmy first met Boy George 20 years ago and has worked with him on a number of projects, including previous tours. But this time the first piece of equipment he requested was the Yamaha LS9-32. “I chose it for the same reasons as I chose it for the Revue Bar,” he says. “It’s a great desk that offers the best of both the analog and digital worlds. I have to mix on the fly because George never sticks to the set list, so I can change things throughout the show but then store them.”

“With analog desks you’ve always got the problem that controls will be moved by the time you set up the next day, whereas with the LS9 I simply recall the show file and things are exactly as I saved them. And with the wide variety of different venues we were playing in, it was a godsend.”

“In fact, the last gig was at the Buxton Festival and I asked them to take out a major analogue board, complete with full outboard racks, and put in an LS9!”

FOH and Recording at the Same Time

But Jimmy and the show’s system tech Steve Bunting are using the console for more than the FOH mix. It’s also being used to record two completely separate mixes of every show.

The touring band comprises six members – drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, two backing vocalists and, of course, George – all of whom Jimmy and Steve managed to handle using just 24 channels through the console. This was for the primary recording to an Alesis HD24 hard disk recorder via a pair of Yamaha MY16-AT ADAT cards.

At the same time, each show was also being recorded as a stereo mix direct to a USB memory device using the LS9’s internal recorder. “I used the USB recording as a reference, to check which of the performances would be the best for George’s producer to mix down for possible release from the digital 24 track recording,” says Jimmy.

However, this stereo recording also had a second purpose: sound checks in which the band didn’t need to be involved. “The USB recording facility meant that we got sound checks down to about 15 or 20 minutes maximum,” Jimmy continues. “Which people like, of course. And if you’re touring with the PA and console you’re set – the only thing that changes is the room acoustics.”

Easy to Recall Mixes from Similar Rooms

“I enjoyed the benefit of being able to recall a mix from the most similar room,” adds Steve. “So we had a number of saved mixes for large reverberant spaces such as Nottingham Royal Concert Hal, and some for small dry spaces such as the Orchard Theatre in Dartford.”

In order to tweak the system to match each venue’s acoustics, Steve was equipped with an Apple laptop computer with a Belkin wireless connection, running Yamaha’s Studio Manager software. This allowed him to roam freely around each venue and adjust the system so that every seat enjoyed top quality sound.

A Lot of Console for Little Money

“For me personally, it’s been an enjoyable experience not having to traipse up and down staircases time and time again!” smiles Steve. “Speaking as a system technician I found that, after setting up the system equalization, Jimmy was been able to walk in and have a quick sound check without having to tweak too much at all. Consequently, the sound from venue to venue was reasonably consistent.”

Jimmy Sarikas was certainly happy with the results, as he contemplated resuming his connection with the LS9 at the Soho Revue Bar. “I love the LS9, it’s a great tool that’s both portable and cost-effective. It’s a lot of console for little money,” he says.

Steve adds: “I've always found the sound quality of the LS9 to be excellent at such a price-point, as well as the sound quality and usability of the effects. As an FOH desk, I’ve found it to be very user friendly, everything required by the band engineer is easy to find quickly and does not require multiple button presses, while the functions that are not needed in the heat of the gig are the ones hidden away a bit more. It certainly made my life easier - not just in it's capabilities but it's compact size and weight, which is ideal for a theatre tour!”

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