FOH engineer highlights the differences between studio and stage engineering
“A live tour is a totally different beast when compared to a studio environment", comments Cristiano Avigni from behind the front of house console at a prestigious concert hall in the northern United States. He's just finished setting up the technical rig for Il Volo, the Latin GRAMMY-nominated vocal trio sensation. 
Cristiano’s résumé also includes Enya, Pink and the acclaimed US pop/rock band Sparks’ premiere of The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, and he uses Focusrite ISA430 MkIIs as his vocal channel strips, no matter the artist. He explains why: "Today there is no unit aside from the ISA430 MkII that gives you great sound in one package and that meets the requirements of a live tour. And, in addition to the mic pre, compressor and EQ functions, the ISA also gives you a great de-esser which can be essential at times."
But it’s not just in the FOH rack that the ISA430 MkIIs need to perform. "You are confronted with logistics that limit your freedom as an engineer, like travel for instance, which requires you to condense your equipment to a minimum and to consider how robust your gear must be to withstand tour conditions.” Cristiano can personally vouch for the robustness of the ISA circuitry, having seen his ISA430 MkII rack fall off a truck before a show and live to tell the tale. "I switched it back on and it still winked at me!"
On stage, he finds the ISA430 MkII irreplaceable “The last thing you want is for your vocal preamp to give up in the middle of your vocalist’s chorus. So for vocals you need one unit that can include a preamp, filters, EQ and compressor, where the functions must be easily accessible and it has to be reliable."
The ISA430 MkII comprises four main elements: mic pre, EQ, Dynamics and A-D converter, each of which can be accessed individually and used as a separate processor. The ISA430 MkII offers you the pinnacle Focusrite's classic Forte-derived analogue processor design and performance. There’s simply nothing quite like it.
