Formed in 1982 in Scotland, rock band Primal Scream released their third compilation album, Maximum Rock n' Roll: The Singles in 2019, containing 17 tracks spanning the period from 1986 to 2016. In support of the new album, the band announced a major winter tour of the UK and Ireland in 2019, which saw FOH engineer, Chris Martin and monitor engineer, Gerry Colclough use DiGiCo SD12 consoles - owned by Stage Audio Services based in the West Midlands.
Martin has been working with the band since 2008, starting out as FOH system tech for a PA hire company before progressing to the position of FOH engineer for the group in 2015.
The band are amazing people to be around; the touring party is a very happy camp and a great place to be, he enthuses. We are all great friends. They have a very good idea about what they want - having been a band for such a long time. We work closely with them to achieve the results that they want, spending many days at a rehearsal studio to make it as good as we can.
Martin used a DiGiCo SD12 on the tour with a shared single SD Rack on an optical loop running at 48kHz, used with a Waves server connected via MADI to a DiGiGrid MGB interface.
The Waves server is mainly used for effects such as auto pan for guitars and keyboards, effects (a few reverbs, sub enhancer and distortion) and some primary source expanders on the vocals, he explains. I'm also using a Universal Apollo interface connected via analogue for a few compressors and EQs, and a Smart Research C2 master buss compressor.
The band used 32 input channels from the stage, with triggers on all drums for gates, ambience, and various talk mics.
All in, it's around 60 channels that I use with all the effects returns, Martin says. At FOH I used 11 different effects for various things, mainly reverb and different flavours of delays, then there's some pitch effects, distortion, sub enhancer, and some guitar pedals.
Martin used two internal reverbs (one for snares and one for vocals) in addition to the internal vocal doubler effect, and two delays.
All of the internal effects are great, with really nice, smooth reverbs. Although the delays are simple, they do everything that I need in a tap tempo digital delay. I used the built in multiband compressors on my kick drum channels to tame the high end on them. I find they work really well to help keep the attack under control.
Martin has been using DiGiCo consoles with Primal Scream for the last two years, making the switch after experiencing reliability problems with the previous console he was using.
After not very long I decided that I was going to start using DiGiCo, he states. Since making the change I can't think of any reason why I would want to use another brand of console. The DiGiCo just does everything so well, and it has been great for us. We have managed to get DiGiCo consoles wherever we have travelled around the world, and the compatibility within the SD range has made our lives very easy. It's just a simple show-file switch from one desk to another. Easy!
In particular, the workflow on the desk impresses Martin:
Because of the way anything can be anywhere on the faders, I now have limited button-pressing to do during the show to get at anything I need. The macros have become something that I use more and more, from simple things like tap tempo, to inserts moving between main and spare vocals, and anything else that I can think of. If I find myself going into menus often for the same thing, I just put it on a macro now. It makes things simpler when you're trying to concentrate on mixing the show.
When listing his top three features on the console, Martin doesn't hesitate:
Being able to text between the consoles saves a lot of shouting, he says. No messages can get mixed up using this great feature. Also, the great-sounding preamps and summing busses - we used the new 32-bit input cards, and I find myself needing very little channel EQ to make it sound right to me - just turn up the gain and push up the faders! Not forgetting the macros, which are a whole world of time saving little buttons.
Meanwhile, Colclough has been working with Primal Scream since 2000 when they needed a monitor engineer at short notice.
Having been involved with the band for so long, we have a great relationship both on and off the stage, which has created great trust, he says.
Describing the five-piece band as a full on wedge band' until a few years ago when lead singer, Bobby Gillespie, switched to IEMs, followed by two other band members, Colclough says that this drastically reduced the previously famous Primal Scream stage volume.
The drummer has been on a hard wire mix for a number of years, taking four individual lines into his mixer so he can control his own mix; today, he takes two sends from me for his mixer for vocals and guitar, and he uses a floor monitor for some kick drum and snare. For keys, they are still using a floor monitor comprising of a full band mix, while three of them take full band mixes in their ears.
Colclough switched to DiGiCo five years ago after hearing the quality of the audio, being particularly impressed by the ease of use.
I was immediately sold! Once IEMs were involved, the update to a great sounding board was a no-brainer. I find the SD12 snapshots to be invaluable and versatile, and the edit function is very useful in updating during the show, he explains. I also find that fader bank assign and multichannel assign are really helpful when organising channels, or last minute inclusions to the input or output list.
The tour went really well, concludes Chris Martin. When we reached the peak point of the set, it seemed as if all of the audience were joining in with us and becoming the new daily Primal Scream choir! There were smiles all round.
Press Contac
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
21/01/2026
Wednesday 21 January 2026
Backing Britain on the global stage: Sky becomes an o...
21/01/2026
Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Resul...
21/01/2026
Baselight v7 brings colourists and post-houses smarter mattes, faster workflows and deeper control
FilmLight, known for its detailed colour toolset and longsta...
21/01/2026
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Jackie Fox as its new Washington Correspondent. Jackie is a multimedia journalist with RT News and has repor...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
16/01/2026
The start of a new year brings fresh possibilities. Whether you're diving in with big goals or simply setting new intentions, audiobooks can bring inspirati...
16/01/2026
In 2025 we launched the Spotify Partner Program to give creators more ways to tu...
15/01/2026
The SGL Carbon site in Bonn has a long tradition of training. For many years, young talent has been successfully trained here, regularly achieving excellent exa...
15/01/2026
The JEC Composites Innovation Awards annually honor the most innovative and ambi...
15/01/2026
X-energy Reactor Company, LLC ( X-energy ) and SGL Carbon LLC ( SGL ) have signed a 10-year framework agreement to provide graphite for the deployment of X-ener...
15/01/2026
RT is tonight announcing that Mari Hurley has decided to leave her role as RT 's Chief Financial Officer to take up a new position outside RT . Mari will r...
15/01/2026
15 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Reaches 3.0 million Customers with Starlink Dir...
15/01/2026
Views to free streaming service U grew by 15%, average monthly active users by 23% and registrations by 18%
UKTV's channels achieved record viewing share, ...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
Sky Sports to show Final Stage of inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup
Sky and FIFA have agreed an exclusive new partnership whi...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
The official trailer for the second season of Seth Mac...
15/01/2026
Wuppertal January 15, 2026
Riedel RefCam Takes Center Court in German Basketba...
15/01/2026
Arvato Systems Named Launch Partner for AWS European Sovereign Cloud
As a launch partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, Arvato Systems enables customer...
14/01/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 13th January, 2026 ITV, one of the UKs leading broadcasters, has selected Yospace, the global leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), to ...
14/01/2026
Steiger Media's adoption of Calrec's compact Argo M console not only makes its innovative new hybrid truck faster, more efficient, and agile, but also e...
14/01/2026
Press Release: The Boston Globe Names Cartesian a Top Place to Work in 2025
January 14, 2026
News
Cartesian - January 14, 2026 - EINPresswire.com - Sp...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Marcus Theatres Announce Five-Year Extension for Cinema ACE and Ent...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Santikos Entertainment Announce Five-Year Circuit Wide Commitment t...
14/01/2026
Wednesday 14 January 2026
Sky News announces Cathy Newman to lead flagship new political programme
Sky News today announces that award-winning journalist and ...
14/01/2026
The first stamp of An Post's 2026 Stamp Programme, marking 100 Years of Broadcasting, was unveiled at the GPO by Patrick O'Donovan TD, Minister for Cult...
14/01/2026
It's official! Beverley Callard has landed in Carrigstown. The beloved actor, known for her unforgettable roles and iconic screen presence, is joining the c...
13/01/2026
Independent media in Brazil and Colombia is facing an urgent crisis of traditional business models alongside a deteriorating security environment, according to ...
13/01/2026
Luxembourg, December 17, 2025 - SES S.A. ( SES or the Company ), a leading spa...
13/01/2026
Written and executive produced by Steve Lightfoot and Angela LaManna, produced b...
13/01/2026
New updates to Hitmaker Expansion from Celemony and Softube Edit pitch-perfect vocals with Melodyne Essential and get radio-ready guitar tones from Softube...
13/01/2026
Live broadcasts from RT 2FM Breakfast with Carl, Roz & Aisling, RT Radio 1 Tod...
12/01/2026
Spotify's new co-CEOs, Alex Norstr m and Gustav S derstr m, start off the new year with a message of renewed leadership, creative responsibility, and what&#...
12/01/2026
At Spotify, we listen to a lot of music. And every year, our global editors and artist partnerships teams come together to spotlight the emerging voices we beli...
12/01/2026
Spotify's global editors and Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships team spend their days immersed in new music, tracking the writers behind the songs breaking...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan and increases its support for the J...
12/01/2026
X-Rite and Rhopoint Launch Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix to Streamline Creation of...
12/01/2026
12 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Launches 5G Pilot in Lviv Lviv, January 12, 2026 - VEON, a global digital operator (Nasdaq: VEON), today announces that Kyivsta...
12/01/2026
Monday 12 January 2026
The ultimate betrayal: Harry and Jamie Redknapp, Paul Me...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan to increase its support for the Jap...
12/01/2026
Welcome to the AVECO team: introducing new members of management
At AVECO, we are continuing to implement our #newAVECO strategy, which aims to build an even s...
12/01/2026
For the first time in the nine-year history of Dancing with the Stars, the first...
Formed in 1982 in Scotland, rock band Primal Scream released their third compilation album, Maximum Rock n' Roll: The Singles in 2019, containing 17 tracks spanning the period from 1986 to 2016. In support of the new album, the band announced a major winter tour of the UK and Ireland in 2019, which saw FOH engineer, Chris Martin and monitor engineer, Gerry Colclough use DiGiCo SD12 consoles - owned by Stage Audio Services based in the West Midlands.
