IN THE NEWS
38 APRIL 2020 • WWW.LSIONLINE.COM[UK] Despite the cancellation
of the final two shows in Paris
as a consequence of the
coronavirus clampdown,
Madonna’s theatre-scale
Madame X shows have been
a tour-de-force for DiGiCo’s
new-generation Quantum
technology.
Although a more powerful
mixing platform than any previous
DiGiCo product, the new
Quantum 7 console was deployed
on a Madonna tour actually
scaled down from her usual
stadium presence and ran the
show in the much more intimate
surroundings of boutique
theatres in iconic city locations.
This meant adapting her live
sound for smaller venues even if
the production was as
sophisticated as ever, as FOH
engineer Tim Colvard explains...
“From its beginnings the SD7
has continued to evolve into the
desk that can meet the needs of
the most complex show
environments,” he says,
acknowledging that the
Quantum is an organic
development of DiGiCo’s
flagship model. “I’ve used the
SD7 since the 2008 Madonna
tour, and having redundant
engine capabilities, timecode,
MIDI I/O and so many banks of
inputs were always some of the
strongest selling points.
“Now with the Quantum 7
we‘re able to use an abundance
of audio port I/O device types -including SD-Racks, Con and
DD4 Series - on one fibre-optic
loop, then adding a second loop
just for FOH effects.”MADAME-SON SYSTEMS
Headroom was the main benefit
as the expansion of mixing
capacity was married to a more
modest FOH configuration.
“Mixing the Madame X tour
required choosing a system that
was compact and light, and one
that could be flown and-or
stacked,” Colvard says. “The
Adamson S10 was the final
choice. We carried 18 S10s per
side, flying 12 and stacking six
with four Adamson E119
subwoofers per side. There were
some venues that had installed
systems: we supplemented
those with our system.”Mix and Madge
Phil Ward fi nds ‘Q’ at the heart of ‘X’ as Madonna stages her theatre-scale Madame X tour...
D Left: FOH engineer Tim Colvard
E Below: The London Palladium
was just one theatre visited by
the Madame X tour
Bottom: Monitor engineer Matt
Napier“In this situation,
with so many
musicians and such
a variety of music to
replicate, the ability
to EQ and compress
independently was
fantastic.. .”
- Matt Napier