Showcasing the quality, ease of use and reliability of the Studer Vista 5 SR console, Clair Showco of Lititz, PA, recently provided the audio system for country music star Keith Urban’s U.S.-based tour. The multi-city tour featured Studer Vista 5 SR digital audio consoles in use for both FOH and monitor mixing applications.
Taking both the Australian and U.S. country music scenes by storm, the New Zealand born Urban heavily relies on the sound quality of the Vista 5 SR while on tour. The Studer Vista 5 SR was chosen by his mixing engineers who went through a vigorous evaluation process prior to the selection of the console but chose the Studer after it met all required criteria: Sound quality, flexibility/ease-of-use and reliability.
FOH Engineer Steve Law and Monitor Mixing Engineer Jason Spence evaluated numerous brands of sound consoles before the tour. Spence noted he had never felt as comfortable with a new desk as he did during the week he was trying out the Studer Vista 5 SR.
“When choosing a console, I have three criteria,” said Spence. “It has to sound good to the artist on stage! If it doesn’t, there’s not much point in continuing. Second, I have to be able to get around it quickly. With the ‘inline design’ of the input and output strips, the Vista 5 SR feels very ‘analog.’ I’m able to have control and access to all the parameters at my fingertips. There are not multiple pages to plow through to gain control of any particular feature. Lastly, it needs to be reliable and not crash. It seems that with other brands, I could get one, maybe two of my criteria met; however with the Studer, I got all three!”
Howard Page, Director of Engineering for Clair Showco, was excited about including the Vista 5 SR on the tour for both front of house and monitor mixing duties due to its ease of use. “We had originally fallen in love with the Vista 8 at the AES Convention,� said Page. “We suggested that Studer create a console dedicated to the live touring market. The Vista 5 SR is one of the most stunning consoles we’ve ever heard. Other competing consoles are incredibly large and awkward, whereas the Vista 5 SR has a small footprint and only takes us five minutes to set up. And most significantly, we find that people who get on the Vista 5 SR for the first time respond extremely positively, for both house and monitor applications. That is key for us.�
Additionally, Crown Macro-Tech 3600 amps and a Lexicon M480L Reverb Effects Processor were in use as part of Clair Showco’s custom JBL-loaded loudspeaker system for the Keith Urban tour.
Clair Showco can be reached at www.clairshowco.com.
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