Formed in Stockholm in 2003, rabble-rousing Swedish punk-rock band The Baboon Show is currently marking their 20th anniversary on a European tour in support of the new album God Bless You All, with the band’s longstanding front of house engineer Chris Mock employing an Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system and Audio-Technica 3000 Series in-ear monitor wireless systems in delivering the band’s brand of punk-rock energy.
Mock opted for the compact dLive CTi1500 control surface, with its weight-saving titanium sidepanels, connected to a dLive CDM32 MixRack for the shows. “The CTi was my first choice, since I normally tour with a dLive C2500 surface,” he explains. “The set-up needed to be as small and lightweight as possible but working with iPads or laptops and touch screens only wasn’t an option for me, so we decided on the beautiful CTi1500, on which I can run the same setup already used on my C2500.
“I love the almost analogue feel of working on dLive. It’s really fast and intuitive in use – I work with a lot of effects and ride a lot of faders during the show and the CTi1500 allows me to mix in a very dynamic, hands-on way. It’s a really great creative tool in that way.”
A total of 32 inputs come from stage into the CTi1500, including a pair of electric guitar mics, a “dirt mic” on Niclas Svensson’s drum kit, ambient microphones and more. “All signals are split internally so each input has a channel for the FOH and another one for the in-ear mix which is sent to six stereo mixes,” Mock says. “Our backline tech/monitor engineer uses an iPad connected to the CDM32 to make changes during the show and it works perfectly.”
The CTi1500’s internal effects engine has also helped simplify Mock’s workflow, negating the need for external plugins, “I do have an optional Waves v2 card in my C2500, which I mostly use for recording,” he notes, “but I stopped working with external plugins because, to be honest, the onboard tools in the dLives are so good I really have everything I need.
The move from traditional wedges to an in-ear monitoring system is not always easy and, as Mock says, took some adjusting to, but the Audio-Technica 3000 Series IEMs in conjunction with the CTi1500 helped smooth the transition. “The band loves the sound of the Audio-Technica system and it’s really easy and quick to set-up. The crew really appreciate the simple design and functionality of the IEMs and the Wireless Manager software really unlocks the power of the system. The band are super happy and I can’t imagine them ever going back to wedges.”
