Since the launch of the flagship VENUE D-Show system in 2005, Avid/Digidesign VENUE systems are increasingly being seen at front-of-house and monitor positions on many tours, including Paul McCartney, No Doubt, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band and more. The system has been brought into the inventory of SR companies such as Clair Global, Sound Image, Firehouse Productions and Solotech, and installed in clubs like The Knitting Factory.
To commemorate this milestone, Avid is offering sound professionals an opportunity to trade in their older analog or digital mixing boards and receive up to a 20-percent discount on new VENUE systems.
Nine Inch Nails front-of-house engineer Peter Keppler said this about using the VENUE system when Mix caught up with the tour a few years back: “Nine Inch Nails was the first time I worked on VENUE. And with Nine Inch Nails, I’d used the HDx option on the console and multitracked every night’s performance direct to Pro Tools. The setup for that is so easy — three cables! When [AFI] asked me to do this tour, I said, ‘Yes, but I really want to take out this console.’ They talked about doing recording at the stage and having [monitor engineer Mike “Porkchop” Souder] look after all of that, as well as everything else he has to look after. And I said, ‘If you want to take me and take the console, I can do the recording.’ I can’t say enough good things about the VENUE. It took a couple of days to really get the feel of it — it feels a bit different from a lot of other consoles — but it sounds amazing. I wouldn’t want to use anything else.”
