The D5 Live is proving a hit with Popa because the large band line-up presents him with no less than 67 inputs from stage and an endless stream of effects and processing cues. Popa comments: "There’s a new generation of bands and a new generation of young sound engineers, people who have come out of their bedrooms and DJ mixers and want to mix real bands live and who are really good at it - new talent with fresh ideas. That’s one of the many reasons we’ve gone for the D5 Live - there’s a whole new wave happening out there and we intend for dB Sound to remain at the cutting edge."
"With Ministry having so many inputs," continues Popa, "I can keep a better handle on it using this desk and watch things that are happening. There’s so much stuff, but now I don’t have to just work on the snare drum for an hour. I press the button and the gain is set approximately for how we would like it in the show and then I do little minor gain adjustments and little minor EQ adjustments. And I love to mix. It takes a toll on you when you have to carry that amount of gear, because we have to do an 8am load in and it takes until 2.30 in the afternoon to get the stuff up and I have to trouble shoot everything. Here, I’ve got my gates and compressors in the desk, and I don’t have to trouble shoot all of those cables. That’s a big thing for me." Also useful, he explains, is the ability to store presets to match different types of house systems encountered on the tour, in this case dB’s own EV X-Array, Nexo and Turbosound.
It was dB Sound’s Harry Witz who chose the D5 Live, says Lee. "The D5 just sounds incredible from the A/D converters onwards. The compression and the gates are so friendly and just what you want in a live sound application. Just like an old Neve desk, if you put it on an Al Green track you go, ‘this is the sound I’m looking for’. And the one thing I learned about the D5 is that once I stopped looking at the screens to see what I’m doing, and just listened to what I’m doing, that really came to life too."
(Lee Baldock)
