The Sing! Global 2021 Getty Music Worship Conference took place during September at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, hosted by Christian music power duo Keith and Kristyn Getty. The annual event again brought together worship leaders, music directors, composers and others in the worship-production sector for four days of workshops, panels and music.

For the fourth consecutive year, CTS AVL provided audio and lighting systems for the event, also taking on the conference’s broadcast and audio recording – a development that required a more comprehensive approach to its audio infrastructure. In response, CTS AVL adopted an DiGiCo/Optocore architecture, comprising three SD5 mixing consoles for front of house, monitors and broadcast, and an SD12 96 for production. Using three SD-Racks and DiGiGrid MGB interfaces between consoles and computers, the system handled upwards of 160 inputs for more than 50 mixes of bands, groups, choirs and orchestra.

‘In past years, we had used an analogue infrastructure to break out signal for front of house, monitor and production, but with the addition of broadcast this year and the ever-growing input list we needed to create an all-digital infrastructure that was reliable and easy to use,’ says CTS AVL Vice President, Mike Taylor. ‘DiGiCo, was an obvious choice because we were able to source all we needed to the growing system in town due to the readily available products in Nashville.’

The number of inputs was driven both by the size of the event, which draws participants from around the world, and by the fact that it focuses heavily on acoustical music and instruments, reflecting its Irish music heritage. Production, comprising speakers, pre-recorded audio, choir and orchestra, totalled 72 inputs alone.

Supervising the event, CTS AVL audio engineer Brooks Abbott reports that the DiGiCo SD environment allowed the show to step up a level: ‘Last time, we were still at around 120 inputs, but with a large band and choir and an orchestra the input count quickly went to 160 inputs, plus another 50 to 60 for monitors, so we knew we needed the kind of solution the SD consoles, along with the SD-Racks and Optocore network, offered. It was all about capacity and workflow.’

Beyond the consoles’ I/O capacities, Abbott took advantage of wider aspects of their functionality, such as the ability to mix between consoles. ‘We had an SD5 at front of house for the band and the SD12 96 for production, and also to mix down the orchestra to stems for FOH and the SD5 at monitors, so they wouldn’t have to handle all of those individual inputs,’ he explains. ‘Even though the consoles were pretty much maxed out, we were able to bounce audio elements down between desks without ever having to go to copper, which kept the audio quality high and the workflow very efficient.’

At monitors, Abbott says the large number of guest artists were able to be handled easily on the SD5, as the engineer created presets for each one during soundchecks, with dozens of performers’ mixes recalled as they joined the house band. He also notes that being able to do all of this on a single Optocore network made cabling for the sprawling event far easier, including connecting to the SD5 broadcast console, which had been set up in a locker room in the venue.

‘Being all on one network made it easy to transport all of the channels and mixes we were sending him,’ he says. Three DiGiGrid MGB interfaces – two out of broadcast where they multitracked 128 channels and one at FOH where it was used for virtual soundchecks – added to the overall system flexibility.

All but the monitor console also had Waves processing onboard. ‘The conference had a lot of music and speaking, and they were often moving between those one after the other,’ Abbott says. ‘The way the SD consoles were set up, and with their huge I/O capacity, we were able to move through all of those changes smoothly and easily.’

Taylor says the network of consoles they put together for the event was intuitive and flawless in operation: ‘It was a super-clean, super-simple set-up. I’m the guy who gets the phone call when there is a problem but, over the course of this week, I did not get that call.’