MIDAS shines at Glastonbury
A plethora of MIDAS digital consoles were again used across the Glastonbury festival this year, as RG Jones supplied XL4s with XL88 matrix mixer at FOH for the pyramid stage, where they were used by acts including BB King, Wu-Tang Clan and Plan B. Many of the other acts on the Pyramid stage chose to bring their own MIDAS digital desks with them, including Biffy Clyro, Paolo Nutini, Morrissey and Pendulum, who each brought their own PRO6 for the Pyramid stage.
On the Other Stage, Skan was also using its tried and trusted formula of two XL4s at FOH and two H3000s on stage. One of South West Audio's PRO6s was being used at FOH at The Park Stage as usual, where among the acts to play were Pulp and Radiohead, in secret appearances that The Park has become known for. So taken was Pulp and their engineer Matt Butcher in production rehearsals that they've exchanged their usual digital console for a PRO6 for the rest of their summer shows. "We did an A/B test in rehearsals and the PRO6 sounded so much better: bigger and wider and cleaner than the other one," says Butcher. "The difference in sound was immediately apparent to me, and Jarvis noticed too, so we ended up swapping consoles."
Marcus Dalmeida and Jerey Denning were running FOH for South West Audio at The Park. "We ran a system of writing patches in the offline editor in real time at FOH, updating as the bands arrived, which enabled us to configure the desk for the incoming guest engineers," says Dalmeida. "This made their time much more relaxed as the desk was configured to their patch list, and VCA and POP(ulation) Groups were preconfigured for them. We had a mixture of top touring engineers, together with MIDAS PRO6 virgins, some of whom were a little apprehensive about walking into a festival situation with an unfamiliar digital desk, but after a two minute tour of the desk they realised how simple the control surface was, and there were some really impressive mixes.
"We had many glowing comments, such as, 'Wow this system sounds so good', and 'it was a real pleasure mixing on such a precise desk', and the engineers were delighted at how easy it was to use.
"Jerey and myself had a very enjoyable time and were proud of the sound quality on our stage; the desk has a very tactile feel to it which is very similar to MIDAS analogue. In our humble opinion it's the best digital desk in the world."
Over on the BBC Introducing stage, a host of new bands were treated to the sound of a PRO9 manned by FOH engineer Aaron Sayers, also from the South West Group. "Despite the rain and muddy conditions this year, the MIDAS PRO9 performed beautifully and made the festival that little bit more enjoyable, " says Sayers, a self-professed PRO6 lover. "Both myself and the guest engineers enjoyed working on the console. After a two minute explanation of where its features could be found, even those who had never used the PRO range found 'mixing on the fly' intuitive and easy.
"With quick changeover times and a real assortment of acts at this years Introducing Stage, the POP(ulation) Groups and VCAs proved invaluable. The ability to prepare your channel list and VCAs as they are called from patch is unique. The speed at which the console allows an engineer to work makes it hands down my favourite board. The automation section is incredibly useful; I was able to save scenes at speed both during a mix and at the end of a set. This came in handy while changing between DJ and rock acts as I was able to recall previous mixes at the touch of a button.
"All in all the PRO9 is a joy to work on, and my personal first choice for FOH. And my 'one to watch' from this year's Introducing Stage has to be Ram's Pocket Radio; with great songs and a stage presence to match, I'm sure we will be seeing more of these guys in the following year!"
Photo: MIDAS PRO6 at FOH on the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury 2011