A tour by British-Nigerian rapper Dave in support of his sophomore album “We’re All Alone in This Together” (WAAITT) comprised of 12 UK arena shows that wrapped up last month saw London-based engineer Charles Bidwell returning to handle front of house for his eighth tour with the artist, employing an Allen & Heath dLive mix system.
“The dLive has been with us since 2018; the surface and MixRacks have been scaling up to match the show’s requirements” explains Bidwell. “We’re currently touring a full band, BV’s, playback, featured artists and Dave who raps, sings, plays guitar and piano.”
For the increased demands of the WAAITT tour, Bidwell opted for a system centred around a S7000 surface partnered with a DM64 MixRack. Additionally, Dante, AES and fibreACE cards are fitted to facilitate multitracking, virtual soundchecks, PA feed and to accommodate >100-meter fiber runs at arenas.
“The harmonics added by the DEEP preamp emulations allow me to implement sensible gain structure and then add warmth, drive and squish” Bidwell says. “The vast DEEP compressor library allows me to pair inputs with a specific compressor that improves dynamic response, depth and tonality.
“The new DEEP Source Expander on vocal mics is included in my scene recall so I can adjust the threshold depending on stage location” he adds. “Dave spends four songs on the B-Stage in front of 32 d&b GSL [loudspeakers] running at 105 dB; this unit has saved my vegan bacon a few times now.”
