Girl in Red’s latest tour has seen the band grow, not only in size, but venue capacity. Larger venues meant higher production values, and sound engineers Kris Derry and Matt Wickens decided on two Quantum 338s, KLANG:DMI, and Fourier Audio transform.engine, all provided by Entec Sound and Light.
Derry mixes at the FOH position. He has been with the band since 2019, and has witnessed a change in the way they tour.
“When I started, we were in a splitter van and I just brought a Peli-case of mics and no desk,” he recalled. “Returning in 2021 for Reading and Leads festival, Matt and I made a push to take an audio package. The gig had grown and we needed that reliability and consistency. So, at the start of that year’s album campaign, we spec’d DiGiCo and we haven’t looked back.”
The team, headed by Production Manager Eric Wade, started with the SD Range, but requirements continued to expand and so did the consoles. Having tried most of what DiGiCo has to offer, both engineers are now using a Quantum 338, supplied by Entec Live, at the front of house and monitor positions. Derry and Monitor Engineer Wickens, are making use of the Spice Rack, with Wickens really appreciating the Nodal processing.
“The Quantum 338 is great, the functionality is unbelievable,” he said. “We’ve got an extremely dynamic drummer, so being able to send all the drum channels to him pre-compression, pre-dynamics, but post-gated compression to everyone else without having to duplicate channels is great.”
Joining in 2021, Wickens introduced the band to KLANG for their in-ear-monitoring needs. Accessed via the Quantum 338 console at the mix position, KLANG:DMI integrated seamlessly.
“As soon as I introduced KLANG:DMI I was instantly able to lower the listening volume for my artist mix, which was great,” he said. “Then I could simply place instruments, vocals and track in a 3D landscape. I can push mix objects up and down, as well as left and right to create more space in the mix. It means that I can have every element of the band audible whilst keeping a lot of space for that all-important vocal.”
Derry is using a Fourier.engine at the front of house position to manage the band’s plugins, further improving stability. The latest update enables engineers to recall plugin states. Triggered by MIDI, the cuelist stores your favourite plugin settings, and recalls them as required. Even if a plugin fails, the Fourier.engine can continue to work. It’s the compatibility across the range that ensures engineers can keep concentration and focus, throughout the show.
“Fourier is really stable, a few nights ago, my laptop had a moment, but I looked over at the rack unit of Fourier and saw four green ticks, so all was OK,” Derry said. “I’d tried Fourier twice through different demos, and was excited to finally use it on a gig. I recently installed the cuelist update and it has been really helpful. It’s really nice to have a great product and also have communication available around product support.”
Support is important to DiGiCo, and the relationship with people like Mark Saunders and Dave Bigg, who have supported the engineers with set-ups and programming, has been invaluable throughout the band’s many tour dates.
“There have been plenty of times where I’ve spoken to people such as Dave Bigg, especially in the early days of using KLANG when I needed help. I wouldn’t be without it now, it’s such a great tool and I would hate to do an in-ear-monitoring gig without it. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about that with Marie. It’s such a good tool for me that I’d be little bit stuck without it.”
Derry agreed and concluded: “We’ve had amazing support over the last few years. If we ever need anyone at DiGiCo, we just call. If we have any ideas to pass along, they listen, they actually care, and they’re there for you. That’s been great.”
