July 25, 2011, by Andrew "Fletch" Fletcher

I remember the first time I used a digital console for a live show, at a corporate event that was taking place on an airfield in the California desert.

I was mixing in a tent with the “talking heads” on lavalier micro­phones, standing in front of a para­bolic set, and rented air conditioning units giving off about 90 dB of noise.

Outside, professional drivers were racing the cars of the company put­ting on the show.

A tight corner on the track sat right outside my tent, and the screech of tires at the mix position was deafening.

The console was a Yamaha O1V. I’d never used it before and had about 15 minutes to learn before rehearsals.

Somehow, I managed to get through the show.

After that experience, I quite liked the idea of a digital console.

The abil­ity to set up cues had made mixing the show very easy, and even if the console didn’t sound exactly as I was used to, it was very convenient. The onboard dynamics were a bonus.

So I ordered an O1V for my next corporate show; unfortunately, it had some “problems” during rehearsals so I went back to analog. A couple of years passed before I would turn to a digital console again.

From those early days with the O1V and the O2R, the next time I got behind a digital board was with the U.S. introduction of the first InnovaSon model. The “French Console” – as we called it back then – was pretty remarkable.

It marked the first time I’d seen a large-format digital console built for the live market: 48 inputs (great!); 23 outputs (what am I going to do with all of those?); gates and compressors on every input (this could lead to trouble); compact stage box connect­ing to your local rack via two coax cables. (“Who are these people at InnovaSon and why haven’t we heard of them before?”)

I started working with an InnovaSon Sensory and was very impressed. Once you figured out the quirks, it was very easy to get around and store cues on. Others seemed impressed too, with Sensory desks showing up on a few tours.

Around that time, Soundcraft came out with the Broadway, a digital con­trol surface that would control analog input and output racks.

Celine Dion toured with one, but then we didn’t hear much more about the Broadway.

I think it was an LDI show, can’t remember where or when, and for some odd reason I strayed onto the Vari-Lite booth to look at some nod­ding buckets. Over in a corner was Howard Page of Showco sitting in front of a sleek looking thing with faders on it.

Fletch: “Hi Howard, why are you sit­ting in a lighting booth?”

Howard: “I’m showing our new mix­ing console, the signal stays in the analog domain and is controlled digi­tally from this surface.”

Fletch: “What the (expletive deleted)?!?”

Howard: “Would you like a run-through?”

I was thoroughly impressed by the ergonomics and audio quality of what Howard was calling the Show Console – it was well thought out and easy to use.

Fletch: “How much?”

Howard: “We’re not selling them. You have to rent them from Showco.”

Fletch: “I see.”

A bit later, Harrison, which manufac­tured the Show Console for Showco, would offer a version for sale at about $500,000 – a bit much to pay for a thing that’s going to bounce around in a truck most of the time.

But the Show Console became very popular with Showco, and after the merger, with Clair Brothers.

Still, the exe­cution racks wouldn’t travel too well, and cards had to be re-seated when the console got to a show.

Also, the rotary encoders on the surface would sometimes catch fire, although they would still work afterward.

Various people I knew in the industry were claiming to have been flown to Japan, taken into a small room and made to play around on some kind of prototype digital mixer.

Having done this, they were required to come up with suggestions for improvements, promise to speak with no one regarding this matter and were put on a plane home.

Yamaha was working on something big and digital, and they took their time with it. When they finally finished, we had the PM1D. I was lucky enough to be at the first training seminar given on the “1D,” which was attended by all of the Yamaha dealers who were going to distribute the product.

We were shown a product that had been well laid out, with an easily understandable work surface, configurable input and output hardware, 96 inputs and 48 outputs (need more now please), great internal dynamics and effects, all at a price range that was affordable.

The digital console had come of age, and would be the only piece of equipment I would need at front of house apart from a CD player (and still is, to this day).

We used the PM1D at the Grammy Awards show the following year. Instead of having to constantly reset consoles by hand, as in the past, I could now hit recall and announce to the rest of the audio crew who hadn’t even began to strike the last band that I was ready to line check the next one.

If I still smoked, I would have had time for a cigarette outside the venue and still be back in plenty of time for the next line check. Life was good.

Unfortunately I no longer smoke, so I ended up having to listen to award acceptance speeches, which are mind numbingly boring at best.

So here we are, in the present day, the PM1D has recently been “retired” by Yamaha after a trailblazing decade in our industry, and there are many great large- and small-format from a slew of manufacturers. The digital console train has taken me for a heck of a ride to this point.

And it’s fascinating to think of where it will end up.

Based in Los Angeles, Fletch is noted as a top mixer for high-profile shows and corporate events.