UK-based live mix engineer Zoe Martin utilizes Harman’s Soundcraft Vi6 consoles and the new Realtime Rack while touring with international artists and bands such as Maverick Sabre, Bonobo and The Radiophonic Workshop.
Having acquired substantial experience over the past decade, Martin also passes her mixing skills onto university students at the Brighton branch of the British and Irish Modern Music Institute with a Soundcraft Vi1 console.
Martin’s analog background made Soundcraft the winner when it came to her preferred mixing console, as the design and layout of the Vi Series are geared towards ease of use and instant response.
To this end, the Soundcraft Realtime Rack was also a logical addition to her toolkit, bringing UAD plug-ins to Soundcraft consoles and adding full remote snapshot triggering and storing. With four SHARC DSPs and a library of UAD powered plug-ins, as well as UAD direct developer plug-ins, it offers stable DSP levels and premium sound quality in a scalable, low-latency processing environment.
“I’ve always liked the Vi consoles, because they make the most ergonomic sense to me,” Martin says. “The Soundcraft consoles are the most analog-like digital desks in terms of layout and give me exactly what I need.
:The Realtime Rack is also a nice feature,” she continues. “It smoothes out each of my mixes where I have the precision bus compressor on. The compressors on the Vi6 are very nice to begin with, but the Realtime Rack definitely gives the whole mix a nice friendly squeeze.”
“Whether I’m teaching or touring, Vi consoles allow me to adapt quickly to situations because they’re so user-friendly. For example, if a mix needs more of a specific sound at the last minute, I find that with these consoles you can make on-the-fly changes instantly. I’m a very visual operator, so with features like Vistonics and FaderGlow, I’m able to see all the settings without much effort and can keep my eye on the band.”
