Both Colby and Verta found much to love onboard the console without the need to carry any external racks or stacks.
“I do not use any outboard inserts at all,” states Colby. “I have also changed over to a complete arsenal of Radial J series DI’s as well as their SW8 switcher units. I recommend that if you haven’t tried their products, you do yourself a favor and give them a shot – you will not be disappointed. You will be astonished on the difference they make on direct inputs. There is no loading of any device they are connected to which in turn gives you a better freq. response as well as dynamic response.”
“Along with this technology,” Colby continues, “I am loving the implementation of full snapshot automation with detailed scope control, as well as the new onboard Multi-Band Compression and Dynamic EQs, which give you the best of both worlds and are available on all paths not just inputs. The expansion of the Control Groups/VCA’s, of which I’m using 12, has also allowed me to have all of the musical inputs that I want right in front of me. The SD7 is super-fast and allows you to lay it out in many different ways.
“By using the Banks & Layers, you can often set it up to not have to change sides of the console. The Macro setup is very easy and useful for so many different short cuts. I utilize this function, as well as the DDL Tap and Verb Taps, more then I ever thought I would. Another shortcut I like to use is to bring my “save session” to a Macro bump. This saves time and constraints on my mixing. I’ve found the snapshot scope to be very helpful and a great way to organize your song lists. You can get as detailed as your imagination allows.
“The larger touch screens are nice and of course the color control makes for a beautiful looking console, which immediately makes you feel comfortable sitting in front of it. As you use the console from day to day, and from tour-to-tour you’ll find other features that will help you navigate your mix surface. The SD7 is a super-fast and really intuitive console.”
Daily multitracking served as show archiving as well as virtual soundchecking for the band, using Nuendo on a MacBook Pro with a single RME MADI-Express Cardinterface.
“This allowed me to travel light when we had one-offs where we didn’t bring control to,” Verta notes. “Another thing that was helpful with this setup was being able to playback the tracks after linecheck and before soundcheck so we were 100 percent sure on the PA response.
“It also allowed us to discuss changes we might have to make on EQ or sub-system levels before doors. We would make those changes and then revert back to our normal settings for soundcheck. This little routine made it easy for us because during the first or second song, we could choose to either make those changes or not, but if we decided to make them then we knew exactly what to do with a minimum of talking involved.”
That compact recording setup also came in handy for Cubby who was asked to record two separate shows for management and for the tour sponsors to be used for online promotions. “I was able to do everything with the gear we already had in place, which was a huge savings for the artist. I then took the files home to my studio to mix, which all worked out just fine. It’s amazing that with the quality of the gear available these days, you can save both time and money to accommodate these last-minute kinds of requests, which previously would’ve been an expensive proposition.”
Another financial boon the SD7 console provided was its compact footprint at front of house. “From a production point of view, management was very impressed with how little of a footprint we occupied,” Verta offered. “This allowed us to have 20 more paying customers over the course of 100 shows, and which translated into dollars for both the house and for the artist, not to mention, these seats (usually some of the best in the house) can now be enjoyed by the fans.”