Antony King

Front of house engineer Antony King has worked with acts like Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Cure, and Zayn. He has also been nominated for the Pro Sound Awards Live/Touring Sound Engineer of the Year in 2013 and for the NAMM/TEC Awards Outstanding Creative Achievement Award in Tour/Event Sound Production for the 2014 Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden tour.

For Antony King, mixing success was found in the MADIface XT and HDSPe MADI FX audio interfaces from RME, distributed by Synthax.

Splitting his time between LA and London, England, King has been using RME products for over nine years. During this time, he reports the gear has consistently delivered exceptional audio performance, a rich feature set, and the reliability touring acts absolutely must have. He discussed his use of the MADIface XT and HDSPe MADI FX interfaces and shared his experiences using the gear.

For his recording work, King uses a custom built, rackmount Audionetworx PC equipped with Samsung solid state TB drives running Magix Sequoia DAW software and select other applications.

“I’m using the HDSPe MADI FX to record three MADI streams straight off the console,” King says. “It works with any software without any channel count limitations. Using Sequoia and the HDSPe card, I can record up to 196 channels without the system ever crashing. The setup runs solid for hours.”

“I’m also using the MADIface XT as a portable recording rig,” King added. “I love the versatility of being able to record MADI and analog. On a recent tour, the artist wanted some extra backing vocals for a vocal to track performance. I was able to record them straight into the XT in the back of the bus on the way to the gig and then multitrack the entire show via MADI—all using the same interface that fits in my rucksack.”

“The MADIface XT is extremely versatile—without compromising quality,” King notes. “The converters are extremely high quality. I can use the MADIface XT as an interface to my reference speakers and I can also use it to multi-track through the MADI or record any instrument straight into the front XLRs, if needed.”

King also shared the following thoughts, “I used the HDSPe MADI FX card when I recorded the Depeche Mode Delta Machine 2013-2014 Tour DVD. We had 80 channels from the stage and another 20 audience mics all running through the HDSPe. The system handled it effortlessly.”

In any production environment, questions inevitably arise. With the high level of responsibility King has to ensure the performances of his clients, when he has questions, he needs answers in timely fashion. In this regard, he says Synthax support services are terrific. “Synthax’ Kim Knoedler and her team have been fantastic to work with and are extremely supportive. Having this level of support available is very reassuring.”

“In my work, I need equipment that delivers high quality and reliability. My RME products provide that. The sonic quality of these products is fantastic. I’ve recorded over 1000 concerts with these RME interfaces and I’ve never lost a show.”