DiGiCo SD10 Is Not Giving In On Tom Walker Tour posted: 15/12/2019
Tom Walker's FOH and monitor engineers explain why DiGiCo is a game-changer on the 2019 BRIT Award-winning singer's European tour...
FOH engineer, Mike Platt, has worked with Tom Walker since 2017, when he was part of a three-piece support act for The Script. The Scottish artists rise to fame has been quick: since then he has secured a 2019 BRIT Award, and his debut album, What A Time To Be Alive, peaked at the top spot in the UK Album Chart. This meant Platt and monitor engineer, Liam Shannon, opted for a pair of DiGiCo SD10s to produce a bigger and bolder show for Walker's UK and European tour.
I have been using DiGiCo for around 10 years now. Its always been my desk of choice, says Platt, who has experience working on several of the SD range consoles. My FOH setup comprises an SD10-24 and an outboard rack with some toys in. I chose the smaller SD10-24 for numerous reasons, but mainly for its size and power. I can easily get it to FOH and get it tipped without it being too much of an event. I also like to mix on one layer, so 24 fader channels makes me prioritise the channels that are most important for the show, and they live on the top.
Platt does the majority of his processing from within the console, and effects-wise everything is being done on the DiGiCo.
I know the exact effects sounds I want in my head, and I can get those results with the DiGiCo onboard stuff, he reveals, adding that Walkers vocal chain has to be pretty long to get the desired control, whilst still allowing the artists voice to sound natural. From source, Tom has probably the largest dynamic range going: he goes from whispers, to blisteringly loud parts. To control this, I go through Channel EQ > Distressor > Channel Compression > Group Dynamic EQ > Group De-esser. Apart from the Distressor, the chain is all inside the box, and its intuitive control makes it easy.
Rock solid stability is a big thing for Platt, who admits that he tries not to get sucked into the hype of fancy new gizmos and things that may be unreliable or untested, preferring to keep everything as rock solid and stable as possible.
My job is to make my artist sound great, and for the audience and management not to even think about the tech side of things; there is no scope for failure, he declares. I need to have 100% confidence that the gear will work every day, and the way DiGiCo boards are set out is similar to the way my head works! The workflow is so intuitive, and once you know the little tips and tricks to speed yourself up, you can fly through the setup.
Platt reveals that the ability to arrange fader banks within the console is quick and makes life that bit easier.
Also, the Matrix panel on the DiGiCo is really powerful; you can send anything anywhere, which is extremely useful. And the Macros are a very powerful tool - and so customisable. I use hot keys to turn gates on and off on certain channels in certain parts of songs, and save and update scenes. It makes the show operation so easy to repeat without having to change layer or mess about too much.
Ease of connectivity is another key feature: I know it sounds simple, but being able to rock up to a festival and give broadcast one line of MADI at 48kHz for their feed is amazing! Festival load-ins are fairly stressful as it is, so that's something that's very important that you don't have to worry about. And also for the MADI record at FOH, you can just come out of the local MADI ports - no worries!
However, Platts most important features are the audio I/O and copy audio sections.
As Im a geek for connectivity, being able to navigate around these menus quickly is a big plus. Being able to listen to the inputs directly from the rack before channel processing is such a nice tool, and all the control of splits and sharing is great. DiGiCo's reliability, versatility, and build quality are the main points for me. In the world of digital audio systems, we shouldn't be limited in any way, so DiGiCo has put it back on the user and the limits of their creativity, rather than the constraints of the hardware/software.
Liam Shannon has been Walker's monitor engineer since May 2018, and says that for the most part, the band is fairly low maintenance with a standard band mix with their own instruments peeking out on top.
I have eight stereo in-ear mixes - Tom's, five for the band, one guitar tech, and one spare; and three mono mixes - Tom's wedges, Tom's vibe board, and a drum sub, he explains.
Shannon has been operating on DiGiCo for four years now, going from an SD9, to an SD10-24, and most recently to a full-size SD10.
The SD10 has been complemented by an SD-Rack running at 96kHz with full 32-bit I/O card upgrades. DiGiCo just compliments my ideal workflow perfectly. The channel strip UI makes perfect sense for how I want to operate, and having independent rotaries for things like every section of the EQ is absolutely necessary for me, he enthuses.
Describing the upgrade to 32-bit I/O as a no brainer, Shannon says the lower noise floor cleans everything up so much when running around 56 channels.
I could hear the difference immediately in the songs where instrumentation gets incredibly busy and louder; there was more space in the mix - the same mix I'd been using built from the standard I/O cards, he recalls. There's one song called Not Giving In that has a big drum and bass-style ending that always ended up taking up all the dynamics in the mix. The vocal couldnt sit above the music without sounding really compressed. Ive not had that problem since upgrading the cards.
During a tour, Shannon sets up at least one Snapshot for each song.
The scope functionality for Snapshots on the DiGiCo is so conclusive that I can confident
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
DiGiCo SD10 Is Not Giving In On Tom Walker Tour posted: 15/12/2019 
