Mixing veteran Jeff Peterson wrapped work recently on two high-profile gigs: Spike TV’s Video Game Awards and CNN’s Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, mixing both the production elements and live bands on a DiGiCo SD5 console provided by Hi-Tech Audio in conjunction with ATK Audiotek.
Peterson landed 112 inputs from two 56-pair splitters into two DiGiCo SD racks, with signals traveling to and from the consoles via an Optocore fiber optic network.
Two 56-channel ATK splitters were used on both shows to split signals between the SD Racks, monitors (in the case of CNN) and the broadcast trucks.
“On CNN Heroes, I had the only DiGiCo console,” Peterson recalls. “Monitors were handled on a PM5D. On The Video Game awards, my FOH SD5 and a [stage monitor] foldback SD10 shared two DiGiCo SD Racks backstage for 112 inputs and 64 outputs divided between the two consoles.
“When sharing head-amp signals, we didn’t use the DiGiCo Gain Tracking feature. Instead, we found a good starting head-amp level and communicated any changes before making them. That way, changes weren’t happening without the operator knowing about it pre-hand.
“For both of these shows,” he continues, “I tuned the PA system using just the SD5’s Output EQ and Delay on the Matrix outs. In fact, using a DiGiCo UB MADI USB interface, the console also served as my test mic interface for Rational Acoustics Smaart 7.”
