Maryland Sound Takes Studer Vista 5 SR Console on Tour with Josh Groban Harman's Studer Vista 5 SR digital production console is the front-of-house console of choice for Josh Groban's 2011 Straight to You world tour and front-of-house engineer, Mickey Beck. The console, part of the sound reinforcement package provided by Maryland Sound International (MSI), "was the only one that could provide the sophisticated capabilities that this tour demanded, including the ability to operate in a 96kHz-redundant configuration to match the 96kHz recording of the tour, a high-resolution project that marks a first for concert sound recordings," Beck says. "We love the way the Vista 5 SR sounds," says Bob Goldstein, founder and owner of Maryland Sound International, adding that when MSI compared several consoles for the tour, the Studer product immediately emerged as the clear winner. "What the Vista 5SR brings to live sound is a console that's not flat-sounding but at the same time doesn't color the sound. That's exactly what you need for an artist like Josh, who has arguably the best male voice in pop music today. It's a true sound--you put an ear to a drum kit and listen, then listen to the drums through the Vista 5 SR and they sound exactly the same. Listen to Josh sing as you stand next to him and then listen to him through the Vista 5 SR and you hear his voice exactly as you heard it live. It's fantastic." Goldstein also points out that the Vista 5 SR was the only console that could handle the huge input requirements of this tour, which includes lots of percussion along with full string and horn sections. "They are using between 130 and 140 input channels on the board, which is a lot of inputs and a lot of routing," Goldstein says. "And they wanted to operate at 96 kHz redundant and to have the reliability of all that DSP behind them. Even at 48 kHz, the Vista 5 SR sounds incredible; taking it up to 96 kHz is even more amazing. They wanted all of that capability and the best way to get it was with the Studer Vista 5 SR." 
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