From bar band performances to the ‘hot-ticket’ sets, Allen & Heath was once again all over this year’s South by Southwest Music and Media Conference (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.
Everywhere you looked, mixers from across the whole range were in attendance, from ZED, Qu, and SQ mixers in lively bars, through to the flagship digital dLive system, powering events like Billie Eilish’s pre-supernova set at the Uber Eats House and the eclectic new music British Music Embassy (BME) showcase.
Hosted at Latitude 30, the BME events highlight the best up and coming British musical talent, with four nights in partnership with BBC Music. Some of the standout acts on the bill this year included Annabel Allum, Grace Carter, The Pearl Harts, The Howl & The Hum and recent Brit Award winner, Sam Fender.
Running at a rapid-fire pace, the BME showcases welcome a new act and engineer every 40-minutes, the frenetic turnarounds facilitated in part by dLive’s interface and extensive built-in processing.
“Time and time again, visiting engineers are blown away by how quickly they can get up-and-running on a dLive and have the confidence to deliver the set,” comments Léon Phillips, Allen & Heath’s Live Sound & Touring Manager. “In a high-pressure environment with serious technical requirements, it’s a testament to dLive’s slick workflow that engineers can walk up and mix with just a few minutes’ orientation.”
To deliver the performances, the BME kit list included three independent dLive systems, linked together via gigaACE to cover FOH, monitors and house continuity. Another important aspect of the system was to provide a multi-track recording feed via Dante for the BBC.
dLive was also in attendance on FOH and monitors for the ‘must-have ticket’ of SXSW 2019, Billie Eilish’s gig at the Uber Eats House. The fast-rising global star performed at SXSW on the back of a sold-out European tour, which also featured dLive.
Jeff Hawley, Marketing Manager at Allen & Heath USA, adds: “One of the missions of SXSW is to present a forum for performers to achieve their artistic goals. It was awesome to be a part of that journey as musicians, lecturers and audio engineers all did their thing utilising Allen & Heath on stages and events of all sizes. I was particularly excited to see every one of our product lines in use across the festival, from compact analogue mixers up through our flagship dLive range.”
Photo: Thomas Jackson, Tynesight Photography