But the back-up was soon out on the tour as well - and this month Skan had to call on two further consoles to support Gnarls Barkley during their recent spate of European television and live concert dates. On monitors was Tim Engwall, who has scarcely been away from the D-Show surface since receiving his induction at this year's Montreux Jazz Festival; out front was Steve Curtin who is another recent convert, having made his debut on a D-Show at a festival in Detroit earlier this summer.
Having worked with Eighth Day Sound's Venues in the States, both men were delighted to be transferring their show mixes to a set-up in the UK.
Chris Fitch is hardly surprised that more and more sound engineers are converting to D-Show, stating that 2006 has definitely belonged to Digidesign. Although a multi-brand company, his recent purchases have mostly been in the direction of Venue, as he responds to riders which increasingly specify the console. He knows his investment is protected by the exemplary software support that Digidesign provides, and the equivalent level of back-up from the resellers, Marquee Audio.
"We had obviously been aware of the console and it was just a question of time before we invested. With the perception growing all the time it makes perfect financial sense," he says.
The move was driven by Muse FOH engineer Marc Carolan and monitor engineer Adam Taylor, both of whom requested a D-Show. "Then Marc wanted another wing and we needed two more stage racks because the requirement was above 48 channels - so that has given us a spare brain and spare surface."
Fitch says: "With high-tech products you need to rely on a high level of support and we didn't consider it an option not to buy from Marquee. Andy Huffer has always been a credit to the company - his remit goes way beyond product training and he has a great knack at fault finding. When we accidentally damaged a Stage Rack for D-Show he had it sorted within two hours."
Aside from Muse, Fitch has also picked up the Gnarls Barkley tour, having previously worked with production manager John Lafferty on the Slayer European tour. "We got on so well that he was adamant he wanted to use us on this," says Fitch. "This business is all about building relationships and it's great to have clients who appreciate what you are doing."
(Chris Henry)
