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Soundcraft Si Compact on the road with Newton Faulkner

Patrick Hannan is using a Soundcraft Si Compact on Newton Faulkner’s current tour of the UK and Ireland, and it’s already proved a huge success in terms of set-up speed and efficiency.

"Before we had the Si Compact 24, we were hiring a 16-channel digital console on a rolling basis, or turning up to shows to work with whatever the venue had available," explains Hannan. "With the Si Compact 24, our set-up is far more self-contained, giving us much better control, meaning we can get going almost immediately. In addition, the 24 gives us two layers rather than one which means we don’t risk ‘maxing-out’ on our channel count, plus we get EQ on all channels, 14 aux buses and a host of Lexicon effects. It’s been a real innovation."

Hannan researched compact digital console options before making the decision to purchase, and came across the Soundcraft Si Compact online. He comments: "I was impressed with the value of the Compact 24, considering the excellent quality and reputation of Soundcraft consoles. I’m reassured by the high build quality and intuitive logic that comes as standard with their consoles; for instance, if I arrive at a festival and I see a Vi6 there, then I’m happy."

Having received good customer service during his last visit to the London branch, Hannan went to LMC for a quotation. "I came to LMC as I’d previously bought some second hand

XTA active splits from them and had a good experience with the purchase. When I enquired about Si Compact, Sam Simon-Norris, (technical sales, LMC London) was really helpful, and he was able to deliver a good price."

Sam comments: "The Si Compact Series consoles are a personal favourite of mine; easy to use, clear and intuitive interface and above all amazing sound quality. It was a great opportunity to see the console in action during sound check at the Scala, and to see how confident both Patrick and Spike [Holifield] were with its capabilities."

Spike Holifield, monitor engineer for Newton Faulkner, sings the console’s praises. "The Si Compact 24 is, for starters, really easy to use and very hands-on", he comments. "The touch-screen is useful and a good size and the colour-coding is really helpful. It’s got good sensitivity and responsiveness, the FX are great, and it produces a really nice, clean sound overall. You know exactly where you are with this desk, and to top it off it’s fairly light to carry when in a flight case so it’s easy for one person to move around!"

As for digital technology, Holifield is a keen advocate of it, declaring, "I love digital! I think it’s brilliant! It’s so flexible and rider friendly, and I’ve found digital desks to be, on the whole, very intuitive."

Hannan himself started out as a musician drummer in the 80’s and 90’s, working with acts such as The Sundays and Robyn Hitchcock, before moving into the folk scene, and securing a reputation as a sound engineer. He then began engineering and tour managing for Simon Raymonde and the Bella Union label, reuniting with his indie-alternative rock beginnings.

When not busy doing the ‘day’ job, he is a drummer in the band Union Starr, whose sound he describes as "a mixture of West coast, Beach Boys influences with a bit of Teenage Fanclub thrown in for good measure." Union Starr’s album ‘Falling Apart Together’ is out now.

In picture: Sam Simon-Norris, technical sales at LMC Audio, Newton Faulkner and Patrick Hannan, TM and FOH engineer for Newton Faulkner, at the Scala, London.

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Soundcraft Si Compact on the road with Newton Faulkner

20th June 2012

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