Outdoor event specialist Ethix management has been supplying its services to high end corporate clients and the live events market for the past 20 years. The company made its first investment in DiGiCo consoles a couple of years ago, purchasing two SD12 consoles and SD-Rack systems through HD Pro Audio, citing its versatility and rider friendliness as the overriding factor in its decision. Before lockdown, the consoles were working constantly, and the investment now sees them ready to take on the challenges of the restart of live events.
“The SD12 ticks all the boxes,” says Ethix director, Paul Jones. “It’s the most popular console across the festivals that we work on and we had noticed for some time that the monitor engineers’ desk was almost always an SD12.”
Jones had had DiGiCo in his sights for a couple of years, and knew the versatility of the SD12 would make it ideal for the company’s projects.
“The SD12 is such a versatile console and can do anything from a basic, generic set up to those that are really complex. We can do pretty much anything with it and it’s really rider friendly,” he adds. “That’s highly important to us. Also, with the Optocore infrastructure, if we need to we can now put something like an SD5 in to the mix very easily. It works incredibly well that way.”
The summer of 2019 saw the console used on the smaller festivals the company handles, with the Bedford Park Concert Series, which included an Ibiza DJ night as well as headline spots from Tom Walker and Tom Odell, being its very first job.
“All the visiting engineers were very happy with the desk,” Jones continues. “We also used it extensively on local government events, including Trafalgar Square’s St Patricks Day, St Georges Day and Diwali celebrations. It’s about to go out on the Waterboys, who start their current tour in April in Guildford, and it’s already booked again for this year’s St Patrick’s day event in Trafalgar Square.”
Ethix also deployed the SD12 on a number of classical concerts and found the ability to record direct from the SD12 a bonus, taking a direct feed from the Rack which they then mix down and edited for the client. “Our classical clients really appreciate this as it gives them a high- quality recording for future events or marketing purposes,” he notes. “But it’s not just about buying the console; the ongoing support DiGiCo offers is equally important. DiGiCo’s Tim Shaxson has been outstanding. The level of service and support we continue to have from both DiGiCo and HD Pro is so important and was one of things that helped us with our choice.
“Obviously the last year hasn’t seen the SD12 going out as regularly as it was, but we have several projects in the pipeline that it will be used on and the ability to cross rent it further expands our capabilities. The console has been very well received by our clients. Our crew are also very happy with it and have really got used to using it. We are delighted with our DiGiCo purchase. It puts us in good shape for the future.”