Tool Summer Tour Toolbox Incorporated DiGiCo SD8 For Monitors
August 2009
Tool announced dates for a summer tour that will take the Grammy-award winning band through cities in the U.S. and Canada—including headlining appearances at All Points West and Lollapalooza festivals. 8th Day Sound staff engineer, Stephen Curtain, has worked with the band since 2006’s “10,000 Days” tour, first as a systems tech and later as their monitor engineer. Although he’s worked with numerous DiGiCo desks previously, this is his first outing with a DiGiCo SD8.
“The first time I saw an SD8 was at 8th Day Sound,” he recalled. “We had one in for a demo with a few of the guys from DiGiCo. The biggest thing to me was how little EQ I actually needed to use as compared to other mixing boards—digital or analog.”
Back in 2006, when he took the Tool gig over from another engineer, Curtain had been mixing on a Yamaha PM5D. “I knew I wanted to make the switch to a DiGiCo, and now just happened to be that time. I have been around just about every digital console out there over the past few years, and I always seem to gravitate towards the DiGiCo’s. In short, the SD8 fit the tour’s budget and my requirements for what my monitor desk needed to do.”
On this tour, there are approximately 40 inputs for drums, bass, guitar, vocals and a few FX returns from stage. Curtain’s also got two in-ear mixes for vocalist Maynard James Keenan (the band is all on wedges) and a tech mix. Plus, he’s using two internal reverbs and one external chorus for a total of 7 mono mixes and 3 stereo mixes. “I typically stick to using the parametric EQ on both inputs and outputs, but when I do need to use the graphic EQ faders, it makes things go a bit quicker having the detent. It also gives you peace of mind knowing that you’re back at zero without having to watch some little numbers.”
Overall, Curtain says the feature he’s most impressed with is the sound. “I'm actually using less EQ on everything. The dynamics are clean and react the way they should. A few of the band members are really into the technology and get excited about what I'm using. For the most part though, they are just happy with a good, consistent sound and I think we’ve achieved that for this band and this tour.”
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Dave Webster at DiGiCo
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IMAGES: STEPHEN CURTAIN - MONITORS
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In these circumstances, the full recallability of the console is a real asset. The audience had a fantastic time and the DiGiCo's performed flawlessly
Jan Terje Walmann - AVAB CAC
For me, using either a DiGiCo D5 or SD7 feels like meeting up with an old friend. Given the flexibility and the sonic quality of both consoles, it is a comfort factor that definitely makes life much easier.I specified the SD7 for this tour because of that and for the complete confidence it instils I can deliver a great show time after time.
Sherif El Barbari - FOH Engineer - Aha
We looked at many digital consoles, and after discussing which would best fit our needs and what was going to grow as we grew. The DiGiCo network flexibility, which would serve as multiple consoles including that of a broadcast desk, coupled with ease of use, is what sealed the deal. The learning curve for our volunteer audio staff mixing on Sundays has been really quick. In fact, many of them have mixed on it on their first week, so it has been a real blessing to see them grow as we grow. Overall, from a setup and configuration perspective, we can do everything we need, and then some, with the CS-D5.
Rick Russell - Sugar Creek Baptist Church
I simply do not have enough inputs with any other desk. I am using 250 inputs with this show. There is no desk in the world that could do this except for the SD7.
Patrick Demoustier
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