British grime MC and rapper, Dizzee Rascal, has been performing his Mercury Music Prize-winning album ‘Boy in Da Corner’ to loyal fans during a 20th anniversary tour, with help from sound reinforcement specialist Eighth Day Sound.
The rental, sales and service company provided SSL (FOH) and DiGiCo (Mons) consoles, with a d&b audiotechnik KSL PA for the tour. For Dizzee’s monitoring system, Shure PSM1000 IEMs with d&b M2 wedges were specified, alongside Sennheiser 6000 Series RF, throughout the UK arena tour, following a major comeback at London’s O2
FOH engineer Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Sargeant selected Eighth Day Sound, and mixes Dizzee’s hard-hitting yet melodic blend of influential London hip hop. “Over the years, I’ve mastered some of Dizzee’s earlier album live tracks,” he said. “So, my aim here was to bring consistency to the overall range of tracks spanning the 20th anniversary.
“Creating the right mix comes down to getting the best source, the best pre-amps, control surface and PA. With a DJ set-up, it’s about live mastering and making sure the signal path and source are the best they possibly can be.”
Rabbit used a Solid State Logic Live 100 for the main mix, while the DJ setup is processed through a Solid State Logic Fusion to add some weight and tame the high frequency, allowing the d&b audiotechnik KSL PA system to sound vast at a lower level.
“Since the introduction of the SSL Live consoles I’ve loved their sound,” he added. “There’s a great-sounding pre-amp that reminds me of the Midas XL4 but within a digital control. In my mind, it’s the best-sounding live console out there.”
Dizzee’s vocals are processed with an Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor. “They’re so fast and transparent,” continued Rabbit. “I also add a very short reverb from a Bricasti M7 to soften and help sit the vocal. The vocals are also sent to a stem, which is used as a side chain into the master bus multi-band compressor. It dips the mid-range pocket for the vocals to sit in the master mix, with the final mix going to the SSL Bus +.
“The compressor keeps the vocals controlled and the dynamic EQ adds low-end punch which softens the high-mids, this gives an immense sound at 98 dB(A) and a wide stereo image with clear vocals. It’s about weight and hi-fidelity.”
The team were met with some acoustically challenging venues, and with that in mind, asked Eighth Day Sound to supply a d&b KSL rig. “From tailoring the PA system and making it work for our needs and our budget, Eighth Day provided a truly great service,” saidRabbit. “For the venues we were playing in, the KSL was bang on the money. The subs deliver great-sounding bass and work so well for Dizzee’s music. The KSL itself covers well and has great clarity – I think this set-up is the best result we’ve ever achieved in these venues!”
Rabbit credits Systems Engineer Eddie O’Brien with developing the perfect outcome. “Working closely on the system design with Eddie was key. d&b’s ArrayProcessing software is second to none and helps combat the room reflections, and Eddie provided a truly great service, from tailoring the system to making it work for our needs and budget.”
