Front of House engineer James Gebhard knows the importance of keeping up with the latest technology and having the best tools for the job, so when British indie-rock band Circa Waves announced their UK club and academy tour, he decided that investing in a DiGiCo S21 would be the perfect solution.
I think it is imperative to keep your eye on the ball with what is new coming onto the market, he says. Being back out on a smaller scale tour - something I have not done for a few years - was a great opportunity to see where the more budget end of the market was with mixing desks.
James, a long-term SD7 user, has also worked with a variety of entry level / semi pro consoles, so when he was given the opportunity to use an S21, it seemed a logical step.
I had only had a basic demo on the desk at DiGiCo HQ, but I was so impressed I pretty much placed an order for myself there and then, he smiles.
The S21 has the same Stealth Digital Processing that DiGiCo's SD range of consoles employ at its core. This FPGA-based technology is the key that has unlocked the flexibility that was required for DiGiCo to deliver a console that has the same sonic qualities, features and values that DiGiCo is renown for, but at a much lower price point.
I expect a lot from DiGiCo consoles and I knew I wasn't going to be disappointed, continues James. But when I started using it on Circa Waves, our monitor guy, Terry Smith, was so impressed he also took it out with British singer-songwriter Dan Croll, who he does FOH for.
For Circa Waves, James kept things on the console fairly simple, running 22 channels from stage, along with a couple of ambient mics. Thrown in with that were DiGiCo's in-built effects, he says. Outputs were mainly left / right, but where possible left / right / sub, and on occasion multi zone outputs.
James found that the benefits of using such a compact console in venues with limited space were considerable.
A couple of the big features on the S21 are the assignable multiband comps and compression, and the D-Tube, he continues. And the footprint size makes a difference, for sure! With some small club shows it's hard to take in desks, purely down to space limitations. One of the great things about the S21 is how compact it really is, especially given its functionality.
I love the desk; for what it is (compact, entry level) its processing and feature set is way above anything twice its price and the transition to using it was pretty straight forward. Although it s a different workspace configuration to the SD or even the D series consoles, for me, one of the many things DiGiCo always seems to get right is the user interface. When I took delivery of the S21 a couple of engineer friends came to have a play and they were all very impressed how straight forward it was to use.
It's worked really well for me so far and I m looking forward to the next set of software updates, which will unlock some more features on the desk. And the DiGiCo support has been great all the way through; from James Gordon and Tim Shaxson through to Phil Goldsworthy at Wigwam, their local dealership who I bought the desk from, and even people like Jaap Pronk [Ampco Flashlight] and Fab Piazzini who have helped out with little questions I ve had.
That s another thing I love about DiGiCo, the support you get not only from them, but from the umbrella of people who use their products is amazing.
Press Contacts:
David Webster at DiGiCo
Tel: +44 1372 845600
Email:webby@digiconsoles.com
Web: www.digico.org
Sarah James at Gasoline Media
Tel: +44 1372 471472
Email: info@gasolinemedia.com
Web: www.gasolinemedia.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sarah_gasoline
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Front of House engineer James Gebhard knows the importance of keeping up with the latest technology and having the best tools for the job, so when British indie-rock band Circa Waves announced their UK club and academy tour, he decided that investing in a DiGiCo S21 would be the perfect solution. 
