Kings of Floyd are a leading Pink Floyd tribute band based in Germany led by Brit, Mark Gillespie. They have earned a deserved reputation for presenting an accurate and atmospheric representation of the classic progressive rock supergroup.
In order to replicate and do justice to the magic and majesty of Pink Floyd, Kings of Floyd and their experienced crew place audio quality high on their list of priorities.
Highly respected FOH Engineer, Howard Heckers, notable for his work with Supertramp co-founder Roger Hodgson amongst many others, is the band’s audio lynchpin and his work in helping to produce the authentic Floyd sound is essential.
Central to his setup for Kings of Floyd is a DiGiGrid IOS unit, as he explained: “I’ve been a DiGiGrid user for a while now, having started touring with the Waves LV1 around three years ago. In 200 plus shows during that time, DiGiGrid products have never let me down.
I use the DiGiGrid IOS for front-of-house – it’s the best option available with eight inputs, eight outputs, two headphone outputs and AES. It’s ideal for PA feeds and some local inputs like talkback and playback from a video stream for the show. I love the preamps – very transparent and clear.”
Heckers, whose career credits also include Liza Minnelli, Melanie and Randy Newman, owns several DiGiGrid products: “I actually have three Waves LV1 setups for different tours. The Kings of Floyd gear stays in the truck but I use a similar setup for other tours. I’ll be upgrading my IOS’s to IOS-XL as soon as I have a break in the current Kings of Floyd tour. I also use a DiGiGrid MGB (coaxial MADI interface) on another tour – this is my newest setup that deploys a DiGiCo rack on MADI to MGB on FOH and has an IOC at FOH.”
With a strong reputation and more than 25 years of experience that has encompassed ten major world tours, Heckers has heard and used almost every available console on the market but considers that using DiGiGrid with Waves LV1 is the option that best suits his requirements. He’s also an admirer of the units’ durability, describing them as “rock solid”.
Kings of Floyd’s connection with DiGiGrid extends even beyond its use by their renowned FOH engineer. When the demands on Heckers’ time recently resulted in the need for a deputy to cover some dates on the band’s current tour, they called on the services of none other than DiGiGrid Product Specialist, Michael Mäurer, to take the hot seat.