(L-R): Chris Messina, Systems Tech; Sean Sturge, Monitor Engineer; Demetrius Moore, FOH engineer. New York (May 10, 2011)–Eighth Day recently added 20 DiGiCo SD racks with 192, 96 or 48KHz sampling rates to its touring inventory, placing several of them on the Lil Wayne ‘I Am Music II’ tour.
DiGiCo’s SD Rack is an I/O rack with multiple format sample rate conversion, allowing up to 448 I/O, in any combination at 96kHz, spread across 14 racks on one redundant optic loop. Currently making use of several of these new racks include the Lil Wayne ‘I Am Music II’ spring trek across North America from March to May of 2011, featuring sets by supporting acts Travis Barker, Mix Master Mike and Rick Ross, plus Nicki Minaj, and members of his Yoney Money crew (Birdman, Lil Twist, Mack Maine and Shanell).
At FOH, Demetrius Moore is employing two SD racks loaded with 96 channels (8 AES out and 8 analog out) to feed Dolby Lake processors at 96KHz with analog backups, which then feed 40 d&b D12 amplifiers, keeping the sampling rates at 96kHz from the A-to-D converter to the speaker output of the amplifiers.
In addition, there are three more SD racks out with the group, one at FOH, loaded 40 inputs x 30 outputs with 16 AES S/R to drive all the FOH effects in the same fiber loop as the stage racks. The other two are at monitor world with engineer Sean Sturge, loaded with 96 input channels—40 analog and 8-16 digital outputs at 96kHz.
“These racks are clearer and have more high end,” said Moore. “They sound more natural and warmer. We actually A/B’d them at Eighth Day, and everyone agreed there was definitely a noticeable difference.”
Jason Kirschnick, Eighth Day’s Chief Technology Officer, says 8th Day plans to send these racks out on upcoming tours with Juanes and Arcade Fire, “and, on pretty much every tour we deploy from this point on,” he said. “The racks have added an additional level of versatility and sonic clarity. That, coupled with the small footprint, MADI stream multitrack recording, and 96KHz fidelity, makes the SD7 an all-around outstanding product.”
For Moore, it’s become his console of choice and he’s utilized it on previous outings with Drake and Kanye West, as well as a few of the largest female diva artists around today. “I’m very comfortable with it and love it for the sound, and for what I can do with it. I use the multiband compressors heavily, no matter what the tour is. I love that feature. I don’t have to EQ as much as I used to, plus you can clean up a lot of the artist’s Pro Tools files with the multiband compressor—vocals, keyboards, drums, etc—across the board. They really save the day.”
Moore’s also using the recording capabilities via the onboard RME MADIface cards, backing up to CD on a Nuendo HP Workstation, as well as on hard disc and multitask recorders from ADK for archival purposes. “The mix is recorded in three different places,” Moore explained, “and technically four if you count video world. I record every day and when they’re done I can play it back and brush up the mix, and I also use it for virtual soundchecking.”
Eighth Day Sound
www.8thdaysound.com
Lil Wayne
www.lilwayne-online.com/bio.aspx
DiGiCo
www.digico.org
