Roland M-480 console tours with Finnish star

Roland‘s M-480 digital console, M-48 personal monitors and S-1608 digital snake stage units have been out on a three-week tour with Finnish singer Eija Kantola.

The ‘Anniversary’ tour, which celebrated 20 years in the business for Kantola and her band Omega, took in a variety of venues across Finland, including dance halls, restaurants and cruise ships. The M-480 (pictured) was chosen for the tour by technician Mikko Kiviniemi, a freelance technician based in Helsinki, who has been a fan of Roland Systems Group (RSG) since September 2011.

"I have used the RSG products for more than 120 shows – it is a reliable and great sounding system with reasonable FOH footprint," commented Kiviniemi. "The overall workflow efficiency and surface layout is superb as I can run most shows without using a laptop and I was truly impressed by the high sound quality."

The M-480 was ideal for FOH on the tour, as it’s a lightweight system with a small footprint that can be moved around easily from venue to venue and connected to in-house systems where necessary. The console offers 48 channels plus six stereo returns, creating a total of 60 channels. The M-480 also lets the user control, save and recall all connected M-48 personal mixers, allowing the FOH engineer to assist in setup and mixing, and use in-ear monitoring systems to eliminate feedback.

For the Eija Kantola tour, M-48s were used for the drummer, guitarist and bass player, enabling each musician to control exactly what they wanted to listen to during the performance. With control of up to 40 audio channels via 16 stereo groups, the all-digital connection resulted in a low noise floor and clear sound.

"The M-48s are really good to have around as they allow me to focus more on the FOH sound and the artists’ IEM sound; they are truly a lifesaver for my situation," added Kiviniemi.

The S-1608 stage unit connected to the M-480 provided 16 x eight channels of 24-bit/96kHz digital audio transmission via Cat5e cable using Roland Ethernet Audio Communication. Housed in a compact floor-based or rack-mountable design, the S-1608 could be moved around easily and provided extra inputs where required.

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