Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×

FixIt: Flyleaf FOH Engineer Rich Caldwell

Flyleaf originally wanted a recording truck or mobile setup to come out, but we felt confident that we could capture the audio ourselves and then just hand them a hard drive of the whole tour. Using existing budget, we purchased a Pro Tools HD rig and added a MADI-to-Digilink interface. That instantly turned the [Soundcraft Vi6] desk into a 64-track mobile studio with full virtual soundcheck capability.

Photo: Courtesy Shure

Flyleaf originally wanted a recording truck or mobile setup to come out, but we felt confident that we could capture the audio ourselves and then just hand them a hard drive of the whole tour. Using existing budget, we purchased a Pro Tools HD rig and added a MADI-to-Digilink interface. That instantly turned the [Soundcraft Vi6] desk into a 64-track mobile studio with full virtual soundcheck capability. We hadn’t seen anyone else use this setup before and we were eager to take it for a test drive. We captured a few shows at the end of the previous tour and then took the desk home during the break to start building FOH mixes from Pro Tools. The Vi6 went to FOH mix-ready without ever seeing a bandmember. At the beginning of this tour, it yielded an unexpected benefit—the band was able to write and record an entire EP on the Vi6/Pro Tools rig during the time previously allotted for soundcheck. We were able to load up the producer’s [Mark Lewis] show file, have the band play their regular live rig and capture the whole performance on HD. He was floored at how well it worked and the band never got bogged down in technical delays. Almost everything on the EP was recorded on the Vi6. The EP will be released in December so you can listen for yourself.

Close