DiGiCo’s very first SD11 console has made its debut in the field – and on the road – with Staind founder and frontman Aaron Lewis.

Out in support of his debut country-tinged solo album, Town Line, released in March 2011, the stripped-down tour features Lewis in an acoustic duo setting on sold-out stages ranging from headlining 700-seat casinos, churches and honky-tonks, to playing opening slots on 50,000-seat arena and festival bills.

Long-time DiGiCo user Clay Hutson – who’s wearing multiple hats on this outing including FOH/Monitor engineer and day-to-day/Production/Tour Manager – had read about the SD11 rack-mountable system and was extremely interested in getting his hands on the first one for this tour.

Over the years, Hutson has driven just about every DiGiCo console on the market, including an SD7 on last year’s Maxwell tour and several SD8’s on a bunch of one-off gigs.

“I also had the very first, hand-built D5 out with Marilyn Manson almost ten years ago. Considering the volatility of that artist, taking a new console out was a risk… but it worked out fantastically. DiGiCo had my back then and I’ve been a supporter ever since,” he adds.

Wanting to be in control of Lewis’ sound, and not at the mercy of the local production companies and house systems, Hutson was adamant that he carry his own console, but budgetary constraints made his options slim.

Because of the varying travel modes of the tour, Hutson needed a compact mixing system that he could simply stow beneath the tour bus or check as baggage on fly-dates.

The 19” SD11, DiGiCo’s smallest offering (both in size and price), seemed the perfect solution all around and offered the DiGiCo features, functionality and sonics that he’d grown to rely on.