Maximo Park has released five studio albums to date, with a Mercury Prize nomination under their belt and two gold accredited albums. The band has a recognizable sound which saw a home-town crowd erupt in Times Square Newcastle this summer at a special outdoor concert in the city center.
The 5-piece alternative rock band has been performing with the Midas PRO1 digital mixing system at front of house, adding a new dimension to their distinct sound.
Andy Hawkins is the sound engineer responsible for all things sound with Maximo Park and is a proud owner of the PRO1, “The preamps in the PRO1 are spectacularly good and very reminiscent of the quality of preamps in the XL3/4. The engineering team put a serious amount of effort in developing these and the sound is just tremendous, I’ve been very impressed.”
He continues, “For Maximo Park, you’ll notice that the instruments sound more analogue and the vocals a little more on the side of digital. That’s just to get that clarity and differentiation between sounds and it all comes from the preamps and digital trim. This is my front of house console of choice now and it’s why I’ve purchased one – I don’t have to rely on anyone or anything else.”
Hawkins routes the PRO1 to a DL251 on stage via Cat5 multi-cable. A Klark Teknik DN9650 is connected to a PC for virtual soundcheck and playback and a DL153 stage box is routed to some outboard equipment. “It’s a pretty generic setup and I try to keep it that way – as simple as possible,” adds Hawkins.
Hawkins makes good use of the phase alignment tool which delivers more presence to percussive sound for the band, “It works brilliantly as I have multiple mic sources all over the stage so the tool works perfectly for getting the sound tight. Getting the mics in phase always sounds better – and people comment on the improved sound quality.”
“The console has been first class, I’ve never had a problem. I also work in the studio a lot and have an analog desk there but this desk (PRO1) has given the analog board a serious run for its money in quality terms,” concludes Hawkins.
