Soundcraft Vi Consoles From SSE Hire Support Latest UK Tour By John Newman

Sound engineer Aaron Buck utilized Harman’s Soundcraft Vi1 and Vi6 consoles at the monitor position, coupled with a Soundcraft Stagebox, for the recent UK tour by recording artist John Newman. The consoles were provided by leading UK touring company SSE Hire.

Heavily involved in the production and mixing of his own sound, Newman has strict requirements for what he hears in his in-ear monitors (IEMs), a challenge that Buck met with help from the Vi consoles.

“I like the sound quality of the Vi desks and the onboard reverbs,” he says. “Before we used them, it took us quite a while to settle John into a vocal reverb that he was comfortable with for his IEMs. After switching to Soundcraft with the onboard Lexicon effects engines, it became a matter of minutes to get it down. We haven’t felt the need to tweak the reverbs for almost 100 shows.”

The Soundcraft Snapshot system allows the operator to store records of the console’s settings, which in turn, can be recalled during a performance. For Buck, Snapshots are now an integral part of each show, as both Newman and his band have become reliant on them.

“At first John was wary about the concept of taking Snapshots per song for his IEM mix, because the band members all required changes for each song,” Buck notes. “I decided not to recall John’s individual sends and reverbs, and mix them on-the-fly every night, while still having the band and tech mixes stored and recalled for every song. This gave John peace of mind, while giving the band and techs what they needed as well.”

“Thanks to tech support from Pete Russell and Chris Courtney at SSE, I was able to get a look at these consoles and learn a lot of new software features I have not previously seen before on the Vi6.”

SSE Hire
Soundcraft
Harman Professional

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