Manchester festival opts for Innovason consoles

The Friends of Mine festival, based in Manchester, boasted a particularly impressive line-up, including Kid British, Badly Drawn Boy, The Buzzcocks, The Fall, The Charlatans and The Cribs.

Paul Nicholson from Red Square Audio / Midas Pro Sound took care of audio requirements across the festival’s four main stages, including a fleet of three Innovason Eclipse digital mixing consoles to equip the main stage.

Nicholson, who also engineered some of the bands, decided on two Eclipses for FoH in order to flip-flop between acts, and a third Eclipse on stage at the monitor position. Eddy Josse, Innovason engineer, was on hand to assist visiting engineers at FoH, while Andy Reeves handled monitors.

“The consoles did a sterling job and were incredibly well received by all of the engineers who used them, both at FoH and monitors,” said Nicholson. “Almost everyone commented on how easy they were to use, which is so important in a festival set-up where the pressure is really on. From a sonic point of view, I truly think that Eclipse is one of the best sounding consoles on the market today, and the combination of the Eclipse with the APG Uniline system made for jaw-droppingly great sound.”

Paul Fyfe, The Cribs’ engineer, agreed: “It was my first time using Eclipse, and I thought the desk sounded great. I really enjoyed using it and have added it to my production specs for future festivals, so I hope to be using it again very soon.