The Rising tour PA consists of three Yamaha PM1D digital mixing systems, two of which were purchased, with a third rented from Hi Tech Audio. Two PM1Ds are being used for monitors with engineer Monty Carlo at stage left and Troy Milner stage right. A third PM1D at front-of-house is being manned by John Cooper. House PA consists of 16 JBL Vertec cabinets and 16 subs per side; 12 cabinets are flown house left and right, supported with three rear clusters. All 112 Vertec cabinets are driven by Crown MA5002 and 2402 amps, controlled by a Crown IQ system. Mics include an Audix 013 on Sony wireless for Bruce’s vocal, plus hardwire and wireless models from Shure and Beyer. A BSS Omnidrive system breaks out into front, side and rear stereo zones, alternating left and right around the house so every listener has a true stereo image.
A major consideration toward digital consoles was the trend toward multi-act line-ups, according to Leccese. "When you’re doing six acts and carrying six different analogue consoles, the problem was always how to get back to where you were without having to manually reset knobs," he explains. "With the PM1D, the reset advantage makes the console not one board, but 200 or even 1000. The engineer has the ability to go back to all saved settings, and restore them to exactly where they were. When doing multiple act shows where there is rehearsal time, or a tour with the same multi-artist lineup, it’s easy to instantaneously get back to your settings from yesterday, last week, or last month."
"We looked at all the digital consoles on the market, and when the PM1D came along, it was more in line with our thinking about what a digital system should be in the way of features and sound. No matter what type of system, tour or installation we set up, the most important thing is that nothing gets in the way of the audio, so the consoles needed to sound better and be easy to use, but most paramount for us was reliability."
(Lee Baldock)
