For their recent UK tour, The Coral’s sound was mixed using Yamaha digital mixing desks.
Leading Liverpool based pro audio specialists, Ad Lib Audio, supplied a PM5D for Front of House and the latest edition to their stable, one of Yamaha’s new M7CL desks for monitors.
The M7CL is currently taking the industry by storm and Dave Kay of Ad Lib Audio was happy to talk about his latest acquisition. “I’m very happy with the new console and believe Yamaha are the leading edge in digital desks,” he said. “After all, they’ve been doing it for long enough.”
Sound engineer Ben Booker was equally pleased with the M7CL which he used to mix monitors. “I’d used a PM5D in the past and was keen to try out Yamaha’s new desk,” he said. “In the event, I wasn’t disappointed in any way. It’s straight forward to use, sounds great and it’s small size means it’ll fit in more venues.”
Other features were equally as impressive. “The touch screen really speeds using the console up and there’s no need for a separate mouse and keyboard,” continued Booker. “The full recall means that I can save to a USB key, come back to the same show weeks later, stick it in and away we go. Job done!”
Tom Marshall, FOH sound engineer was similarly enthusiastic about the PM5D he used to mix. “I first used a PM5D when I mixed the West End show ‘Acorn Antiques – The Musical.’ The sound designer specified it due to the size of the theatre and I liked it very much,” he said. “During the 16 week run we really pushed the console to its full potential and found it always delivered.”
“What I like is the fact that you can mix a rock show in a theatre style, having a scene for each song, thus changing the mix, routing,, DCA’s, internal effects and external effects via midi completely effortlessly,” he concluded.
Yamaha clearly have a couple of winners on their hands. “How long before we have a PM5D with a touch screen,” Bookers wonders?
The last word should go to Dave Kay at Ad Lib. “Quite simply, Yamaha digital desks are the best sounding desks on the market bar none at the moment.”
