DiGiCo’s SD7 mixing consoles have joined Adele on her first arena tour, situated at FOH and monitor positions.
FOH Engineer Dave Bracey has been using DiGiCo consoles since the company first started manufacturing 14 years ago but is new to the Adele crew. Whilst Joe Campbell at monitors is new to the desks, he has been working with Adele since her 21 tour.
The audio design for the show is complex, with several points where Adele moves from the A to the B stage, with the audio following her from one to the other. “We also have complete arena coverage from the B stage,” said Bracey. “I don’t know that anyone’s ever done that before. Normally, if a singer walks out to the B stage, you’d be looking at her there, but still hear her coming from the A stage. That’s not the case for this show, we follow her around, which has its own challenges.”
The audio system was designed by Bracey and Systems Engineer Ulf Oeckel. “Richard Young, the Production Manager for the show, came up with the initial idea and we worked out how to do it,” explained Bracey.
Campbell’s monitor set-up amounts to 130 inputs and around 55 outputs, the vast majority of which are stereo. “We’re using all in ears, so we have quite a lot of ins and outs, which the desk easily handles,” he said. “Most other consoles you come across would struggle with such numbers.”
“Adele is pleased with the results and particularly the fact that everyone is telling her how good it sounds, which is what she’s basing her impressions on,” concluded Dave. “She did ask me the other day ‘How does the show sound Dave?’ and I said ‘Well, good.’ I was a bit shocked by the question – I normally leave it up to other people to comment on that.”