Netherlands-based Bang Bang Systems greatly reduced its footprint at front of house with the recent purchase of a Harman Soundcraft Ui16 digital mixing system, allowing owner José da Silva to streamline his operations with no reduction in sound quality.
He not only reinforces the sound of national mid-sized shows, but also runs two different festival halls that cater to Caribbean bands.
A typical festival for da Silva generally attracts between 500 to 800 people. Having used many mixing consoles before from various brands, he was determined to find a compact solution that would greatly reduce his mobile footprint at events without sacrificing sound quality and mixing features.
Though it is his first Soundcraft product, the small Ui16 system has already made a huge impact on the way he works.
The Soundcraft Ui16 digital mixer is a remote-controlled mixing system in a compact, road-rugged stagebox format, with built-in Wi-Fi, 31-band graphic EQ, noise gate and compressor on all outputs. It also features three dedicated Lexicon FX buses for Reverb, Delay and Chorus effects. It offers eight XLR combo mic/line inputs, four XLR mic inputs, two Hi-Z/instrument inputs and a stereo RCA line input.
“I prefer to achieve more with less,” said da Silva. “I don’t like working with large mixing consoles, because I believe that all the equipment for a small to midsize event should fit inside a small van. Being able to cut down on a lot of outboard gear is why I purchased the Soundcraft Ui16 system.”
Maintaining the audio quality of more expensive mixing consoles while delivering faster results per show at a lower price point is exactly the goal for this system. Featuring AFS by DBX, guitar effects by DigiTech, vocal effects by Lexicon and much more, the Ui16 is the combination of Harman’s market-leading audio technologies in a digital Soundcraft package.
“I can bring this little system to every show and still deliver an amazing quality of sound,” said da Silva. “Before each show, I now have more time to set up the sound in the way that I want, and afterwards I can take the show home on a USB stick. The system is just so convenient and fast. Together with my JBL loudspeakers and Crown amplifiers, I can now make sure that all my events are run to perfection.”