The De-Tour is taking American singer, songwriter and actress Sabrina Carpenter to more than 30 venues across the US and Canada. Relying on venue ‘racks and stacks’, it carries a 32-foot video wall and an audio package that includes an Allen & Heath dLive S5000 Surface and DM64 MixRack for FOH.
FOH engineer Jason Brandt created his dLive show file prior to rehearsals and made use of dLive’s Virtual Sound Check (VSC) feature and a recording made with Waves Tracks Live. ‘I continue to track every show because the tour has taken us to a variety of venues which are all very different sounding environments, and the VSC really helps with set-ups,’ he says.
The De-Tour includes two opening acts, both of which use the dLive for both FOH and monitors. To cater for them, Brandt set up separate show files giving full mixing flexibility without compromising his set-up for Sabrina. Brandt uses a combination of Waves and other external effects along with the dLive’s internal harmoniser, hall reverbs and delays. ‘She uses a lot of lush reverb with long tails in her big songs,’ he notes.
Brandt uses a dLive scene to set up these effects and balance the mix for each of Sabrina’s songs. He manages the tour’s 48 inputs, six recorded tracks, multiple effects returns and DCA masters with dLive layers, keeping critical controls on top at all times. ‘I’m using scenes to help me deal with the varied environments and different songs,’ he says. ‘And I have a show layer, where I can pick off little things I need to touch during the show.’
The tour’s dLive S5000 Surface includes a Waves card and an AES3 I/O card and the DM64 MixRack a Dante card to enable Brandt to quickly set up his various external effects. ‘There’s a lot going on, connection-wise,’ he says. ‘But it’s pretty easy to set it up – very little patching.
‘I’m hearing the console more on this tour and I’m very impressed with the quality. So, even in a lot of very different venues, the sound is great. I feel like we’re punching way above our weight.’
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