Snapshot push for vocals and guitar

ONE KEY challenge facing the Stereophonics’ sound team on tour is to keep bass notes under tight control, according to monitor engineer Harm Schopman, who says the band like the vocals of frontman Kelly Jones and the guitars to be prominent in the mix.

He and front-of-house engineer Dave Roden achieve this using a DiGiCo SD10 console with its snapshot facility, which allows the engineer to immediately reset controls to customised settings.

“I love the clarity I can achieve for the in-ear monitor mixes using the SD10,” he says. “Everything seems to be easily separated, which means the mixes are very detailed and clean. The interface works perfectly for me and speed of operation is always a priority when working monitors.”

The tour visited venues such as Manchester Arena (cap. 15,000), Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena (5,000) and Bournemouth International Centre (4,100).

“Going back to DiGiCo after six years with other desks allowed us to reduce stage footprint by rack-sharing, the expansion capabilities of the Optocore network and, of course, the flexibility this would give the band when planning of arena show B-stages,” he explains.