Ref: Caroline Moss PR0610
Date: July 2007

BIG MICK ADOPTS MIDAS XL8 FOR METALLICA’S EUROPEAN TOUR

Metallica’s long-time FOH engineer and equally long-standing Midas devotee Big Mick Hughes has fulfilled the promise he made when Midas announced the development of a digital mixing system: to take it on tour with Metallica as soon as it was ready.

The moment arrived in late June as Metallica embarked on a 12-date tour of shows and festivals across Europe, starting in Lisbon and ending in Moscow. As all shows plus two days of production rehearsals took place during just three weeks, two identical control and backline systems leapfrogged their way across Europe, with both XL8s supplied by Canegreen via the M7 Group, which facilitates UK XL8 rentals.

Despite providing feedback throughout the entire XL8 development design process, Mick admits to some trepidation when it came to abandoning his trusty XL4 – which he personally owned – in favour of the new technology.

“I always considered myself an analogue diehard and I’ve used Midas since the Pro 1,” he says. “I tried most other digital consoles along the way but I never felt comfortable. The XL4 is a heavy beast, it feels firm and positive, whereas some of these digital consoles just didn’t feel substantial, and I’m too big to deal with anything that dainty! And I was never convinced by the way they sounded; there was something inherently wrong. So when Midas said they were coming up with a digital console I thought if there was one I’d like, this would be it.

“If I was going to change to a digital console it would have to be something I could operate and feel comfortable with. The last thing I want to do is scroll through a load of pages to do one little thing, and while I’m doing that I’m missing something else. As an engineer I wanted it to feel semi-analogue; I wanted to be able to touch a knob on a channel, press a button and send a channel to stereo, turn a gain, push a fader and  have sound come out of the PA. The operation of it is so simple, there are actually pictures of the units and channels and somehow feel like you’re plugging them in, so it’s perfect for me. If it’s going to be used by everybody, people walking up to it cold have to feel some level of comfort.

Despite the amount of increased features and technology at his fingertips, Mick likes the fact that it hasn’t changed how he works.

“I’ve configured it pretty much as I would have my XL4; I’m doing things that I would have done on my XL4 and it feels similar. It’s made it easier because the XL8 brings the channels to you. I don’t have to get off my chair anymore. When I want to work on the kick drum I don’t have to scurry down one end, I can press the button and it’ll come to me!”

Mick has ditched his copious outboard rack and is using the desk’s onboard processing for pretty much everything. “I have one external effects unit – a multi effects unit which does one thing in a song which has to happen, and that’s it,” he says. “I really like the DN780 Klark Teknik reverb which has been emulated digitally in the desk, so for me to use them is great.

“Using it in a live situation for the first time I actually think it sounds better than the XL4 I’ve known and loved for 11 years. There’s an intelligibility and clarity that I’ve never really heard before. I can only put it down to the fact there’s not a 100m multicore coming off every microphone; we’ve got short leads going straight to the stage box and it’s digital from that point on so there’s no loss in frequency response at all. All of a sudden you’re pushing faders up and going ‘Wow, does that mic really sound like that?” It’s been a real eye opener for me. I have to learn what these microphones sound like again because I’ve never heard them sound like this.”

The ability to store settings between gigs is also a huge advantage for Mick, and one he envisages will benefit him more and more over time.

“We set up the first console and stored all the settings on the USB key, then when I got the second system I put the key in it and all the settings came back again, whereas before I’d have been starting from scratch! When we start another tour I’ll have my stored files, and on the first show of that next tour I’ll be able to put them into the desk and it will be exactly the same as the last time I used it. You might have a tour when you really nail the bass guitar, for example, so if you can keep that and take it onto the next tour you can build a bigger picture. Before, you lost it at the end of the tour, and you always knew that sound was available but it was sometimes really hard to get it to happen again. And with a few years between the tours, you forget what you’ve done. I’m really feeling the difference with this desk already, but when we go from tour to tour, that’s when it’ll really show itself.”

Mick’s also quickly grasped the implications of XL8 when it comes to shipping and carbon footprint reductions. “It’s much easier to take the little key fob and rent an XL8 locally. We’re also saving in the physical space we take up, and that means extra fans at gigs.”

A fitting comment given that Metallica was one of the starring acts at the Wembley Live Earth concert midway through the tour.

Meanwhile on stage, monitor engineer Paul Owen is at the controls of a trusty XL4, which he is using with a Klark Teknik Square ONE Dynamics units for drum gates. He’s particularly impressed with the Solo Output feature which monitors the sidechain filter through the XL4. “This is a great feature - you can hear what’s activating the gates which you can’t do with any other models,” he says. “As for the XL4 – I really like the sound of that preamp; there’s a lot going on onstage and I have to be able to do things on the fly really fast, so from my perspective it’s the ideal desk.”

       
Photo caption:   Metallica FOH engineer Big Mick Hughes and the Midas XL8 at Wembley Stadium

Photo caption:   Metallica FOH engineer Big Mick Hughes and the Midas XL8 at Wembley Stadium

Photo caption:   Metallica FOH engineer Big Mick Hughes and the Midas XL8 at Wembley Stadium

Photo caption:   Metallica monitor engineer Paul Owen with the XL4 and KT Square ONE at Wembley Stadium

ENDS

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Editor’s information:
Klark Teknik was founded in 1974 and in the years immediately following, their innovative approach to design and development allowed them to introduce some truly groundbreaking designs. Klark Teknik was responsible for the world’s first digital delay and digital reverb units, however it was their concepts for equalisation devices that really changed the world of professional audio resulting in the DN370 and the famous DN360. Today Klark Teknik continues to bring innovation in design and dedication to engineering and sonic quality in both the analogue and digital realm of signal processing, with the Square ONE and Show Command ranges updating the brand.

Midas live performance mixing consoles have been used by the world's most demanding sound engineers, performers and rental companies for three decades. The company strives to raise the standards of sonic quality through its programme of continual research and development, implementing new control functionality and user-friendly desk operation to anticipate and accommodate the ever-evolving needs of audio professionals who specify Midas consoles for their major tours, festivals, international events, broadcast projects and prestigious fixed installations.

 

Bosch Communications Systems—a business unit of Bosch Security Systems—is one of the world's leading manufacturers and suppliers of professional audio, wireless, life safety and communication equipment. Bosch Communications Systems offers complete system solutions for the world's most critical, high-profile installations and events.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, some 260,000 associates generated sales of 43.7 billion euros in fiscal 2006. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 300 subsidiary and regional companies in over 50 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. Bosch spends more than three billion euros each year for research and development, and in 2006 applied for over 3,000 patents worldwide. The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.”

The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant up-front investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-two percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, an industrial trust. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by the trust. The remaining shares are held by the Bosch family and by Robert Bosch GmbH.

Additional information can be accessed at www.bosch.com.