With a pro audio CV covering two decades, the diversity of John O’Donnell’s work covers everything from theatre productions to world tours. He has moved seamlessly between sound design, engineering and system architecture at the highest levels. His list of past accolades includes being Head of Sound at the Victorian Arts Centre, Sound System Designer for Melbourne’s Concert Hall and State Theatre, consultant for the Sidney Myer music Bowl sound system as well as being a sound engineer for countless acts including John Williams, Don McLean and Paul Kelly.
It’s fair to say John O’Donnell is one the key sound guys in Australia.
His most recent purchase is a DiGiCo SD9 from Melbourne’s Soundcorp, which has been in non-stop use since being received. ‘It sounds great, that’s the main thing,’ he says in a breat at at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre, where he is currently doing sound for The Story of Bon Scott. ‘We had our opening night last night and I’ve been getting comments from the band about how good the sound is.
‘I love the DiGiCo operating platform – it’s so easy to use,’ he continues. ‘I really like the processing power, matrix mixer and group/aux options. I go between theatre and rock and roll a lot and the SD9 fits the profile of all the different gigs I do. For this gig, I’m doing front of house and monitors at the same time; all out of the SD9. I’m using all eight outputs, seven sends and a bunch of groups. The snapshots make it really clear and straightforward to use too.’
O’Donnel also likes the Stealth onboard effects found on all SD Series consoles: ‘For the footprint, it does a lot. Dynamics are really good, the EQs on every channel are handy, I’ve been using them on sibilant voices too when I really need to get in there. It’s like the Swiss Army Knife of consoles.’
His next two months are already booked in, with the SD9 in the front line: ‘At the Athenaeum, I just finished doing The John Denver Story with Rick Price, now I’m doing Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be – The Story of Bon Scott; following that is Claire Bowditch. Then I’m off to Her Majesty’s Theatre to do the Dorris Day Musical with Melinda Schneider and a 14-piece band. The SD9 will be running non-stop.
‘It’s always great dealing with Mike (Lasa) and Scott (Jamieson) at Soundcorp,’ he adds. ‘I’ve known them for a long time and just going down there, chatting with them and re-connecting was great. I’m really happy to have made the purchase from them.’
More: www.soundcorp.com.au
More: www.grouptechnologies.com.au
