Nashville, TN (June 16, 2021)—Wrapping up this Friday in Brandon, MS, The Blessing USA Tour was one of the first productions out of the gate as the pandemic started winding down this spring. Having first hit the road in mid-April, the 24-date production featured six-time GMA Dove Award winner Kari Jobe and husband/partner Cody Carnes, carrying audio production gear from Nashville-based Spectrum Sound.
While COVID restrictions are now easing by the day, throughout the run, the tour implemented “socially distanced and/or reserved COVID-safe seating and capacities” in each venue. Tour members were regularly tested and all attendees were temperature checked as well, in addition to other standards and local requirements.
What’s It Like to Mix for 4,000 Fans in a Pandemic?
Production manager/engineer Brenton Miles operated a DiGiCo Quantum338 console, mixing the show’s front-of-house sound as well as the in-ear monitors for both the entire band and a 10-person VIP group before every show. Those weren’t typical meet-n-greets, however; VIPs were typically house of worship production staffs that used the opportunity to discuss gear, workflows and more with the band, artists and crew. “If a church’s keyboard player is in the VIP group, our keyboard player will come out and to talk to them about their setup, or if they’re a tracks person, we’ll go through our tracks rig with them,” Miles explained.
The production used nearly all of the 56 channels on the DiGiCo SD-Rack, and everything was directly split, double-patched in the console, to avoid latency in the monitors. “Everything also has its own section on the console surface, which is part of why I love this desk so much—the flexibility is incredible,” he explains. “I have all my control groups in the center, along with the 24×24 matrix that includes the VIP mix; all of my front-of-house input channels on the left, and all of my ears on the right including 10 channels of RF onstage. Everything has its place and I know where everything is, which is critical for speed when you’re wearing this many hats on a show. And that’s important, because it’s just me. I’m the only audio guy out there.”
Spectrum Sound, Inc. • www.spectrumsound.net
DiGiCo • www.DiGiCo.biz
