This year saw the 50th anniversary of Tubular Bells, the iconic masterpiece created by the acclaimed British musician Mike Oldfield that was originally released in May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. To celebrate, Oldfield's creation was once again brought to life through a captivating tour spanning over 30 venues across the UK this spring. Spearheaded by Robin Smith, Mike Oldfield's collaborator and the musical director of the show, a mesmerising live rendition of Tubular Bells was performed by a talented ensemble of musicians. Show Works, a UK production company with an expertise in delivering immersive installations, musicals, tours, live streams and outdoor events, worked with the show's organisers to deliver an audio setup featuring a DiGiCo S21 console used by FOH engineer, Sam Ferstenberg, and S31 utilised for on-stage monitoring by Sam Manigley.
Show Works' managing director, Oscar Thompson, has previously collaborated with the tour producers at Fiery Entertainment on several other projects, including Rob Brydon's tour and the BBC Big Band. We were approached about the Tubular Bells anniversary tour in September and got the green light in December last year. It was an exhilarating moment for us, he says.
To meet Fiery Entertainment team's needs for a portable system without compromising on sound quality, flexibility, and power, Thompson chose DiGiCo S-Series consoles. The S21 and S31 consoles stood out for their excellent performance and favourable price point.
The consoles offered flexibility and various DMI cards allowed for seamless sharing of stage inputs between the FOH and monitor consoles, Thompson elaborates. Their compact design made them easy to transport between and in venues, and aligned perfectly with the production requirements. We didn't have any hesitation in recommending these consoles and, in fact, we ended up purchasing the S31 from Adlib for the tour as well.
The tour primarily played large theatres and music halls, including Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, G Live in Guildford, New Theatre in Oxford, Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, and Arena in Swansea, with seating capacities of up to 2,000 people. With 32 performances squeezed into a tight 57-day schedule, a large band, live vocalists and backing tracks, some weeks were particularly challenging, Thompson exclaims.
With DiGiCo consoles already in their inventory, Thompson highlights the value of the manufacturer's software and firmware upgrades, which have proven highly advantageous for the team. Upon acquiring the S31, they promptly updated both the S21 and S31 with the latest firmware, unlocking enhanced versions known as the S21 and S31 . These provided a significant boost in processing power and channel count, which proved invaluable for the Tubular Bells production.
Monitor engineer Sam Manigley, a long-time user of DiGiCo consoles, praised the S31's custom layout option, which allowed for quick and easy customisation. With 64 channels between him and FOH engineer Sam Ferstenberg, Manigley could manage multiple mixes, including IEMs and various groups. He found the console user-friendly and appreciated the intuitive and efficient setup created by Oscar.
I could easily add elements like a dedicated percussion section, making navigation a breeze. It's similar to using an iPad, with its smooth drag-and-drop functionality. The speed and efficiency it offers are fantastic, he notes. Along with 64 channels and five sets of IEMs, we also had personal mixers connected via the DMI card. I also provided stereo IEMs for the two percussionists and the bass player, who also served as a vocalist, along with my own PFL mix.
Manigley used Groups for percussion, cello, bass, guitars, piano. We also had stems from the QLab rig for click tracks. So, there was a lot going on, he explains.
A fan of live mixing, Manigley prefers a hands-on approach, finding that extensive changes in effects like reverb times are often unnecessary in rock and roll bands. Mixing on the fly, he relies on his intuition, using a set list and notes to keep everything in order, focussing on maintaining a natural flow and referring to his notes for consistency.
The main challenge for FOH engineer Ferstenberg was finding a setup that was suitable for touring, but worked within the time constraints. The S-Series provided us with a lightweight, plug and play' setup. The use of MADI, Dante and ME protocols was crucial as we ran physical inputs via a MADI-Rack and used a Little Red Box to split the signal to FOH and monitors, he explains.
A redundant Dante system was used for QLab playback and to send signal to the DQ20 amplifiers which had native Dante ports built in. The band's personal mixers were seamlessly integrated into the consoles. I also used the analogue ports on the S21 for local monitoring and talkback, as well as the built in UB-Madi port for multitrack recording and outboard effects processing. It was easy to route inputs and outputs to any of the protocols we were using across the system. I've never seen a console handle signal flow as efficiently as the DiGiCo S-Series! he says.
Ferstenberg was consistently impressed with the S-Series' functionality. The intuitiveness of the recall safe menu for each channel meant I had full control over what I wanted to change between scenes, he says and adds that this, combined with the auto-update feature, was extremely useful throughout rehearsals and into the run, meaning he could change scenes from track to track and know he had a consistent sounding starting point every time.
For busier sections, such as the iconic Master of Ceremonies', Ferstenberg already had the percussion and rhythm balanced exactly how he needed it, so he could focus on mixing the lead instruments.
Another useful feature w
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
This year saw the 50th anniversary of Tubular Bells, the iconic masterpiece created by the acclaimed British musician Mike Oldfield that was originally released in May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. To celebrate, Oldfield's creation was once again brought to life through a captivating tour spanning over 30 venues across the UK this spring. Spearheaded by Robin Smith, Mike Oldfield's collaborator and the musical director of the show, a mesmerising live rendition of Tubular Bells was performed by a talented ensemble of musicians. Show Works, a UK production company with an expertise in delivering immersive installations, musicals, tours, live streams and outdoor events, worked with the show's organisers to deliver an audio setup featuring a DiGiCo S21 console used by FOH engineer, Sam Ferstenberg, and S31 utilised for on-stage monitoring by Sam Manigley.
