Still playing live all over the world after 50 years together, German rockers the Scorpions show no signs of quitting – or losing their appeal. Ticket demand for 60 anniversary shows staged in 2015 was so great that more than 30 extra dates have – so far – been added for 2016. With Yamaha CL5 digital consoles available to rent wherever they go the cost and logistics of touring are kept down.
Achim Schulze and Glen Schmeling – the band’s FOH and monitor engineers – first used the CL5 in 2013, when the band played three MTV Unplugged shows at the open-air Lycabettus Theatre in Athens. Supplied by Hamburg-based Blue Noise and supported by the company’s chief audio technician Michi Gerhards, three CL5s and three Rio3224-D I/O units were used, a system replicated for four more Unplugged shows in Germany the following year.
‘We needed that set-up because there were a lot of guest musicians,’ Schmeling recalls. ‘An acoustic set can be more challenging than a rock show and we were very pleased with the result. I really liked the open, clear sound of the CL5 in combination with the Rio3224-D – it makes in-ear monitor mixes sound great. The ability to handle complex mix set-ups using facilities like the rich recall safe features also gives the CL series an almost analogue, tactile feel, which totally convinced me.’
Both engineers require a console with a small footprint and the performance of a big desk so they looked at using CL5s for the band’s anniversary world tour, setting settled on a CL5 each and two Rio3224-Ds connected via Dante instead of analogue splitting.
‘Our priority was failsafe, trouble-free operation, which the CL consoles had already proved on the acoustic shows,’ Schmeling says. ‘The second factor was that we didn’t want to change console during the tour, and CLs are easily available worldwide. This significantly cut touring costs because we didn’t have to take them with us.
‘We carried guitars, some special keyboards and service gear, but all PA, video and lighting equipment was rented in 60 locations right across the globe, including China, Korea, Russia, Ukraine, USA, Canada, South America, Germany, France, Belgium, the UK, Finland and the Baltic states. The Scorpions are known to play at the craziest places – we were even able to rent CL5s and Rio3224-Ds in the Faroe Islands.’
Schmeling and Schulze only have to carry show files on USB sticks: ‘We loaded the show along with the network files and were ready for virtual soundcheck within 15 minutes, using an ordinary Mac Book laptop and Dante Virtual Sound Card,’ Schmeling says. ‘Achim also used the Virtual Sound Card feature to make multitrack recordings of many of the shows, a great feature of Yamaha’s deep Dante network integration.’
‘Choosing CLs was definitely the right decision,’ he adds. ‘Of course, there were some minor issues with things like malfunctioning network cables and underperforming switches supplied by rental companies, but anything like this was promptly fixed by phone support from Yamaha Europe. Arthur Koll at Yamaha suggested I carry a set of four CISCO SG300/10 switches, which was easily done and solved any issues.
‘For the 2016 dates I am carrying Yamaha’s new SWP1 range of Dante switches.’
Both engineers are looking forward to mixing shows on the new Yamaha Rivage PM10, but are more than happy to continue with the CL5, thanks to its facilities and global availability. ‘In the beginning, to us the CL5 looked small, even a little toylike, but we completely misjudged it. I now consider it such a great all-rounder that it ranks even higher than PM5D,’ Schmeling concludes.
