Allen & Heath Rocks Furnace Fest 2021

After an 18 year hiatus, Alabama’s famed heavy rock and metal Furnace Fest returned in a big way, proving good things come to those who wait. Held at the Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama, admission for all 90 bands across three stages required vaccination card or proof of negative COVID test to be shown at the gates. Putting the decibel meter to the test this year were key acts such as August Burns Red, ERRA, Fit for a King, Mayday Parade, Motionless in White, and Underøath — all sporting an Allen & Heath console at FOH.

 

 

A number of compact dLive C1500 surfaces and an SQ-5 were put to work over the course of the three day festival. Packed into the tiny 19” wide C1500 footprint are 12 faders over 6 layers, built-in audio I/O, an audio networking port, a 12″ capacitive touchscreen and the innovative Harmony UI for a fast and flexible workflow. Supporting a fully assignable layout, 72 fader strips, 19 assignable SoftKeys and daylight visibility, C1500 was right at home even in a large outdoor festival application — ready to tap into the 160X64 XCVI FPGA core power of the dLive Digital Mixing System. Also coming in at a diminutive 19” wide, an SQ-5 was selected by Mayday Parade at FOH for its 48 channel / 36 bus 96kHz rock solid performance.

“I’ve been touring with dLive since 2017 and it’s been awesome watching the platform grow and sport more and more new features in that time,” notes FOH engineer Chris Pollock (August Burns Red, ERRA). “Most recently with the V1.9 update, I’m already taking advantage of a lot of these new features. The RTA functionality is awesome for quickly pinpointing problem frequencies, and Source Expander has made a world of difference cleaning up my vocal mics.  Most impressive of all though is the Bus compressor. It’s so gooey and punchy, I’m really excited about the energy it brings to my mixes. I can’t wait to hear what A&H comes up with next!”

 

 

Allen & Heath recently announced dLive V1.9, the largest firmware release in the history of its flagship dLive mixing system. The free update incorporates feedback from audio engineers across the live sound, recording, streaming and installation markets. Additions include new RTA and sonogram tools, new DEEP expander and compressor models, a 12-band PEQ option for mixes, and Sennheiser wireless integration.

“It was great to see dLive bring brought in with the festival headliners,” adds Kevin Duthu, Business Unit Lead / Pro User Group, HWPco. “All of the engineers had great things say about the platform and specifically the 1.9 firmware. The ease of setup that the C1500 brings to a festival atmosphere allows a quick in and out of FOH without having to rearrange the entire tent—not to mention not having to bring an entire extra server of plugins, because they’re right in the desk! The best mixes of the day were without a doubt on Allen and Heath. It sounded like a blanket was taken off the PA when both SQ and dLive fired up.”