German punk scene veterans and Sindelfingen-based band, WIZO, have been tirelessly performing on stages across the world for the past 30 years and have recently embarked on their current tour along with an Allen & Heath dLive system.
Sound engineer for the band, Falk Gruber, has been supporting the band for many years on FOH. “Our touring life used to be hard work” laughs Gruber, “The unending sound checks, constantly using different FOH and monitor consoles or outboard equipment (which varies in functionality), was difficult. Our goal was to reduce the production to a minimum (technically) and to optimise the setup and dismantling times as well as soundcheck, in order to have as much energy as possible for the actual show. Now, we need just two hours from the load-in to the end of the sound check!”
A dLive S7000 surface positioned at FOH, along with a DM32 MixRack located on stage, performs both FOH and MON duties. The 32 channels are split internally, channels 1 – 32 are available for the FOH mix and channels 51 – 82 are used for in-ear monitoring, enabling independent processing of the FOH and MON channels. All musicians use an IP6 Remote Controller for personal monitoring on stage, allowing them to adjust their own individual IEM mixes.
“I have a strong background in analogue and haven’t been able to ‘make friends’ with digital systems for a long time,” explains Gruber. “dLive allows me to transfer my analogue thinking to a digital system. The operation is really intuitive, and I can configure the console like an old analogue one. Even the harsh digital sound I used to criticise often is a thing of the past. “
“Of course, the routing and the effect possibilities are fantastic too,” continues Gruber. “I like how you have many different compressors built-in and can add them to any channel, and graphic EQs on all mix outputs without resorting to rack FX is very luxurious. I’m also a huge fan of dLive’s Dyn8 multiband compressor. It’s the perfect digital system for people of my generation – it’s even survived the mandatory beer showers so far without permanent damage!”
Photos by: Pascal Swoboda
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