New York, NY (July 3, 2024)—Sometimes everything can change in one gig. That’s what monitor engineer David Ruffle discovered when he had to miss a one-off show in South Korea with UK rock act Nothing But Thieves. When the band and the rest of the audio crew returned from the other side of the world, word came down that the FOH and monitor positions would use DiGiCo Quantum338 desks from now on.
FOH Engineer Gary Curtis, who did make the journey to South Korea, explained that doing the fly-in show meant using the house desk—a Quantum338. “We had been using another system for about seven years,” Curtis said. “But when we heard the Quantum, we all knew it was really good. I was able to do a recording of the sound check, so we could A/B it. The other console was great, but the DiGiCo is completely different.” Once the band heard multitracks he recorded of the show, the die was cast.
For monitor engineer Ruffle, the sudden switch meant he had to head to audio provider Solotech to learn the new desk. “The guys at Solotech invited me up to their Solihull HQ to play with one of their consoles for a couple of days,” he says. “We ran through the desk with some multitrack recordings that I’d heard a thousand times before, and it was incredible. The space and separation the DiGiCo console gave the tracks was phenomenal; I was hearing things that I’d never really noticed before.”
Curtis also found the Snapshot and Scene features useful. During the show, he has automated certain changes that always happen; by allowing the desk to do some of the heavy lifting, he can concentrate far more on the band and his mix. “We have an integrated timecode system for our lights and playback,” he said. “By converting the LTC to MTC via my Rosendahl mif4, I can link the desk to the timecode and Snapshots that happen exactly when I need them. All the little things that happen in the background that can take your concentration are now done by the desk, so I am free to really feel the mix.”
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While the desk has features like ergonomic aspects, the ability to switch the Master Screen to Aux Screen, one of Ruffle’s favorite additions is the Text Chat function, allowing Curtis and himself to communicate quietly without comms. “The text function is really handy,” Ruffle notes. “Our consoles are in Loop, so I can chat to Gary at front of house and we can identify issues quickly, or just chat. It might seem silly, but it’s really useful.”
