The annual X Factor Live arena tour recently completed a 14-date UK run with Nick Warren (The Prodigy, Bryan Ferry, Elvis Costello) at front of house with an Allen & Heath dLive he specified for the production.
Supplied via Wigwam Audio, the system consisted of a dLive S7000 surface with a DM64 MixRack, handling up to 12 simultaneously-live vocal mics and 24 channels of playback.
“Barney Vickers (Wigwam technical manager) introduced me to dLive initially,” explains Warren. “He left me alone with a surface for an hour, by which time I had it pretty much all pieced together. It’s incredibly easy to walk up and use, which sets it apart from the majority of digital systems.
“The sound of the system also really blew me away – it’s a very warm, analog-y natural sound with amazing stereo imaging. So many shows sound super-processed these days, with people obsessing about and over-using various plugins – I used nothing but the dLive’s onboard effects, which sound amazing, for the whole tour.”
With a short pre-production period and a high-speed show, Warren found dLive’s fast, flexible user-interface invaluable in delivering a great performance every night.
“The whole system feels like it’s been designed with engineers in mind, that Allen & Heath have listened to users and designed-in features that make workflow as straightforward as possible. That and the sound of the dLive make it a truly great system.”
