Having been won over to Midas’ current digital technology by the Pro6 mixing desk he used with Stone Sour on a US tour, long-time Slipknot engineer Dave ‘Shirt’ Nicholls described his choice of a Midas Pro9 for Slipknot’s worldwide festival tour this summer as a ‘no-brainer’.

‘I loved the sound of the desk and I loved the feel of it,’ he says. ‘The EQ is smooth and the preamps seem to be bulletproof. When the Slipknot tour came up, it was a no-brainer to stay with Midas digital.’

The desk has been purchased by West Midlands-based Stage Audio Services (SAS), and joins SAS’ existing Midas Pro6 on monitors.

While the Pro6 proved itself on monitors, Nicholls needed a console with more microphone inputs for the 64-plus lines coming from the Slipknot stage.

The Midas XL8 was one solution, but for the demands of a festival tour, where numerous bands come with their own consoles, the Pro9 and its smaller footprint proved the optimum fit: ‘I can make sure there is enough space for everyone at the mix position without losing input count,’ he says.

The Pro9’s user-friendly design features, such as its POP(ulation) groups are an another bonus. ‘Everything comes to you instead of having to go to the other end of the desk to get to the channel you need,’ says Nicholls ‘I also really like the show editor for when you need to update your scenes, it’s really simple to use and really fast. And the KVM switching, which allows you to have three other computers connected to the keyboard, mouse and screen, is fantastic. I can look at the Klark Teknik DN9696 screen or Smaart screen at the flick of a switch without having to take my eyes from the desk... genius.’

Nicholls is hardly using any outboard equipment with the Pro9, relying on the onboard effects, and singling out the DN780 reverb ‘Alive’ preset for snare drum for particular praise.

A Klark Teknik DN9696 high resolution audio recorder and Klark Teknik DN9331Rapide graphic EQ controller complete the set-up. ‘Both have worked flawlessly and are extremely easy to use,’ says Nicholls, who acknowledges Rob Hughes at Midas and SAS managing director Kevin Mobberley for their support. ‘Rob really helped our monitor guy Ron Hurd in making the move to the Pro6,’ reports Nicholls, ‘and Kevin has gone above and beyond the call in getting this package all ready to go.’

SAS, which was founded 27 years ago, has had a long relationship with Midas, counting a Heritage 3000, Heritage 1000 and two XL3s in its inventory alongside the Pro6 and Pro9. While the latter was purchased specifically for the Slipknot tour, Mobberley predicts it will see plenty of work in the future. ‘The Midas digital platform is really starting to take off now, you see it on a lot more riders,’ he says.

Nicholls agrees: ‘The guys in the band love the whole Midas digital package at FOH and monitors and I’ll certainly be using it in the future.’

More: www.stageaudioservices.com
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