BUENA PARK, Calif.—NEXO's new stage monitors have been paired up with one of the UK's legendary singer-songwriters, founder member of The Kinks. The 45 N-12 line monitors were used for a series of high-profile gigs in the UK and for Davies's US tour.
Chris Wibberley, monitor engineer for Davies for 11 years, had a chance encounter with NEXO's new N-12 wedges at last year's PLASA exhibition which led to a demo, and almost immediately, use of the monitors at the Meltdown (UK) shows at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
“We set up a pair of N-12s to the left and right of Ray,” explains Wibberley. "Of the pair to his left, the outside one is on its own mix, giving a discrete mix to guitarist Bill Shandley, with the remaining three delivering Ray's mix. When Bill isn't at the front, I can just mute the mic inputs that go into his mix and use all four wedges to give complete coverage to Ray. The N-12s are so phase coherent that I can flick between the two modes. Because of the way the units' couple, the N-12s act as a single source. If Ray, by himself, wants more of anything, I can put it into Bill's wedge. Or I can put it into acoustic mode, turning down Ray's bits and turning up the Bill bits – any of Ray's bits that Bill wants to hear will be completely in sync with Ray's wedges. They sound absolutely fantastic!”
Wibberley is using two NXAMPs to drive the 45 N-12s. “The problem with a lot of wedges is that they can sound too clean and hi-fi. But these have a bark to them. They're still rock ‘n' roll but they sound like a wedge doing what it is supposed to do. There are parts of the show where Ray goes off mic and off-axis with his guitar to watch the band. The definite dispersion of the N-12 allows him to step in and out of focus, so when he physically walks out of the zone, I don't have to turn it down.”
Front-of-house engineer, Tristan Mallett, guitarist Bill Shandley, and Davies himself, supports Wibberley's enthusiasm for the N-12s. “This is the best box that I've used on stage, and Ray may agree with that. He certainly got used to them pretty quickly, and he seems very happy – which is unusual!”
For more information on the NEXO 45 N-12 line monitor, visit www.yamahaca.com.
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PHOTO ID: L to R Tristan Mallett and Chris Wibberley
PHOTO CREDIT: CM Photos
About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.:
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. (YCAS) provides a full line of integrated professional audio products offering complete systems solutions for the broadcast, sound reinforcement/installed sound, touring, commercial recording, and post production markets. With the addition of NEXO to the product line, the company remains the official U.S. and Canadian distributor for all NEXO speaker models. YCAS offers comprehensive in-house and field product training for its customers, a dedicated dealer network, and 24/7 technical support.