New York, NY (August 9, 2013)—Accompanying R&B singer Frank Ocean on his recent European tour was an Allen & Heath iLive digital system. FOH engineer Dave McDonald chose the desk, having used it before on tours with Adele, AIR and Florence & the Machine.
“I’ve been with Frank for 14 months now, starting off with club shows where there was a different console and different PA every night. For the tour, I’m traveling with an iLive-112 and iDR10—my favorite mixer, which is flexible for what we’re doing. We are using 64 channels, as onstage, there is everything from modular synths to old EV1 bass guitars to concert drums, so it’s quite a challenge,” McDonald said.
For the tour, the iLive system includes an iLive-112 Control Surface with 8 in, 24 out, RAB2 ACE, connected to a modular iDR10 MixRack with 56 in, 24 out, RAB2 ACE and Dante. There was an analogue split between the iLive and monitor console.
“I believe in the flow of a desk. Mixing is half about programming and study and research, but the other half is about being artistic, and as an engineer you have to combine those two elements together. These days, a lot of boards have the technical side sewn up, but don’t also have the flow like an Allen & Heath desk. In a live situation, when you have a spur of the moment idea, you don’t want to be searching through menus, because by the time you get there, that moment in the music is gone. With iLive, the flow is almost ‘analogue,’ so you can jump on it straight away—that’s why I like to use it,” McDonald said.
Allen & Heath
www.allen-heath.com
