Ben Findlay, FOH Engineer for Peter Gabriel’s Back to Front tour
Martin Warr (MD, Synthax Audio UK) had the great pleasure of attending one of the last gigs in the current European leg of Peter Gabriel’s Back to Front tour, at London’s O2 on Monday 21st Oct. The set featured many of Peter’s hits, some acoustic, some electronic, as well as a complete playing of the classic album “SO” from 1987, with the original band of Tony Levin (bass), Manu Katche (drums), David Sancious (keyboards) and David Rhodes (guitar). The tour started earlier this year in the USA, then transferred to Europe in October, and has been such a success that more dates are planned for 2014.
One unique aspect of the tour is that Front Of House Engineer Ben Findlay is recording and mixing “authorised bootlegs” of every single night’s performance, which you can then purchased as a memento. There is also a limited edition deluxe package that includes all 18 concerts, each presented as a double CD, with exclusive photos and mini tour book which comes in a dedicated flight case!
Given the mission critical nature of this task, what hardware did he choose to get the job done? Since he is using the new SSL Live desk featuring multiple MADI connections, the obvious choice was the new RME MADIface USB, which links the SSL’s fibre MADI port to a MacBook Pro’s USB2, running ProTools native software. Ben then captures 4 channels of audio, a stereo board mix, plus 2 audience reaction mics every night, with a minimum of cables or fuss.
He comments “Martin from Synthax Audio UK came down to rehearsals with one of the very first RME MADIface USBs in the country. He plugged it in, installed the driver, and within 5 minutes we were up and running. And it’s been running flawlessly ever since. When you’re responsible for all the sound at the gig, the last thing you want to worry about is whether the recording system is working properly. I’m pleased to say that with this RME, Mac and ProTools solution, I never have any headaches.”
Ben will be mixing for Robert Plant in November and then again with Peter Gabriel in 2014. He said he’s very much looking forward to getting hold of one of the new RME MADIface XT boxes for himself when it becomes available around Christmas time. The ground breaking MADIface XT is the first product in the world to offer 3 x 3 MADI connections to a single USB3 output. It gives the mouth-watering prospect of recording 96 channels of audio at 96kHz sample rate with just one extremely portable half rack solution that connects directly to a laptop. Now that will be a great Christmas present!
More information:
Peter Gabriel Back to Front Tour – www.petergabriel.com
Ben Findlay – www.benfindlay.com