Trip-hop trio London Grammar has been touring its new album Truth is a Beautiful Thing since March. The band’s atmospheric performance is enhanced by a cinematic set and needed a clarity and depth of audio to match. “Because of that, we chose DiGiCo consoles for both Front of House and monitors,” says Ross Cornwall, managing director of Triplex Productions, which supplies the band’s audio system.
Triplex became involved with London Grammar when they wanted to push the production values of their live show up a notch. They were after something special and brought Triplex owner Mark Sunderland in to production manage their technical requirements.
“The collaboration has worked really well and the tour has gone everywhere – the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, Asia,” says Ross. “It’s so successful that don’t always know where we’re going to be, as dates keep getting added to the bands diary. The venues are a real mix from large festivals (Glastonbury, Pukkelpop, etc) to the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith and O2 Academy Brixton. It’s been a real challenge for the team to deliver constant results no matter what territory or venue they are in.”
Mark not only production manages, but mans the monitor position on a DiGiCo SD10, with Dan McBean at Front of House using the newest of DiGiCo’s consoles, the SD12, with both running Stealth Core 2 software.
“The sound of DiGiCo consoles is great and their flexibility is almost unlimited,” Ross continues. “A major benefit is the Optocore networking tool. Triplex relies on it for the implementation of this project. With Recording and playback to both desks via an Optocore DD4MR, the network is super flexible and FOH and monitors can send audio between themselves, too, keeping the multicores totally digital.”
Ross notes that SD10 has a plenty of I/O and gives Mark the flexibility to expand when needed.
“It also has a great worksurface and is Mark’s preference when it comes to layout. As Mark is also the production manager for the band, he needed a system he can walk up to and just mix, so giving him loads of faders so that he has good access to all the channels is essential. The SD12 was Dan’s request. He started off with an SD8-24, which he liked, but when we changed that console for the SD12 he was keen to stick with it.
“DiGiCo’s support is also the absolute best! There isn’t another manufacturer that comes close. The most amazing thing is that whether you’re using an S21 on a local pub gig or an SD7 on the largest show on earth, the support is still the same. With the DiGiCo team at the end of the phone 24/7, I always feel confident sending our consoles out. We have continued our investment program into the boards over the last few years and the support is a large contributing factor for us.”
The Triplex team is very happy with their SD10 and SD12.
“They’ve been on the road since March now, they’re working extremely well and anything that has cropped up has been a minor, quick fix. The band are very happy with the sound and if you ever get a chance to hear the show, you’ll agree that it sounds stunning!”
The tour continues throughout the rest of this year, with further dates scheduled in Europe, Australia and the UK.
