DiGiCo SD5 Helps Jessie J Come Alive

The end of 2013 saw Jessie J playing the major arenas of the UK and Ireland on her 20-date Alive tour. Monitor engineer Andy ‘Baggy’ Robinson’s DiGiCo SD5 helped to ensure that the UK songstress put on a show to remember.

“I’ve mixed in my usual style of using a DiGiCo console; making it work for it’s money,” smiles Baggy, who has to account for a four-piece band and three backing vocalists as well as Jessie herself. “I doubled up on quite a lot of channels for Jessie, so I was using all but six of the faders.”

As well as monitoring, Baggy also had a comprehensive talkback system set up. This allowed him and the band members to all talk to each other during the show, without distracting the leading lady and he could also talk directly to Jessie when required.

As with all DiGiCo products, sound quality and flexibility are a given, but what Baggy appreciates most about the SD5 is its intuitive layout and compact size.

“The fact that I can sit down and still reach all the controls, including the macro buttons, is great,” he says. “I use those a lot and having them in blocks of ten is another thing that makes the SD5 really straightforward to use.”

The tour received very favourable media reviews, thanks in no small part to its high production values, Jessie’s talent and her determination to be a positive role model.

“Providing monitors for a show of such high calibre is extremely rewarding,” Baggy concludes. “I also used this console on Jessie’s summer festival tour. It was brand new out of the box. I like all DiGiCo consoles, but the SD5 works really well for me. They got this one absolutely right for monitors.”