FOH Engineer Ben Findlay Selects Avid VENUE Profile for Peter Gabriel & Robert Plant Tours

posted:

10/02/2013

Renowned live-sound engineer cites VENUE’s tight Pro Tools integration, Virtual Soundcheck feature and plug-ins as key different

Avid® continues to advance its leadership position with the best touring engineers and sound companies all around the world with engineer Ben Findlay selecting VENUE® Profile as his console of choice. Findlay is a premiere front-of-house engineer for a diverse roster of music’s top artists including Paul McCartney, Sting and Dame Edna Everage. Findlay most recently manned the faders for Peter Gabriel’s Back to Front tour, as well as for Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters’ tour.

With his roots as a recording engineer at Real World Studios, Findlay appreciates VENUE’s tight integration with Pro Tools, and enjoys having the option to bring some of his favorite studio tools into the live space. “That environment is reflected beautifully in the VENUE’s workflow. It’s so logical, incredibly easy to learn, and the ability to save and retrieve settings is really powerful. I bring my own Pro Tools rig whenever I can and multi track almost every show. I’m also a huge fan of Virtual Soundcheck. In some ways, it provides even more control than a live-sound check environment. It’s extremely powerful and freeing.”

Avid Venue

Plug-ins are also an increasingly important part of Findlay’s live-sound arsenal. After many years in the studio, Findlay has had plenty of opportunities to identify his top plug-in picks and with VENUE he can easily bring them on the road, expanding his mixing palette. “I use VENUE’s onboard processing extensively. I also really like the Sonnox Oxford plug-in, as well as the Sonnox Inflator for drums and the mix bass on occasion. On the vocals I tend to use the LA2 emulator quite a bit, as well as Bomb Factory.”

In the end, Findlay observes, with all its capabilities the VENUE system’s most important role has been as a creativity enabler. “It’s just so intuitive and powerful. I’m constantly finding new and creative ways to work with it.”

“Avid continues to set the standard for live-sound gear, and our customers put on some of the world’s best performances,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of products and services at Avid. “We are thrilled that Ben has chosen VENUE to bring his ideas to life on stage.”

About Avid
Avid creates the digital audio and video technology used to make the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world – from the most prestigious and award-winning feature films, music recordings, and television shows, to live concert tours and news broadcasts. Some of Avid’s most influential and pioneering solutions include Media Composer®, Pro Tools®, Interplay®, ISIS®, VENUE, Sibelius® and System 5.