DiGiCo Consoles Deliver for Malaysian Vocalists

Renowned globally for its rainforests, wildlife, tropical climate, Formula 1 Grand Prix, the world’s tallest twin towers and their famous skybridge, it is lesser known in the Western world that Malaysia has a long tradition of male and female vocalists who become superstars across eastern Asia. Playing in their home country guarantees sold-out stadiums, with DiGiCo consoles bringing their ballads to thousands of fans.

Selangor-based Clef Productions Sdn Bhd is one of the leading companies in Malaysia’s live production industry. Clef’s owner Alvin Koh was a fan of DiGiCo’s original D5 consoles before he started working with the SD Series and has specified DiGiCo on shows by some of Malaysia’s biggest artists this year.

One of the company’s most recent projects is Anuar Zain’s Three Decades of, Music, Love and Passion, where the singer (famously also a steward for Malaysian Airlines) celebrated 30 years in the music industry and enjoyed the benefits of three DiGiCo SD10s as he sold out the 8000-capacity Stadium Melawati earlier in the year.

With one SD10 at Front of House, one on monitors and a third doing a separate multitrack recording mix for broadcast and future release, the consoles helped the balladeer’s wistful songs to send plenty of female hearts a-flutter.

Dubbed by some as ‘Asia’s Simon Cowell’, although a key difference between Eric Moo and Simon is that he is an established singer and songwriter. Moo had no trouble in selling out 8,000 seats at Kuala Lumpur’s Stadium Putra in September, where a pair of SD10s were used at the FoH and monitor positions.

One reason why Alvin likes DiGiCo consoles is their ability to handle a large input channel count in a single desk and this was what  made him choose to use an SD7 at FoH for four consecutive nights of performances by Siti Nurhaliza at Kuala Lumpur’s Istana Budaya (Palace of Culture). A regular winner of Asian vocal competitions and music awards in Malaysia, her career has included live shows in the UK and Australia. Complementing the SD7 was an SD10 on monitors.

“What I most like about DiGiCo is the sound quality and the flexibility of how you can customise the work surface. Yet, at the same time, you have the benefits of the DiGiTuBes and the ‘analogue’ style of the console’s layout and workflow,” says Alvin.

“It is also so easy to record shows, either using a DiGiCo UB MADI interface (for up to 48 channels) or with the new DiGiGrid MGB for up to 128 channels, direct to an Ethernet port on a PC or Mac running any DAW.”

The high profile of these artists in their home country meant that Alvin and his team were under a lot of pressure to deliver exceptional sound. As well as the DiGiCo consoles helping to do just that, he also had the peace of mind that high quality technical support was only a phone call away.

“I’ve been spoiled by DiGiCo’s support, both technical and production related,” he concludes. “James Gordon and Dan Page have been great, while distributor Team108 never fails to support me whenever I need it. I get to talk to real people who share the passion and understand the needs of a production. I feel they are always there, virtually next to me, whenever I use DiGiCo.”