Extending their appeal from their native Denmark, four-piece pop-soul band Lukas Graham have seen their single ‘7 Years’ ranked as one of 2016’s biggest global hits by Billboard magazine. A current world tour is proving equally successful, as is the compact DiGiCo S21 mixing console and Wisycom mic systems travelling with them.

The two S21s, one of which is owned by the band, the other by monitor engineer Rasmus Hansen, are being used at both FOH and monitors on all dates – for the arena section of the tour, where they don’t need to pack a console into a suitcase-sized flightcase, they are using an SD8-24 at FOH and an SD10 at monitors, provided by Victory Tour Productions.

‘The band really likes the sound to be consistent and – because all DiGiCo consoles, from the top of the range to the bottom, have the same sound quality – Rasmus got the idea to go with a set-up using the S21 when we are flying from one gig to another,’ says FOH engineer and production manager, Frank Grønbæk. ‘Both Rasmus and I have been working on DiGiCo consoles since the SD8 came onto the market in 2008 and given the specs for this tour – audio, technical and dimensions – we found that the S21 was the console that best met our needs: a minimum of 40 channels, 16 stereo buses, eight Matrix inputs and outputs, eight Groups, Dynamic EQ, maximum weight, including the flightcase, of 32kg and a maximum size that could meet the standards of a large suitcase.’

The console set-up is tailored for the four-piece band plus a three-piece horn section and Grønbæk and Hansen have made it possible to have what is a rather complicated communication set-up running between the musicians, monitors, FOH sound and FOH lighting. ‘We even have time code from our backing track running to the lighting desk at FOH,’ Grønbæk says. ‘We also have the ability to provide a recording truck with an analogue split or a Madi feed from our system.’

At FOH, size matters: ‘The smaller the better,’ Grønbæk says, ‘But not without the super nice features these consoles have. Ideally I would have liked to have the SD10-24 at FOH, but only because the rental consoles are usually a bit newer and it has the LCD for assignable buttons, which is so nice.

‘The interface on the DiGiCo SD7/8/10 are my preference. It’s so intuitive – and easy to work with – and these days workflow is what matters to me. Nearly all of the top end console brands have very good sounding consoles, so workflow becomes the parameter that makes the difference to me. Everything is possible on DiGiCo consoles – you can customise them precisely for the artist and show.

‘The SD10 was chosen for the monitor position for more or less the same reasons, the SD8 being too small to accommodate the inputs and output Hansen needed for the arena shows we did this summer with the equipment from Victory.’

The S21 flying set-up runs at 48kHz and has 32 inputs from stage, plus a lot of communication and ambient/audience mics. At monitors, there are eight digital stereo outputs for IEMs and an analogue out for a Buttkicker for the drummer.

The D2-Rack on stage is connected to the monitor console via Madi. The second Madi card in the monitor console is used to take inputs from a digital Madi router for a digital backtrack computer feed, communication from FOH, and for the analogue split from an Andiamo AD/DA converter.

‘At FOH there are also two Madi cards,’ Grønbæk says. ‘One is used to connect to the Madi router that takes the input from stage; the other is for a standalone Madi/DiGiGrid system for Waves plug-ins and for recording.

‘The arena set-up has around 40 inputs and a way more complex structure. This is all set up with Optocore and is running at 96kHz. Both ends have onboard Waves systems with servers and monitors and has a UAD set-up as well, and FOH has all kinds of outboard things going on: reverb, delays, channel strips, dynamics and so on.’

As well as the functionality and sound quality of the console, Grønbæk and the team are pleased with the support they receive: ‘The backup from Kim [Johansen at Soundware, DiGiCo’s Danish distributor] is always very good. Kim is contactable by phone and he’s very knowledgeable about the consoles, which is really good. It’s clear to me that he uses the consoles, too, and is not just a sales person. DiGiCo has been very helpful as well. All in all, we have been taken good care of.’

Miking the show

Wisycom radio mic systems were chosen for Graham’s vocals, as well as the bass and horn sections. ‘I have been a fan of Wisycom’s devices for a long time and the company’s wideband RF technology makes it very easy to travel all over the world,’ Hansen admits.

On every tour to date, Hansen and Grønbæk have Wisycom’s MRK960 Modular Wireless Microphone Receiver System, MTH400 Wireless Handheld Microphone, MTP40S Wideband Bodypack Transmitters and MPR50-IEM Wideband IEM Receivers. All the Wisycom products are connected digitally via AES input.

‘Wisycom provides better sound quality and better RF transmission than any other device I have used,’ Hansen continues. ‘Everything we bring is hooked up to the Wisycom editor software, which makes frequency coordination a breeze.’

Grønbæk agrees: ‘We wanted to have the best sounding equipment for IEM and for vocals,’ he says. ‘The new MPR50-IEM sounds amazing. We have also been using Wisycom’s MTH400 since it is able to be connected to DPA’s d:facto™ capsule, which is our go-to microphone head. Wisycom’s modular system is an investment in our future work, one we are happy to have made.’

In the US, Hansen and Grønbæk were locked into a certain radio frequency block: ‘Surprisingly, it was the exact block that we needed when we arrived in the UK,’ says Grønbæk. ‘The engineers at Wisycom were quick to help us unlock the area on the first day of the tour in England. Our interactions with all the Wisycom staff have been fantastic since the beginning of our relationship.’

Hansen is equally as happy with the service he has received from Wisycom, especially from Torben Aalykke, MD at Nordic Pro Audio ApS and Wisycom Nordic. ‘Torben has delivered the best service imaginable. He is always available to help us solve any problems that we have. Both myself and Frank look forward to using Wisycom for the rest of Lukas Graham’s tour.’