Foo Fighters take Midas Pro6 on tour

US rock band Foo Fighters have taken a Midas Pro6 console on the road for their current world tour.

The console, supplied by Britannia Row Productions in Europe and Delicate Productions in the USA, has gone out for the first time on monitors.

Monitor engineer Ian Beveridge, who has worked with Foo Fighters for 17 years, has long been a fan of Midas, and, faced with the rigorous schedule of the current tour, he decided to opt for the smaller footprint of a Midas digital console. He commented: “It’s the best sounding console I have ever used, bar none. The band themselves commented on the sonic improvement the moment the PRO6 arrived. Their latest record was made without any computers at all; it’s five guys with five instruments on the record and live, and the sound of the PRO6 complements this approach perfectly.”

Beveridge has cited the user-friendly design of the POPulation groups and the storage capacity of automation and show files as particular assets: “I use the automation very simply, making only one scene per show and perhaps a scene for guest musicians that require any big changes,” he added. So far the tour has seen the appearance of such guests as Bob Mould, Lemmy, Rodger Daltry, Brian May, Rodger Taylor and Alice Cooper.

Beveridge is also fond of the console’s patching flexibility: “It’s an extremely powerful tool that allows me to do the very best I can every time the Foos walk out on stage,” he said.

Yet, his highest praise is for the PRO6’s dynamics. “They are superb, and allow me to control or amplify transients with a terrific level of transparency,” he concluded.