DiGiCo SD7 mixes the Blue Man Group in South Africa

The Blue Man Group visited South Africa for the very first time in February and March this year with sound engineer Christo Davis – who has worked with Blue Man Group for the past year – mixing an average of four or more shows a week on a DiGiCo SD7 console.

The group celebrated the 200th performance of their World Tour whilst performing at The Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg.

The audio inventory for the show, including Christo’s SD7, is supplied by Dutch rental company Ampco Flashlight.

The Blue Man Group was established in New York by three friends in 1991, and are known for their captivating shows involving music, comedy, fresh stories, custom instruments and technology.

“I’ve been using the SD7 for the past three years and I love it,” Christo stated. “It’s very intuitive and even if you are new to the console, it doesn’t take long to find your way around it. It’s such a powerful package. In the early stages of digital consoles, they all sounded quite harsh and unpleasant. Then DiGiCo came along and nailed it. Now we have something that actually sounds good as well as being user-friendly.”

The SD7’s other big plus for Christo is its dual engines, giving him the redundancy he needs.

“I was telling a story to one of my colleagues the other day,” Christo recalled. “Some time ago I was doing a corporate show when the power supply started burning. What do you do then? The show was over. Now we have flexibility as I’ve got a backup sitting right there – it’s great.

“The other nice thing about DiGiCo is that the guys there are fantastic, with great support all over the world. We had an issue with the console while we were in Singapore and had been talking with the support guys back in the UK. While I was trying to fix it, James Gordon (DiGiCo MD) walked in. He happened to be in Singapore, had heard about our issues and came to see us. How’s that for service? I’m a big fan and it would be hard to change to another console now.”

(Pictured: Christo Davis, head of audio for the Blue Man Group World Tour with his deputy sound engineer, Isobel Rush)

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