KNOXVILLE, TN — Finnish front-of-house engineer Janne Röning(Chisu, PMMP, Zen Cafe, Jonna Tervomaa, Reckless Love, Santa Cruz) chooses Waves eMotion LV1 mixing console and DiGiGrid for touring performances by pop artist Chisu, a 12-time Finnish Emma-Gala Award Winner.
Röning recalls, “I started working with Waves plugins when the band that I had been mixing with for ten years decided to disband. We recorded their last arena show in 2013 and they wanted me to mix sound for a DVD, so I used the Waves Gold bundle with Reaper to playback the audio and a Waves Server One when mixing.”
He remarks, “Chisu, who has about 70 shows this year, asked me to start touring with her. When Waves launched the eMotion LV1 mixing console in the beginning of 2016, I had a gut feeling this was going to be a killer product. I have been a big fan of Waves ever since I bought the MaxxBCL when it came out and then started using Waves plugins on various consoles. Subsequently, I had big expectations – but it’s even better than I imagined!”
On his setup and workflow, he adds, “My setup is a Waves LV1 64 channel configuration with two Waves Extreme servers, three DiGiGrid IOXs in a stage rack, one DiGiGrid IOS as an FOH interface and a DiGiGrid MGB for clock and MADI connections. These components are complemented by four Dell 2314T touch screens for control, a custom-made rack-mountable PC for LV1 software and Windows 10. It’s an awesome setup: I can fit it into my car (Chrysler Grand Voyager) by myself and I can set it up and pack it up by myself. I am able to condense it down to only three items: a case for the four screens; a stage rack with the DiGiGrid IOX units; and a master/brain rack, which holds the SoundGrid Servers and the PC. All I have to connect is just one USB, four mini DVIs and a CAT 6 cable between the stage rack and power!”
He notes further, “With the eMotion LV1, Virtual soundcheck is a breeze. Since I do a lot of programming for the show at home, I’m able to just set up and start working. In addition, the fact that I can easily access and control plugins on the 23-inch screens is really awesome. And because I use snapshots for all the songs, I can easily make huge changes between songs just by pre-programming. I have a lot of trust from all the artists that I work with so I don’t have to use studio presets; I can just make my own.”
Regarding his favorite go-to Waves plugins, Janne adds, “On channels, I use the Waves C6 Multiband Compressor, as it’s just a super tool for dynamics and EQing. The Waves CLA-76 Compressor/Limiter and the Waves SSL E-Channel are just amazing and indispensable. I cannot mix on my master bus without the Waves C6, and I especially need the Waves Vitamin Sonic Enhancer, particularly for mono sub, narrowing the low-mids and opening wide the high-mids. It just provides an enhancing magic throughout the mix. In some shows with critical dB level restrictions, I use the Waves L2 Ultramaximizer as a brick wall, and I slam it and bang it bigger than the rest!”
“I believe that the LV1 setup is the best sounding console I’ve ever used, and I’ve used almost anything in the market. Mixing on the LV1 is just fun and it’s as though you have just racks and racks of tube comps, reverbs etc. in your hands with really fast access.”
