Photo courtesy of Shannon Swift
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Believers in Winston-Salem, N.C., had the opportunity to begin Easter weekend through an evening of worship at Chris Tomlin's “Hello Love” tour on Thursday, April 9. Vocalist Christy Nockels accompanied Tomlin; Israel Houghton and New Breed opened the show.
On the tour with Tomlin was Front-of-House (FOH) Engineer Jeff Sandstrom, System Technician David Hagar, Monitor Engineer Kyle McMahon. The three engineers, along with Tour Manager Greg Dolezal, took some time before the show to talk with Church Production Magazine (CPM) about the tour, the audio system used, and tips for being a successful audio tech.
Always a strength of a Tomlin tour, the evening is all about worship, and less about performance. As such, vocal clarity and reducing distractions is a priority. The Hello Love tour formed a strong relationship with Yamaha Commercial Audio, and as part of the planning for the tour, consulted Yamaha regarding what PA would best fit the tour, based on the types of venues to be visited. Nexo line arrays were chosen, with Geo D series cabinets making up the primary L-R arrays, Geo S series used for side fills, and Nexo PS10s for front-fills. Rounding out the low end were Nexo CD-18 and Nexo Geo D sub-woofers; amplifiers were all Yamaha.
And clarity, the tour achieved—vocals and the spoken word were crisp and clear, with no problem understanding either the spoken word or lyrics from anywhere in the stadium. States Sandstrom, “The intelligibility of the Nexo system is very clear; I don't have any problem getting Chris' voice to be right out front.”
Kick drum and bass guitar were tight and well-defined, with none of the muddiness that one often encounters in arena settings. As in other concerts utilizing Nexo loudspeakers that this writer has reported on for Church Production Magazine, the sound was more like listening to the band, instead of listening to the band through a PA system.
For console choice, Sandstrom comments on the tour's selection: “The PM5D has become the standard for touring consoles within Yamaha's line.” The PM5D was used for both front-of-house (FOH) and monitors, using an analog split at the stage to direct each audio source to both consoles.
Microphone brand was also an easy decision, states Hagar. “Both artists endorse Shure; there isn't a single microphone on stage that isn't Shure.”
McMahon adds, “We're not using anything esoteric for mics—it's a basic rock band setup. SM57s and SM58s; PG52s; Beta 98/Ss; SM52s for the overheads on the drums; Israel Houghton and Christy—KSM9s for vocals. For the rest of band, SM58s, with the bass player singing on an SM57.”
Rounding out the audio equipment complement are Shure and Sennheiser personal monitors, and Countryman and Radial DI (direct-injection) boxes for converting unbalanced instrument audio signals to balanced signals. A Dolby Lake digital signal processor is used for loudspeaker signal processing and management.
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Jim Kumorek is the owner of Spreading Flames Media, providing video/media production and writing services to the A/V/L, technology, architectural and hospitality industries. He has led audio, video and lighting teams in churches as both staff and a volunteer for over 10 years. He can be contacted at james@spreadingflamesmedia.com.
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