With the release of OneRepublic's third studio album, Native, this past spring, the Colorado-based pop-rock band have taken to the road to bring its music to the people. The international tour began in February and is slated to run through September of 2014, with audio production resources being handled by VER Tour Sound.
Production manager and FOH engineer Zito chose an SD5, with an additional pair of DiGiCo SD-Racks and an SD-Mini Rack for FOH. Everything is run digitally at 96kHz from the inputs to the power amps and they're employing Optocore from the two stage racks to the MiniRack.
Id been hearing great things about DiGiCo's SD line and wanted to try it out, says Zito, who has also handled FOH duties for Backstreet Boys, Babyface, Billy Currington and Sum 41. I was especially attracted to the console being 96kHz and able to handle the Waves plug-ins internally. The SD5 gave me a great platform to mix on, that I was able to learn quickly. I want to give a special shout-out to Matt Larson and Ryan Shelton with Group One Ltd. for the great support, too.
The 6-piece pop-rock band, fronted by dynamic lead singer Ryan Tedder, is utilizing about 80 inputs to FOH for stage inputs and playback. In addition, OneRepublic has a B' section that requires an additional dozen inputs.
The B-section is a stripped-down aural respite in the middle of the high-energy show that highlights the musical talents of the band, explains Zito. Members rotate through various instruments: piano, cello, harmonium, Dobro, nylon guitar, acoustic guitars and an upright cocktail kit. Additional inputs are also used for an extensive talkback system, which allows easy communication during the show between all of our techs, engineers and even the Lighting Director all routed into the desk and sent out to the respective production staffers. Every member of the tech crew has an IEM mix with a discrete feed of the talkback system, which even includes 2-way radios and COM for the lighting tech. (Even the stage manager, set carps and video guys get mixes!) At FOH, I route these busses to a small shout' speaker so I can be alerted to any issues or audibles' the band may call.
Zito loves the number of VCAs and the general layout of the desk, as well as the Macros. I've set up two Macros that I've found to be extremely useful for this band. The first is for my lead vocal channel. I have it set up with two inputs, one with his main mic into the main' input on the channel and the other with his spare mic into the alt' input on the channel. Ive set up a macro to toggle, so if for some reason we need to go to the spare mic, its only a simple button press and that mic comes up in the same channel. My FOH routing is pretty simple and I just focus on getting good inputs from the stage, doing as little as possible to them, and mixing the show! The band is pretty straightforward and the mixing side of the console is very intuitive, so I was able to dial in mixes easily. I want to focus on mixing, not some clunky console interface with dozens of buried menus.
I also have a very mobile lead singer that likes to jump in the pit and finds himself directly in front of the front-fill speakers. I run my front fills off of an aux send for this purpose, and I have set up a macro to toggle his vocal on/off to the front fills so I can remove his mic when hes standing in front of them. This happens at every show and having instant access to that macro has saved the day more than once!
Overall, Zito has been able to get everything he needs for FOH production within the SD5. I initially started using some outboard gear, but I was losing clarity doing the two steps of A/D conversion for the I/O. I decided to keep everything in the console. Between the extensive dynamic control on the input strips and the Waves server, I have everything I need! I'm a huge fan of the SoundGrid platform and the versatility that gives me. On my drum inputs (kick inside, kick outside, snare top and snare bottom), Im inserting the API 2500 compressor. On vocals, Im using the Puig 660 and C6, and I have a couple other trouble channels' where I use the C6 as well. Im also running eight instances of the IR-Live plug-in. Ive loaded impulse responses from my favorite hardware units (Lexicon 480, TC M5000, Bricasti M7 and Yamaha SPX990) that Im using exclusively for all my reverbs and they sound STELLAR! In a live show, I can't tell the difference between the IR and the original unit. I have also automated the H-delay for delay on songs that require it. A REQ6 inserted prior to the H-Delay allows for some really cool filtered delays.
The heartbeat of the band is driven by the playback system. Everything slaves to this including all video playback. Due to the importance of the playback, they also have a redundant system in case of a problem, which has its own dedicated audio feed to FOH and monitors. Using a Radial SW8 Switcher provides seamless switching between the main and primary systems.
As far as recording, Zito multi-tracks each show for archival purposes as well as virtual soundcheck using MADI out of the console and into the MADI Pro Tools interface. The way the console handles the Pro Tools inputs for virtual soundcheck is awesome, he raves. Its so easy and quick to flip to . I love that.
The DiGiCo platform has completely exceeded my expectations. The console is so clean and transparent; it's unlike any other console I've mixed on. With the amazing d&b J-Rig, we've been able to achieve some great results and Brett Stec of VER has done a fantastic job with it on this tour. Almost nightly, we hear from promoters and concert patrons that this is one of the best-sounding shows they've ever heard. The results we've achieved I directly attribute to the superb sonic qualit
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
With the release of OneRepublic's third studio album, Native, this past spring, the Colorado-based pop-rock band have taken to the road to bring its music to the people. The international tour began in February and is slated to run through September of 2014, with audio production resources being handled by VER Tour Sound. 
