07/28/08

Grammy-winning singer’s arena tour uses D-Show Profile to tap into Pro Tools power

With 11 million in sales and a string of platinum albums in Europe, Australia, and his native Canada, singer Michael Bublé has been making a splash in America as well. His current album, Call Me Irresponsible, recently won a Grammy® for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, adding to his substantial collection of awards, including a Juno, ECHO, People’s Choice, and more.

His current tour in support of the album includes a series of arena dates across the U.S. and Australia, and then concludes with a week of sold-out shows in the UK. FOH engineer Craig Doubet is mixing Bublé and his 13-piece band on a Digidesign® VENUE D-Show Profile™ system.

Montreal-based Solotech, the company behind many of Cirque du Soleil’s acclaimed shows, provided the systems. The tour’s front-of-house (FOH) setup includes a VENUE D-Show Profile worksurface and FOH Rack, which is equipped with four Mix Engine cards for expanded processing power, an FWx FireWire card for Pro Tools LE® integration, an IOx card for AES digital connectivity, and an ECx Ethernet Expansion card, which allows engineers to remotely control all console functions over a standard wired or wireless Ethernet connection. To accommodate the large band, two Stage Racks — each outfitted with 48 analog inputs — provide up to 96 inputs, one of which employs DSO cards for digital output, and the other with SRO cards for analog output.

“I first used the VENUE in Montreux two years ago, and I was totally knocked out,” says Doubet. “I loved the sound, and it was great having access to such a wide range of TDM plug-ins. I spec’d it on the k.d. lang tour last summer, and then on this tour.”

Doubet, whose credits also include Luis Miguel, Sergio Mendes, and Monica Mancini, says that the D-Show Profile is ideally suited to his needs. “The Profile’s workflow really matches the way I work. I’m a longtime VCA guy, so for me the ability to arrange my mix right in front of me is just perfect. And I managed to give the lighting guy some extra space, so he owes me one!”

Opening for Bublé on the tour, a cappella group Naturally 7 wows the crowd each night with their ultra-tight arrangements and disarmingly realistic beatbox and instrumentation sounds. Doubet says the VENUE system is ideal for mixing both acts. “For Michael’s band, the ability to store and recall scenes, and the ability to have as many compressors and effects as we need — those are just great features,” he raves. “And Naturally 7 use a lot of Pro Tools effects — delays and reverb and compression — and the VENUE system makes it so easy to dial-in whatever we need."