How did you get started in the industry?

Whilst studying, I worked as a stagehand in several venues and took an interest in sound engineering. One day, the house engineer needed someone to mix the support band, and that was my first gig! I got work at another venue, and slowly started to build a network. That was about 12 years ago.

 

 

What tours have you worked on?

One of my first tours was with the Broilers. It was the first big thing for me, mixing at festivals with big audiences of 5k or more. Jupiter Jones was a long time client and we did many tours together. After that I somehow got into the punk and hardcore scene and started to work for bands like Ignite, Helmet, Life of Agony, Quicksand, Texas is the Reason and many more. I also worked for bands like Walk off the Earth, The Baboon Show, Marathonmann and The Stanfields.

 

How did you first hear about Allen & Heath?

Ha! I started mixing my first shows on a MixWizard 16:4:2. Back then this was our sound desk and it seemed like nothing could destroy it. Later we got a set of iLives for our tours with Jupiter Jones, and that’s the time I really got into it.

 

What’s your mixer of choice and why?

I just bought my own dLive C2500 system and I’m more that happy with it. In my opinion it combines an amazing sounding processing system with a very flexible workflow. There are many different ways to get the desired result. One of the best features is the virtual soundcheck mode that lets you tweak the signals before the artist even enters the venue. I should also mention the new, very simple and smooth to use, routing matrix.

Some other features I love about it are the different compressor models, two insert points in every channel, the possibly of a multi-band compressor in every channel without any more latency, the very intuitive user interface with widgets and a multi-gesture touchscreen which feels like an iPad. There’s also 19 assignable user keys and much more fancy stuff.

 

How do you see the future of live sound changing?

I think we are in a transition from analogue to digital. Analogue boards will most likely disappear over the course of time and be replaced by smaller, more flexible and affordable digital systems. I see it happening all the time. With this digital revolution I also see changes for touring artists and engineers. Even though a lot of venues provide sound desks, the benefits of having your own desk on tour are indisputable. You are faster with sound checks, IEMs are much easier to handle, the sound improves every night as you can start working on last night’s show file, you don’t need to rely on sketchy old desks… I could go on forever. Digital is the future and it will make our shows sound better.