TORONTO — Following the No. 1 debut of their latest album in the Canadian album charts, indie rockers the Sam Roberts Band is currently on tour throughout Canada with “Love at the end of the world.” At the heart of the show are Innovason digital mixing consoles.
At FOH, engineer Phil Hornung mixes on a Sy80 supplied by Metalworks Production Group in Toronto, while Denton Fraser, monitor engineer and tour manager, uses a Sy48.
Phil Hornung is already an Innovason veteran, having been around the gear since working on the pre-production for the Barenaked Ladies and Gordon Lightfoot tours in 2001.
When it comes to favorite features and functions on the desk, Hornung explains, “The input delay is a big one that is often overlooked,” he explains. “For things like kick drums with two mics, or bass rigs with a direct line and a mic on the speaker cabinet, it allows you to align the two signals, which are nearly always out of alignment to start. Many consoles have a delay feature, but I think Innovason has the most accurate type being able to measure by distance, time or samples. Also, I think two of the best features of the system were the ones added this past year: the UM8-PO output card and the FM8-VB internal effects card. The ability to have one output card that can manage both analogue and digital signals is a great feature, and of course the 31-band graphic EQ per channel is also great, especially since you can use all 31 bands on the same page.”
“We also love not having to carry a traditional split system,” he continues. “We use one distant rack on a muxipair system that feeds the audio to both FOH and monitor consoles on coax cable, so it’s really easy to set up. We are planning to use the same configuration for our 2009 tour because it has worked so well for us.”
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