London?s Alchemea College to host Masterclass with Chris Madden

The Islington-based creative media college, Alchemea, is to host an all-day masterclass from one of the UK’s top engineers, Chris Madden on March 14th.

In his diverse career Madden has worked with the likes of the Sugababes, Joe Cocker, Charlotte Church, P!nk and Sade. Such is his reputation and his genre-transcending resume he has increasingly become a first-call engineer for many popular acts. 

Madden started his professional life as a studio engineer. However, he has made the transition to live shows through his work with The Waterboys. Quickly Madden moved from monitors to FOH for the folk-rock legends. 

He has enjoyed successful stints through arenas, stadia and festivals throughout the world, and is a major proponent of the Avid Venue console, and uses the D-Show (with sidecar on the left) at every opportunity.

Amonst the things Madden will be raising will be an in-depth discussion about his multi-continent tour with P!nk. As part of this he will be using his Avid Venue show files and video footage of the show. 

As Alchemea noted, Madden has a slightly unconventional use of snapshots, using them as starting points rather than an exact science. The P!nk show is exceptional, in that she does all her stunts while singing live, no miming at all, and this requires extra technical input from Chris and other members of the team. 

Indeed, such was the unique circumstances of the P!nk tour that Madden collaborated with Sennheiser to customise a head set mic and single-ear monitoring system for the tour. This proved highly successful when she was swinging from a trapeze out in front of the PA.

More specifically, Madden will be discussing with attendees on how to decide with the band and backline department the best way to capture the input from stage, which mics/di’s and where they will be placed, his Design of the PA, monitor and FOH systems; how he lays out the session, including input list, desk layout and snapshots; and more about his mix, looking at individual channels, plug-ins and the management of the whole show.

Founded in 1992, Alchemea has grown to become one of the world’s leading creative media colleges and currently has two campuses in London, one in Islington and another in Shoreditch.

The event will take place at Alchemea College’s Islington campus between 11am and 5pm on March 14th 2012.

Tickets cost £28 and can be bought safely on the Alchemea website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB5vN4JmKV4