With three performances over a four-day period, Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld Stadium was recently host to the Bethel Music SA Tour, Theuns Jordaan Tribute concert and the Boots and All Country Festival featuring Kip Moore. All of the shows were produced by The Hit Factory, with MGG serving as technical supplier and using one of its two new DiGiCo Quantum 338 consoles and a Quantum 225 digital mixing console.
The shows at catered for an audience of more than 30,000 per performance. ‘It’s such a privilege to do large format concerts like this again and to see a massive crowd of people just enjoying themselves gave us goosebumps,’ says MGG Project Manager, Günther Müller. ‘This, paired with the fantastic artists and supported by the A++ technical team in South Africa, was an experience like no other. Our heartfelt thanks to Murray Lubbe and Johan Ferriere from The Hit Factory for trusting them for this event.’
Prior to the festival, MGG took ownership of its tenth DiGiCo console, the Quantum 338, with 128 input channels, 64 buses and a 24 x 24 matrix from Kyle Robson at DWR Distribution. MGG already owns two S21s, two SD9s, an SD10, SD11, two SD12s and a Quantum 225.
‘Most of our consoles have Optocore functionality with our new SD Racks populated with 32-bit cards,’ Günther says. ‘It’s great to invest in consoles that are built for future updates and scalability. The DiGiCo console capabilities are constantly upgraded by software updates, which means we don’t have to invest in new hardware every few years. Our older consoles are still in mint condition, so the investment into the Quantum consoles was not a replacement but rather an addition to the family.’
With business on the rise and MGG passionate to keep its stock up to date with new technology when possible, the new Quantum ticked all the boxes…
‘The Quantum engine is highly favoured on international technical riders, and the console sets a new standard when it comes to audio mixing capabilities,’ Günther says. ‘The integration of Waves and the abundance of DMI card options makes it a super flexible console, suited for various applications in the industry ranging from corporate to music and festival shows.’
‘It’s always great working with MGG,’ adds Robson. ‘MGG is the biggest DiGiCo users in South Africa, which is really something, and the crew are clued up. The festival at Loftus was a massive set-up with many products working together and where the DiGiCo consoles fitted in really well.’
Bethel Music, an American music label and worship movement from Redding, California originating out of Bethel Church, presented their Johannesburg leg of the tour during March. The show included a Quantum 225 at FOH and a Quantum 338 for monitors, and was mixed by Bethel’s international audio engineers.
‘The team at Bethel Music specified DiGiCo, the platform they use at their church,’ says Günther. ‘They were the first to use our 338 and the monitor engineer was super chuffed to have the console as we initially promised them an SD12. The 338 arrived just in time for the show, so we were able to surprise them.’
Two days later, MGG was set up and ready for the Theuns Jordaan Tribute concert. The late Theuns Jordaan was a legend in the Afrikaans music industry, and the emotional show featured artists like Juanita du Plessis, who has regularly performed with Theuns over the past 15 years, Kurt Darren, Bok van Blerk, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Dozi and numerous others.
Petru Palmer used the Quantum 338 for the monitor mixes for the artists, while Gert Watson on an SD12 was responsible for the band monitor mixes. ‘I loved the Quantum 338,’ says Petru. ‘The screens are a huge improvement, especially in the daytime, with less glare and they’re way more responsive. I also loved the Mustard Processing on some of the channels with the different EQ and compression options. The most important upgrade, being a monitor engineer, is the Nodal Processing. Overall, a very nice upgrade.’
The DiGiCo Quantum 338, again with Petru Palmer controlling the monitor mixes, was used for the final show, the Boots and All Country Festival featuring Kip Moore, an American country music singer and songwriter visiting South Africa for the first time/ His supporting acts featured Bobby van Jaarsveld, Ruhan Du Toit, Ray Dylan, Brendan Peyper, Riaan Benadé and Juan Boucher.
‘Nodal Processing is a game changer allowing monitor engineers to customise and mix channels to cater for each performer’s individual preferences,’ says Günther. He adds that DiGiCo’s Optocore protocol, which allows many channels of audio to be simultaneously routed into and out of the console, ensured a stable workflow. Feeds were also sent to multitrack recording devices and to an OB van. The system was integrated extremely well under the clever deployment of Gert Watson, who was in charge of all control gear, audio networking and recording.
‘We are grateful to have such a great partnership with DWR Distribution, who not only distribute world-class equipment, and probably offer the best after sales service in the market, but to top it off, have of some super cool humans we call friends,’ concludes Günther. ‘Thank you to Kyle Robson for taking time out of his holiday to personally deliver the 338. He also popped in during set up to check if were all good. We just have peace of mind knowing he is a phone call away should we require assistance. We also value the support and friendship of Ian Staddon and the team at DiGiCo, it’s such a privilege to stock and use your excellent product. Thanks also to every single crew member and supplier who made it possible. Each person involved did their best, no matter the scale of their responsibility. An event like this is not possible without the camaraderie of this team.’
