Prog rockers Aeon Zen rely on RSG products

For a young rock band, Aeon Zen is impressively in control of its live sound.  The soundcheck takes just 15 minutes. Even the video is synced up and ready to play program and live camera material.  All five musicians have their perfect monitor mixes, although there isn’t a single wedge on stage.  And the solitary engineer is out front, having a cup of tea!

Prog rock sensation Aeon Zen is the first band in the UK to embrace fully the system functionality and interconnectivity of the Roland Systems Group suite of sound and video control products, investing in a portable digital mixing and stage monitoring package put together for them by Wigwam Sales.  This compact system, contained in just two custom flightcases, includes a 6-way stage monitoring system using RSS M-48 individual mixers, and a RSS M-400 digital mixing console with Digital Snake for use at front-of-house.



Rich Hinks, Aeon Zen’s founder and songwriter, is a seasoned performer who has been playing music in public since he was 17.  Aside from sheer musicianship, it is the layers of instrumentation arranged by Hinks’ trademark complex musical patterns that distinguish his debut album, “A Mind’s Portrait”, which has been widely acclaimed in the rock music press. 

The band is now trying to ramp up its live touring schedule ahead of the release of a second album.  “The only way this music will work live is if we recreate the studio sound with the right gear,” explains Hinks.  “It’s too technical to sound good in a normal set-up so we take advantage of MIDI triggers and effects, the sliders and volumes offered by the RSS M-400 console.”

Technical advice from Wigwam led Rich Hinks down the MIDI trail.  “It sparked the crucial decision to use MIDI to guide the instruments, the control gear and the video.  All the patch changes, vocal effects and drums are automated, and MIDI is triggering everything from the scene data in the M-400 desk and the M-48 monitor mixers to the guitar pods which replaced our backline.”



Aeon Zen’s musicians rave about the ease of use of the RSS M-48 personal monitor mixers.  “We’re rehearsed with them and created the mixes we like best.  We know that, whatever happens on stage, that is not going to fail us,” confirms Hinks.  “We get the same consistency out front from the M-400 digital console, which is incredibly quick to set up, and the desk’s on-board functionality brings us many bonuses in terms of storing complex effects and tricks.”

Astonishingly, Aeon Zen’s inventory fits into a single mid-sized van, even though it is graced by a Roland TD-20K electronic drum kit, further reducing their reliance on what they might find in a given venue.  And MIDI control extends into the on-stage video presentation, which uses stored image sequences from an Edirol P-10 sampler and live feeds from a bullet camera.  Signals are mixed on an Edirol V-4 for projection to a large screen on-stage.

After his first outing with the complete RSG system, Rich Hinks was delighted to receive press and public compliments on the presentation quality, “not only because of the talent of my fellow musicians, but also because of the excellent Roland /Edirol infrastructure that allowed us to achieve such precision in our delivery.”

Further information:
www.aeonzen.com
www.rolandsg.co.uk



 

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