"Given the intimate nature of this tour, we decided not to bring all of our PA equipment with us, but to use either whatever the venue had to offer or to work with local rental companies," confirmed Natasha St Pier's long-term sound engineer, Vincent Voyron. "On my rider I simply specified a good quality digital console with high quality preamps. In Arques I got to use an Eclipse for the first time and I wasn't disappointed.
"I know Natasha's voice extremely well, and I always use the same microphone for her (a Neumann KMS 105)," continued Voyron. "That way, I know as soon as we put the signal through the console whether the preamps are any good or not. In the case of the Eclipse, they were excellent. I was able to get my bearings straight away and I appreciated their transparency. So, with a good source, a good mic and good preamps, I hardly had to use the EQs at all.
"For me, the Eclipse is a really good console - the internal multitrack recorder is a real plus," concluded Voyron. "All I'm waiting for now is a bit of software to enable me to control the console remotely from my iPad, but I'm told it's on the way! I'd be happy to mix on an Eclipse any time."
(Jim Evans)