Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly

Monitor engineer/systems engineer Kevin Twist (left) and FOH engineer Trey Smith

Opening for country rockers Sugarland and getting in a couple of headliner shows herself, Sara Bareilles is out in full force this summer, as is an Avid/Midas custom package, thanks to sound company Spectrum Sound. When front-of-house engineer Trey Smith posed the question of achieving the Midas sound on an Avid interface, the sound provider headed straight to their techs to get the job done.

“Our technicians are constantly striving to adapt various technologies to provide mixing engineers with options so that those engineers can achieve the sound their artist desires while using interfaces the engineers have grown accustomed to,” explains Spectrum Sound’s Bobby George.

For the Bareilles tour, Spectrum Sound built a system around the Midas DL 431. “After receiving the microphone inputs, the DL 431 uses one set of its AES50 outputs to feed a Midas PRO 9 at the front-of-house position,” George explains. “The second AES50 output of the DL 431 is connected to the Klark-Teknik DN 9650 Network Bridge. The DN 9650 is specifically designed to allow simple and efficient networking between Midas I/O hardware and many different digital audio networks. Using the MADI interface option on the DN 9650 and the Avid MADI Option Card, the monitor engineer is able to seamlessly integrate his Avid VENUE Profile system with the Midas DL 431. The outputs of the VENUE system are routed back through the MADI network to the DN 9650. Using the other AES50 port on the Network Bridge, a Midas DL 451 configured with output cards routes all of the outputs to their desired location.

“Using this system, we have allowed the engineer to use the flexibility of an Avid VENUE system and all of its plug-in options while still giving him the ‘Midas Sound,’” he continues. “In the coming weeks, software will be released by Midas to provide even more flexibility for Midas system users. Using the Network Control ports on the DL 431, an engineer will be able to access settings on the 431 remotely through a simple laptop interface.”

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