Currently, F.O.H. engineers for a variety of acts, such as Moby, Pink, Jools Holland and Pavarotti, all insist on Focusrite channel strips for signal processing throughout their live work. A fine example is Tori Amos, who is permanently accompanied by a full rack of Red Range processors at every concert. However, such an immense rack of Red Range processors is rarely an option for the average live engineer, with many having to settle for onboard processing alone. Focusrite will be loaning sixteen Compounders (1U dual mono compressor and gate) and four MKII's to SSE, the company behind the key rigs at all of the major festivals, therefore Focusrite have become unofficial audio sponsors for this summer's events.
The first on the list was 'Homelands', one of the UK's biggest dance events, which took place over the bank holiday weekend at the end of May. Focusrite enriched bass-lines for the Freestylers, whilst strengthening and securing the lead vocals for the Scissor Sisters and Faithless. Also on the bill was Lamb - already keen users of Focusrite in their studio work - who played a fantastic set of their classic tracks to promote the imminent release of a 'best of' album.
Martin Hildred, F.O.H. engineer for Lamb, and also Basement Jaxx and The Streets, views Focusrite equipment as the highest quality processing he said: "If experienced Live engineers have a chance to use Focusrite gear, they'll snap it up." Although the professional ISA range is most often found in a studio environment, the Platinum Range products, particularly Compounders and Octopre's (1U 8 channel mic-pre with dynamics), are becoming increasingly popular in various live sound applications. Hildred, and fellow engineer Ricky 'Ricketts' (Freestylers, Herbaliser, Roots Manuva) were both highly appreciative and took full advantage of the opportunity to use Focusrite on their respective gigs.
The ongoing trend for live productions to try and recreate the sound of the recorded album whilst embracing the opportunities that a live environment has to offer, requires that similar processing is used for both. The security of knowing you have the tools to recreate a signature sound is an ever-increasing concern for live engineers, as Simon Hart, engineer for Queen and the SAS band stated: "As FOH, to turn up with the three or four of my favoured processors by my side, gives me great peace of mind. Even after you specify your outboard requirements ahead of time, you can never be sure of what you might get. With a Focusrite Red 3 and TrakMaster , as well as some quality reverb, I can handle pretty much any thing that I'm confronted with...well nearly."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
