The Digidesign Venue console has made its debut for JPS on the current Pearl Jam tour with front-of-house engineer Greg Nelson in the driver's seat. Having graduated from a Midas XL4 to a Yamaha PM5D last year, Nelson decided to switch to the Venue console four months ago. "I'm very comfortable operating the Venue," stated Nelson at the band's sold-out Sydney gig. "It's laid out so well and is very user friendly. It sounds fantastic and makes my job so much easier. I can go anywhere with just my USB key, plug into the console and my whole mix is up. I believe that making the switch from an analogue console to the Venue is easier than any other digital console. You're not consciously thinking about how to do things, you just find yourself doing it instinctively. It makes the mixing more emotion driven than cerebral."
Greg believes that the wide variety of plug-ins available for the Venue bring a whole new element to a live digital console. "They add all sorts of different colour to everything," he said. "It makes the console a lot of fun to mix on."
The Pearl Jam audio rig supplied by JPS also included an L-Acoustics V-Dosc PA, Crown amplifiers and BSS system drive whilst the band tours its own monitoring equipment. "JPS has been fantastic and Paul Schofield in particular has taken great care of me," added Nelson. "When turned on, the PA sounded just as it should and that's all you can ask for. Everything I requested via email was here and working perfectly. The JPS crew [Tristan Johnson, Guy Gilchrest and Tim Seconi] are nice, pleasant to be around and it's been a really good experience."
(Lee Baldock)
