From Atlantic Records To Pacific Sound & Light…The Drifters Get Up To Date With Roland Systems

In the two years since Pacific’s Paul Duffy took the decision to adopt this digital workhorse, the company has run more than 160 gigs with the Roland M-400: “in all sorts of environments, this desk has not let us down.  It’s easy to use, gives us everything we want, works every time, sounds great and has the smallest footprint practically on the market!”

Having sold in excess of 214 million singles and 114 million albums across the world, The Drifters are one of the most durable bands in history. With a career spanning from the 1950's through to the present day, the Drifters helped shape the popular sound of 50's and 60's rhythm and blues. More than 60 vocalists have performed as part of the group, including icons such as Clyde McPhatter, Ben E King, Rudy Lewis and Johnny Moore, and their staggering hit catalogue includes “Save the Last Dance for Me”, “Up on the Roof” and “Under the Boardwalk”.

Their UK tour, produced by the Prism Music Group, has already been extended well into 2011 from an initial 3 week run around the clubs and theatres.  Pacific Sound’s engineer Matt Trigg is running FOH for the band throughout.

“We are using every bit of the console, with 14 monitor mixes, stereo IEMs, backline and sidefills as well as the FOH mix,” explains Matt.  “All our engineers love the small frame size of the M-400 – really, one of the big advantages of digitalisation was that it could make things smaller!”

Also Pacific is regularly sub-hiring its M-400 out to clubs and shows in the Birmingham area.  “The engineers love it, and the techs especially love rolling out 100 metres of Cat5 multicore!”