Midas PRO6 and PRO2 on song at BRIT Awards 2012

Last week’s BRIT Awards 2012 ceremony saw Britannia Row Productions supply a Midas PRO6 console to take care of FOH mixing, while an additional PRO6 and the new PRO2 were specified for monitors at the London show.

Held for the second consecutive year at London’s O2 Arena, the show offered a star-studded line-up, with nine separate acts taking to the stage to perform. These ranged from the minimalist acoustic guitar and vocal of Ed Sheeran, to the full band performance from Blur, which also came complete with a choir for their performance of ‘Tender’. Other performers on the night included Adele, Rihanna, Coldplay and Bruno Mars.

FOH engineer, Britannia Row’s Josh Lloyd, said: “The PRO6 was perfect for the job. Its unique ability to be pretty much completely reconfigured from scene to scene meant that I could have one band on a scene, hit next and I’d be ready for the next band. In that new scene I would have changed patching, bus configuration and fired midi messages to my external effects. The desk can load a scene or show instantly, with no delay.”

Some bands required multiple scenes for cues or different songs, while Lloyd himself used the notes as prompts for cues in the show once he had fired the scene.

On monitors, the PRO6 was used for six of the nine bands, while the PRO2 mixed the choir monitors and the stems for FOH and broadcast for Blur’s performance.

The consoles were networked via four Midas DL431 mic splitters for all inputs, a Midas DL251 I/O unit for the PRO2, a Midas DL351 to bus all the monitor I/Os and two Midas DL451 I/O units for insert and FXs. Additional equipment included two Midas DL371 audio system engines and a Klark Teknik DN9650 network bridge, which was used for virtual sound checks at FOH in conjunction with laptops with Madi interfaces.

“The use of the network gave us huge flexibility with signal routing and linking consoles in a seamless fashion,” reported Lloyd. “The whole set-up delivered just what you need in a show with such fast turnarounds and such short periods for line-checks: speed, flexibility, reliability and, of course, that great Midas sound.”

For more details on the BRITS 2012 braodcast aspect take a look at Audio Pro International’sbackstage report.