Italian pop star and Sony BMG recording artist Eros Ramazzotti recently embarked on the first European leg of his ”Ali e Radici” (Wings and Roots) world tour, an impressive 10-truck production trekking around 23 European nations’ indoor arenas before South American dates, a series of European open-air summer shows, then off to the U.S. and Australia.
Audio and lighting is being supplied by top Italian rental firm Agorà, and included three of the L’Aquila-based company’s large stock of DiGiCo consoles: two SD7s and a D5.
Produced by Trident Management in collaboration with Live Nation Italia, the show features a production design by Lemon and Pepper, the creative and technical team that has worked with many of the world’s top stars, as well as on previous shows by the Rome-born singer.
The system is set up so that from the analogue splitters on stage, the audio signals are fed to two DiGiRacks for FOH and two more for the monitors, so each has a completely independent signal path. As well as the nine-piece band, additional signals for sequences, click tracks and SMPTE for video sync bring the input channel total to around 70.
Under the stage, Stevan Martinovic and Umberto Polidori man two DiGiCo monitor consoles. Polidori uses a D5 for the band and Martinovic an SD7, entirely dedicated to the artist’s monitor set-up, which is a combination of IEM, large side hangs, subs under a stage-center grill and four wedges out front.
Polidori has worked with other digital consoles in the past, but found the D5 the most versatile, after using it on events such as the huge show by top Italian band Negramaro at Milan’s San Siro soccer stadium.
He explains, “I have quite a simple set-up on this show, as the band members all use in ear monitors and the drummer and keyboard player each have a subwoofer for added punch at the bottom end. They are all highly experienced musicians, which also makes my job a lot easier.”
Maritinovic had already had the opportunity of making in-depth use of the SD7, putting it through its paces on some high profile events, such as the 2008 Verona Arena shows by Ligabue and a symphony orchestra, and a huge live show televised from Rimini, on which he had 168 channels to handle.
Regarding the SD7, he enthused: “It is a great console – fast and practical, an ideal desk for monitor work and it seems to me to have a lot more dynamics, thanks to the system’s processors. I make wide use of features such as the multi-band compressors. This software version – the Mach 2 – has a lot of other features and great potential, which I’m studying to put to good use on future projects.”
At the DiGiCo SD7 out front, 2009 Sound Engineer of the Year Jon Lemon explained that, as always, he’s in regular touch with DiGiCo, particularly the software team, giving them his feedback. ”These guys are very proactive and always looking to improve their products,” he says.
Lemon has a very long-standing relationship with DiGiCo and had one of the very first SD7s out, as he explains, “It was set up alongside a D5 with Smashing Pumpkins at the beginning of 2008 and was supposed to be just a road test, but I finished up using it on the show. It was very basic, but sounded great. After Smashing Pumpkins, I went right on to Janet Jackson, and didn’t have much time for band rehearsals, so decided to just stick with D5 for that.”
Lemon praises the SD7’s sound quality: “It’s great and a lot more extended, particularly on the high end, but the low end as well. This is obviously thanks to the processing power, which is so great on these consoles.”
On the subject of multi-brand compressors, he considers them great, “We’d been using them for years and DiGiCo decided to build them into the system, which is great – I’m using a couple and, once you’ve settled into the show, you can then decide where there are problems and that’s when they become handy.
“As well as them, I also appreciate a lot of other features and I’m actually using a considerable amount of onboard effects on this show, such as delays and reverbs – they’ve really improved the whole reverb thing.”
Lemon also appreciates the possibility of being able to personalize the worksurface layout, moving things around as he gets to know a show, in order to be in the right place at the right time.
“It’s comfortable to use and the screens are great,” he says, “but I also love being able to run the console off my laptop and sit at the desk during production rehearsals doing a lot of other things, rather than just working on the touch screens – the networking is really solid.”
Regarding the new software, Lemon concludes: “We were all waiting for the Mach 2 suite, which made it even more of a useable console all round. With the two engines, everything works so seamlessly. I’ve not had the slightest problem, even running it 10 hours a day at production rehearsals.”
