Some of China’s top rock artists kicked off the Music Power Rock China 30 tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Chinese rock music, flying in renowned engineer, Jim Ebdon, to manage FOH sound. Allen & Heath’s dLive digital mixing systems were installed at FOH and monitors, with a ME personal monitor mixing system provided for artists.

The concert was staged on the same day and at the same venue as 30 years ago, when in 1986, Cui Jian, widely recognized as the father of Chinese rock, performed Nothing To My Name at Beijing Workers Gymnasium, marking the birth of Chinese Rock & Roll.

A total of 11 bands performed at the show with two drum kits, two sets of keyboards, Chinese drums, 10 guitar amps, 2 bass amps and various vocals.

Two dLive systems, each comprising a S7000 Control Surface and DM64 MixRack, were selected to manage the diverse audio requirements at FOH and monitors, and 6 ME-1 personal mixers were employed for band members to control their own mix on stage.

Jim Ebdon, who has worked with a host of top artists, including Maroon 5, Aerosmith, Sting, Annie Lennox, Matchbox Twenty and the Pet Shop Boys, was the FOH engineer for the show. He was impressed by the excellent performance of the dLive system.

“This console is great! It sounds great, I love the effects in here, I love the dynamics, and the compressors sounds fantastic. So for a show like this, there is no need for external effects or compressors,” Ebdon explains.

“I tend to do some parallel compressions of the drums, so I have to set up with the 16VU compressor on a separate drum bus and I can fade that in just to get some more weight and punch to the drums as when it is necessary.”

The show will continue to tour another 5 cities in the following months.

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