Lonky also couldn’t resist attempting to convert Quinby to the PRO6. “I was like, ‘Look, I’ve got a 300-pound control surface, my stage rack, my little side rack, and I can do 90 channels. You’ve got a double 20-space rack and a thousand-pound console.’
“And the snake – I run two Cat-5 lines from monitors to front of house. One day our monitor engineer left the snake in the venue and I walked back in and carried it out in one hand – a 180-channel, 350-foot snake, and I’m taking it out to the bus in one hand.”
Pretty Good Aim
Quinby was unmoved, however, and insists he does travel light when necessary, confident an XL4 will be at the venue when he gets there.
The only thing he refuses to leave to chance is his compliment of Radial Phazer phase alignment tools.
“Even for festivals where I’m not carrying anything, I still walk in with six channels of Radial Phazers. I’ll put them in my luggage if I have to,” he says. “We have two kick drums, so I align each kick drum microphone with them, and also align my guitar DIs with their mics. Slayer’s a guitar and drum driven band, so the things that need to be the most accurately translated are guitars and drums. Radial Phazers and Empirical Labs Distressors are my favorite things in the rack, by far.”
If transportation costs or availability were to become an issue, Quinby admits he might consider another console. “I will use an XL8,” he notes, “because it has 24 faders, but on the PRO6 there’s 12, so when I have 23 inputs of drums I can’t see my whole kit.”
The issue isn’t necessarily a matter of sound quality, he adds, but workflow. “It’s not right for Slayer. I’ve carried the same setup for 10 years – the exact setup their previous engineer used. It’s been touring with them for 18 years. Realistically, as fast as they play, and running things at the gain structure that I do, I need to be able to make adjustments in milliseconds. The PRO6 sounds great, but it doesn’t have everything laid out in front of you.”
All that said, Quinby was prepared to switch over to the PRO6 if necessary, and carries a backup for whatever the second desk at front of house happens to be. “Kids at Slayer shows throw things. I’m going to make a show happen no matter what. I’m very aware somebody could take my desk out with a beer, but if someone takes out my XL4, I switch to the other console, the band still plays, and we still get paid.”
Given the potential for beer-related console damage, it’s worth pointing out that a desk like the PRO6 offers the additional benefit of presenting a much smaller target. “Maybe,” he concludes, “but Slayer fans have pretty good aim, and it’s getting better.”
Based in Toronto, Kevin Young is a freelance music and tech writer, professional musician and composer.