Switch and go

KNOWN FOR their raw sound and multiple effects, Primal Scream required a widely available and easy-to-use desk with plenty of channels, according to front-of-house engineer Chris Martin.

He and monitor engineer Gerry Colclough opted for DiGiCo SD12 consoles for a tour which visited venues including Brighton Dome (cap. 1,700), Nottingham’s Rock City (2,000) and London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum (2,300).

“The band has a very good idea about what they want and we spent many days at a rehearsal studio to achieve it,” says Martin, who used a DiGiCo SD12 on the tour with a single SD Rack, with a Waves server connected via MADI to a DiGiGrid MGB interface.

“The Waves server is mainly used for effects such as auto pan for guitars and keyboards,” he says. “Plus a few reverbs, sub enhancer and distortion and some primary source expanders on the vocals. I’m also using a Universal Apollo interface connected via analogue for a few compressors and EQs.

“We can get the consoles wherever we travel, and the compatibility within the SD range has made our lives very easy. We simply switch the show-file from one desk to another.”