Midas XL4 Going Strong On Gwen Stefani Tour

21 June 2007 — The North American leg of Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape” world tour is underway, relying upon the road-proven performance of Midas consoles to deliver the highest sound quality every night. Though one might expect a high-tech AV spectacle like this tour to have a digital console in tow, Stefani’s FOH Engineer Michelle Sabolchick and Monitor Engineer Jon Schimke are die-hard Midas XL4 fans who enjoy the hands-on responsiveness of an analog mix, along with the inimitable sound of Midas Preamps and EQs. Another industry standard Midas, the Heritage 3000, is handling sidecar duties at FOH. The PA is supplied and supervised by Sound Image.

L-R: Gary Sangunet (Systems Engineer), Jon Schimke (Monitor Engineer), Nathan Klaeser (PA Tech), Michelle Sabolchick (FOH Engineer), Matt Larson (Midas / Klark Teknik), Andrew Colley (PA Tech)

“I love the XL4; it’s got everything I need and I know exactly how it’s going to sound great every time I turn it on, show after show,” says Michelle Sabolchick. “When you adjust a fader or EQ knob you know exactly what you’re going to hear. It’s a reliable, great-sounding console that gives me a real feel for the mix—two-handed, old-school mixing. Of course I’m looking forward to working with the Midas XL8, as it brings the warm sound quality and hands-on aspect I love about the analog Midas boards to the digital realm… but I’ll always love the XL4—that’s why I’m travelling around the world with one this year, and I know it won’t let me down.”