Midas HD96 is “No Brainer” for Rick Bailey
POLAR supplies Midas Heritage D Console to RMPA…
After 45 years in the business as a freelance sound engineer and proprietor of RMPA, Rick Bailey’s audio CV is impressive. The first sound company to provide pre-match and interval live music at Wembley Stadium; suppliers of audio for the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury for 11 out of 13 years; 10 years of delivering sound for 30,000 people on two stages at the Upton Blues Festival (the UK’s largest free blues festival); 15 years of providing sound for world renowned Christian acts such as the Winans and London Community Gospel Choir; the list goes on. From a host of festivals to tours and corporate events, Rick’s diary remains full.
Having first had hands-on experience of Midas consoles as long ago as 1977 (Pro40 and Pro4), RPMA first invested in the marque when taking possession of a Midas Heritage Legend 3000, and can lay claim to being the first PA company to mix a live band on the Midas H3000. There began a relationship with Midas that lasts to this day, with Rick having just invested in the Midas Heritage D, HD-96-24 following its recent introduction to the UK market by POLAR.
He comments:
“Over the years at RMPA we’ve worked closely with Midas in a consultancy capacity, helping to develop the concept of the Verona series and working with them on a number of festivals to develop the concepts behind the XL8 Digital console - one of our engineers was employed by Midas to characterise the features prior to its launch. We still own an XL3 (formerly sited in U2’s rehearsal studio), the Legend 3000 and a Verona 52 channel board. Having also invested heavily in Midas M Series boards, it’s fair to say that we rate the products pretty highly to start with!”
Rick and RMPA’s close connection with Midas meant that they were invited to view early versions of the HD96, opening up a natural pathway towards upgrading, as Rick explains:
“Our relationship with the former Midas Sales team at Kidderminster made it easy to tap into the Midas supply network, and after a quick telecon with Nick Bellis from POLAR, an HD96 materialised within 48 hours! Our own first HD arrived a few weeks down the line…
“The past 18 months since the end of ‘lockdown’ has seen an exponential demand for systems and most of the technical riders have been specifying Midas Pro Series where we were somewhat deficient. Given that the Pro Series is approaching the end of its support life, it made perfect sense to move to the HD96, especially as the interfacing card options mean that it is still compatible with the M Series through AES50, DANTE or even MADI. Also, for those engineers/bands that are already happy with the USB recording options on the M Series, the USB expansion card offers that exact same capability. Finally, the purchase of our new DANTE-ready line array made the selection of the HD96 the proverbial ‘no brainer’!”
Rick’s own first outing with the new console will be in April at the Bike4Life Festival at Cosford Airfield, although it will have been “out in the wild” as he puts it, with other clients before then. After that, RMPA will be on a headline tour with rising stars Kira Mac, where Matt Culpepper (Future Primate Studios) will get his hands on the HD96 while Rick provides system tech support. He reflects on time well spent over the festive period:
“The Christmas period last year gave me and our engineers time to understand how we wished to formulate the implementation of our workflows on the new surface. I still find it difficult to adjust to a fully digital desk having spent 38 years mixing analogue! The HD has given me the opportunity and flexibility to transition smoothly. The ‘Virtual Soundcheck’ feature has allowed me to spend many hours mixing ‘virtual gigs’ from a selection of live shows recorded multitrack with the M Series, and find more natural ways to work and configure the surface. I have yet to find any of my engineers who dislike the surface, even though some may own competitor brands.”
As for the sound? Rick concludes succinctly:
“Well, it’s a Midas!”