Friday, July 3, 2009

Live Sound: Monitors on SM12


Live Sound: Monitors on SM12.. Sunset Strip's Whisky-agogo with the AudioK9 running monitors on a SoundCraft. This SM12 is a 32-channel live console with 12 mix-groups and 4semi-parametric sweepable EQ's per strip for killing.. those unwanted offending freq's.

The SM12 is a British product and so has opposite engineering in some respects- the mix "send" knobs on the channel strips are placed with mix1 on the bottom near the channel fader. This doesn't seem like a big deal unless you learn on American hardware and then try this setup. It actually works surprisingly well when positioned stage-right facing the stage- the mixes line up with line-of-sight across the stage. The 12mix setup is great for 3 down-stage mixes, 1 drummer mix [dual mono], and 2 side-fills; leaving enough extra mixes for 3stereo in-ear sends. It has a great master section for routing options for talkback to monitor and testing wedges with oscillator tones.

The SoundCraft SM12 console is an awesome workhorse of live music equipment. It stands up to the test of everyday professional live-sound production gear. This I know first hand, spending most everyday of a 2 year stint as house engineer on the Hollywood Strip working from the SM12 and a Langley501 FOH console- running up to 9 bands per night through 30 minute sets in a demanding live music venue. This console delivers every time- two thumbs up!

Rock on! AudioK9

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