Colin Norfield is an engineer with an extraordinary level of experience and expertise, and has had an extensive career in the industry, from being in bands to joining the technical side of the touring world.
Starting out in the early 70s, Norfield began his career as a bassist, but joined the new sound department of Orange Music to earn some extra cash. He had been using Orange Amps with his band and the owner of the company, Cliff Cooper, was a good friend. When booking agent Arthur Howes needed a PA for American bands who were touring US Air Force Bases in Germany, a plan was hatched to extend the range to PA-speakers. Norfield was offered the chance to take the new touring PA away for a few weeks. The first band he used it with was the Temptations, then the Four Tops, Wilson Pickett, Richie Haven, and the list went on, building Norfield an extensive CV and cementing his knowledge and experience as the tour extended.
It was his calm demeanour under pressure, and a chance encounter in 1993 at a charity festival in Sussex, that took his career to even greater heights. The show happened every year and the line-up features acts like Pink Floyd, Genesis, Queen and Eric Clapton. Norfield mixed them all because the only band to bring their own engineer was Pink Floyd. Andy Jackson, who was also mixing Pink Floyd’s Division Bell album, was impressed with Colin’s work, so when the band’s tour came around in 1994, Jackson suggested that Norfield join them. He has worked with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour ever since, a relationship that has spanned over 30 years. As the touring show developed, so did the channel count and by 2006 the team were running out of space on their analogue consoles, luckily, DiGiCo had just the solution, in the form of the recently released D5 Live.
“I was pretty much forced to use a digital desk. I wanted to stay analogue, but David[Gilmour] wanted more than the analogue board could provide, so we went with the D5 Live. The console had come straight off an Oasis tour, so we didn’t have long to get it prepared for ours,” he recalled. “I did some DiGiCo training with Dick Weber, another engineer, and we were surrounded by kids asking questions about features and the brains of it. I just wanted to know about the signal path, it was a completely different way of thinking about a console. Over the years we moved on from the D5 Live to the SD 5, SD 10 and SD 7. Then we moved up a gear and the last tour was on a Q852. I’m not adventurous, and people try to tell me to use other consoles, but DiGiCo does what I need, so why would I change?”
For Norfield, his choice of console is not about features, or technicality, it has always been about creative flow. It is imperative for him that the console can keep up with his mix and not get in his way. The DiGiCo Quantum 852 delivers consistent and reliable results, blending into the background. It creates a seamless interface between Norfield and his artists. Having upgraded to the Quantum 852 with David Gilmour in 2024, he is continuing to use it for his next run of dates with German mega-star, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Italian Blues artist Zucchero Fornaciari.
“I can sit and play with a mix for hours, figuring out what a piece of music needs to sound perfect in the venue, but I’m not interested in computer programming,” Norfield explained. “I need consistency and peace of mind. I just want my console to work. Some of my artists are not keen on lengthy rehearsals, they just want to turn up and play. Now they’ve got the idea that we don’t need rehearsals and everyone comes prepared, so I can’t introduce more variables. It just has to work and I stick with DiGiCo because I know it does just that.”
It is a recipe that has delivered results, and this summer he is going to be in packed out stadiums across Germany with Herbert Grönemeyer, playing to over 18,000 people in most venues and up to 70,000 in the larger stadiums. As he continues, it keeps him very busy.
“Herbert Grönemeyer is a massive star that no one has ever heard of,” he laughed. “Usually we play huge stadiums, but this summer we’re doing seven shows in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle,which is in the round and acoustic, so it will be a challenge, then on to Berlin. That’s my real pleasure. It doesn’t faze me; I just keep on going until it sounds great. These are my favourite kind of gigs! I’m not technically minded and that’s not what gets me excited. I just love to get the best out of a venue and work with it to make the music sound great.”
DiGiCo consoles are designed for engineers. From the placement of the faders, to the displays, everything is exactly where it needs to be and Norfield really appreciates this. He works with a tech team that do the majority of the console programming, so that he can get on with what he enjoys most, the creative art of mixing some of the world’s best musicians.
“I love mixing in the Albert Hall, the atmosphere is incredible, especially with someone like David Gilmour. We go in and do five or six nights and it’s spectacular. I have done some amazing gigs in Verona with Zucchero Fornaciari, the amphitheatre is beautiful. For one run we did 22 nights, all full. It’s open-air, and it’s beautiful,” he said. “If I was a religious person, I’d say I’ve been blessed. It could be described as talent, but I think it’s a thought process. I listen and I can see a way to make a gig sound good. In live sound, you have to be able to busk and work with the sounds of the real world, letting the hall do the work. If you mix like you’re in a studio, you’re just aggravating the natural acoustics. For me, it’s fun figuring this stuff out.”
Being able to stay in the moment during a live performance is also paramount to delivering great sound, as Norfield concluded: “As a live engineer, you don’t have the luxury of rolling it back and starting again, you have three or four minutes a song to get it right,” he said. “When it’s finished, it’s gone and you’re straight into the next one, especially with an artist like David Gilmour. While you’re thinking about what you just messed up, you’ll be messing up the next thing! If it doesn’t go right, or you make a mistake, then you remember, figure out why later and do better the next night. You have to keep your head in the right mindset and using a DiGiCo means I can always stay focused.”
