With collaboration at its heart, the Belgium Jazz Orchestra performs a mix of original music and unique arrangements. Performed in six venues in celebration of the orchestra’s achievements over the past 30 years, BJO30 called on Belgium-based concert and touring sound specialist MONO who chose a DiGiCo SD12-96 console and two D2-Racks, along with Klang in-ear monitoring.
Supporting the core orchestra of 17 and 13 visiting musicians over the almost three-hour concert required a spacious monitor mix – something MONO sound engineer Bart Lebegge decided could not be achieved with a standard stereo mix.
‘We chose to provide a mix with carefully considered elements so that we had more channels available to allow the space required by the musicians,’ he says, ‘By going for 40 channels in Klang, we were able to create an open and detailed, but also calm and spacious balance of this busy programme.’
Taking this approach meant that Lebegge was able to keep channel processing to a minimum, providing five different IEM mixes with 40 channels of audio in each, delivering the details and accents that the musicians needed to hear, but with a level of clarity that he thought would quickly be lost in a standard stereo mix.
Klang has long been the tool of choice for MONO, becoming even more powerful since the integration with DiGiCo. ‘We were early adopters of Klang; it’s always been a sturdy tool, but the integration with DiGiCo has made it even more indispensable,’ monitor engineer Stijn Declerq explains. ‘We decided to go for it when Lost Frequencies Live started touring and it turned out to be an instant hit. The details and peace that you can create in the ears of the artists is unparalleled. We later decided to use it for Bazart, a band that had very intense IEM mixes and by using Klang we were able to make their mixes more detailed and importantly quieter.
‘Since these successes, we have used Klang for a variety of different performances, so when BJO asked us to provide IEM mixes for their project it was a no brainer – we knew the best option was Klang.’
The inclusion of guest artists in the BJO30 line-up highlighted the difference in clarity between the dedicated Klang mix and the more traditional left-right mix. ‘The biggest challenge was to make a three-hour show sound calm, balanced, not tiring, and open,’ Lebegge says. ‘This would not have been possible with a standard monitor mix and was evident when switching to a stereo mix from a guest artist. It was less detailed because it was so much more difficult to make room for the 80+ inputs. As a result, the visitor IEM set-up was more of a mix of themselves and their accompanying musicians, supplemented with the rhythm and solo instruments, a kind of “light” version of the rest. The accents and details that Klang was able to deliver were much less present here.’
He also notes the convenience and simplicity of using Klang when compared to the time that perfecting a good stereo mix can take. ‘The openness and placement that you can achieve with a Klang sound mix was ideal for this jazz programme,’ he says.
‘Easy access to your Klang set-up directly from the console allows the monitor engineer to seamlessly adjust and refine mixes in a way that feels very natural,’ Declerq concludes. ‘To be able to make a mix in which you position everything perfectly, delivering unparalleled balanced sound to the ears is very satisfying.’
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