Eclipse completes sold-out tour with Archive

May 2011

British band, Archive, whose musical genres span everything from trip hop to progressive rock, have enjoyed massive success in continental Europe for the best part of nearly two decades. The band recently embarked on a completely sold-out mini European tour accompanied, for the most part, by a philharmonic orchestra. FoH engineer Spike Jones used an Innovason Eclipse in tandem with another console, as well as a full complement of Neumann digital microphones for the orchestra, all controlled via Eclipse. The tour included a date at the iconic art deco Parisien venue, Le Grand Rex – the first with the digital microphones; a special “electric” show in Karlsruhe which was just the band, and the final show at the concert hall at the university of Berlin with the orchestra and digital mics which was recorded live using Elipse’s integrated digital recorder, M.A.R.S.

“I’ve really enjoyed using the Eclipse over the last few weeks,” confirmed Jones. “Archive’s recent shows have included an orchestra as well as the band’s electric instruments, so I’ve been using the Eclipse in conjunction with the Profile to manage the two elements. Blending the two is invariably a challenge, but the clean sound and operating system of the Eclipse has made the job much easier. The uncluttered work surface and the fact that you can set it up however you want is really useful. I confess that I found it a little confusing at first, but I got used to it in no time, and then realized that in fact it makes total sense.”

Jones used the Profile for the band mix, and then sent the outputs onto two channels of the Eclipse which also handled all the mics from the orchestra, including the digital microphones on the wind and brass instruments. Effectively this arrangement enabled Jones to use Eclipse as the main console and included full control of the Neumann digital microphones. “I had 38 inputs from the orchestra, six FX stereo returns and eight VCAs,” he noted. “The Smart Faders made it really easy to see all the outputs and the reverbs are amazing.”
In Karlsruhe, Jones also used the Eclipse exclusively for an Archive electric show which included Neumann digital mics on drums and guitars. “It was a challenging club venue mixing with a very dynamic electronic band on a d&b system. I thought it would be an excellent road test for the desk.”
“What impressed me most was the overall sound quality and the input preamps. This board sounded and acted like the best analog boards,” continued Jones. “A great example of this was when I pushed the input gain up into the red, I did not have to worry about any digital click. The other thing I noticed was there was no need for unnecessary EQ of the band. The older engineers among you will understand this! What you hear is what you have.”
“For my money, Eclipse is an excellent product. I was using the original version, which I thought was already very good. I pointed out one or two minor issues, but I’m assured that they have already been addressed in the new GT version, which I can’t wait to see! As far as I’m concerned Eclipse has all the ingredients to become a leading contender in the live pro audio market.”