To understand why I'm bringing this Yamaha digital console, the M7CL, to these pages, you have to put yourselves in my shoes. Picture a sound engineer who likes to "work" a lot during the gig, who cares not only about how the band sounds live but about how good (or how special) each song can sound. Hard work that doesn't just start at soundcheck but goes on throughout the whole concert. Those who know me have already noticed that I'm always, absolutely always, "fiddling" with the desk: adjusting dynamics, EQ, effects… it never stops, even with small lineups.
Now imagine working with one of the "usual" digital consoles that rental companies tend to carry (and please forget about the Digico or Yamaha's PM5 or PM1—they are exceptions to which I would also devote a few lines if I had time). A rental company is always looking for the best balance of quality/price/weight/handling/... A balance that's hard to achieve, because unfortunately one of the premises we should consider basic often has to be set aside. For example, anyone who opts for the versatility of an analog console will have to think about "hauling" a whole entourage of additional gear such as gates, compressors, effects, equalizers, etc. Anyone who goes digital either spends a fortune or only gets access to a desk that isn't very versatile or fast, etc. That's why I consider it normal, up to a point, for engineers to explicitly request in technical riders that certain digital consoles not be installed, if not all of them.
But it's also true that rental companies have a great ally in digital consoles. Being able to have (not "having to insert") compression and a gate on every channel, enjoying brutally powerful parametric EQ not only on every channel but on every available output (including the L, R and center outputs, matrix, buses and auxes) and, no less important, being able to store all the data and settings made and recall them at will is, without a doubt, excellent news. So what's the problem?
Yamaha led the digital console market for a long time while always maintaining close contact with sound engineers, both in the studio and live (two very different markets). We're interested in the second one, live. And this is where Yamaha, though it started with the famous 02 and 03, rose to fame with the current PM1 and PM5. But both are still priced well out of reach for a great many rental companies, which had no choice but to stick with analog or use solutions not at all loved in the industry. What was missing was an affordable console with the versatility of the PM5, and so Yamaha went for a new design: the M7CL. On the manufacturer's website (www.yamahaproaudio.com) you can find a wealth of information about this console in Spanish, so I invite you to read it.
How great Yamaha is!
My story begins on the last day of June, as sound engineer for Roger Mas, a Catalan singer-songwriter. The concert takes place at the Senglar Rock festival, one of the most important in the country. Obviously, the technical rider was approved, but I didn't specify in it that I didn't want a digital desk. The "surprise" was finding myself with an hour of soundcheck (then, 15 minutes later, the show started—you know what a festival is like) behind a "new" (for me and for the market) Yamaha M7CL. In one hour I had to mix the band, do it well and, above all, get familiar with the desk. And honestly, I had no problems at all.
Yamaha's engineers have studied every single detail of their console precisely so that no sound engineer finds fault with using it, even the first time. That was my case.
Each of the faders you see in the images accompanying this article corresponds to an input channel (the desk I used was set up for 32; there's a 48-channel version). The faders are grouped in eights, and each group can be dumped onto the eight main faders found just below the main LCD screen. Each fader has associated CUE, ON and SEL buttons along with a group of LEDs showing the input signal level. Nothing more. The CUE button is important.
In addition to the eight extra faders in the center position, which we can configure as we like, there are four returns (which I always use as effects returns) and a series of additional buttons, also configurable, for example to "call up" aux sends, monitors, effects, etc. When we press, for example, the send-to-effect-1 button, all the channel faders "move" to the send position. The advantage is that we'll always, absolutely always, have all the channels at hand, since there's no need to use layers unless we want to.
But the important thing is the main color touchscreen LCD. It always shows us everything in a way that's clear and understandable to any sound engineer or technician. So by pressing the CUE button on any channel, we can see its compression (there are two per channel, and we can set one as a compressor and the other as a gate, for example), EQ (up to four-band parametric, with optional high-pass and low-pass filters) along with a graph of the applied curve, a list that displays the output level of each of the additional sends as if they were real knobs, master and channel meters, gain, phase, pan, etc. All of it laid out in a way that I, already reluctant about digital desks, found easy to understand.
In fact, what mattered wasn't only how easy it was to see the parameters (which it is), but also how quickly I could respond to change the values. It was clear I needed someone's help, but unfortunately there was nobody near me. If you're going to venture out, best to start by being consistent. So there I was listening to the kick's "boom-boom" while I wanted to apply its corresponding compressor. It was all as easy as touching the compression window with a finger: the screen is touch-sensitive. At that moment the screen changes and gives us all the data we need, so it was very obvious which physical knobs to use—the ones surrounding the screen.
Obviously, there were a few things I needed hands-on help with. For example, accessing the effects controls. For this, Yamaha provides a virtual rack where we can set the type of effect we want and, after choosing it, adjust the values. Since these are versions derived from the SPX series, anyone who has ever used a 900 or 990 will know what to do. Anyone who hasn't, I doubt will manage it based on precisely choosing the values to adjust either. As usual with Yamaha, each memory preset has a fun image associated with it that actually helps a little in choosing the right effect.
Another advantage of digital desks is the ability to "route" signals. Although I didn't need to, the desk lets you reorder the channel list according to the whims of the engineer on duty. If instead of having the lead vocal on channel 19 you want it on 22 (to make it easier to find the fader during the show), it can be done without wasting too much time. This lets sound companies easily meet the requests of technical riders when there's more than one band on the bill. Instead of having to keep patching and unpatching channels, you just use the desk's digital functions.
Live
If you go in with the idea of doing the gig and not playing around, you spend almost as much time on soundcheck as you would with a conventional analog setup. Even so, it's easy to fall into the trap of wanting to compress everything, even if just a little; but when it comes to EQ, for example, nobody should run into problems. You can work as if you were using conventional parametric controls or even "draw" the EQ curve by inserting points. The console includes a system that prevents digital clipping, so annoying because of its huge distortion. Even so, I found the Yamaha's preamps very convincing and capable of handling almost any kind of signal. The digital conversion, on the other hand, gives a perhaps somewhat cold sound, although I could only notice it when the whole band was playing. The level of precision is very good in every respect, for example with compression or gates (the latter perhaps very hard), but I always noticed a certain tendency toward a bright, analytical sound. It's probably due to the quality of the A/D converters, although I couldn't criticize them further, since they did their job well.
During the gig I almost never (which isn't the same as never, period) missed the advantages of working with an analog setup, since after a short while I had almost perfectly mastered how to access each of the things I wanted almost in real time. No doubt I could still handle it better.
Conclusion
A few weeks later I crossed paths again with the same sound company and therefore the same desk. This time with the added appeal that I could test the advantage of the memories. Another festival, but now with a morning soundcheck session and an evening concert. So I had to assume that the people in charge of the system had saved my soundcheck and recalled it perfectly. Clearly, they did.
I was pleased to find that no previous technician had "wrecked" (or modified, perhaps a better word) my soundcheck work. It was a pleasure to feel how what I'd been after during soundcheck came back into my hands after three bands.
The M7CL is a console that can still mature in some respects, such as improving its analytical sound, but it is without a doubt one of the best digital desks we can find today for barely 2 million pesetas. Besides its excellent value for money, I doubt anyone can get to know it without being surprised. It is not better than a comparably priced analog setup, but it is a good tool for sound companies, one that we sound engineers should give a real chance.
