NASHVILLE, Tennessee - November 2020 - Australian-born, Nashville-based sibling duo for KING & COUNTRY are currently out on the road with A Drummer Boy Drive-In: The Christmas Tour in support of their first holiday album, A Drummer Boy Christmas. Performing 20 concerts between November 12 and December 20, Joel and Luke Smallbone's show is backed by six additional multi-instrumentalists on stage and the sound reinforcement gear and expertise of Blackhawk Audio, which is deploying a pair of DiGiCo SD12 96 consoles for FOH and monitors each night.
The Christmas tour directly chases up the four-time Grammy Award-winning duo's successful Together Again: A Drive-In Tour, which ran from September 10 through October 30. Maintaining the same socially-distanced drive-in show format that has become the norm for 2020, the current largely outdoor tour is stopping at a variety of locations across the southern US, including arenas, fairgrounds, and drive-in movie theatres, as well as iconic sites like Pasadena's Rose Bowl, Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House, and Pensacola's Five Flags Speedway. And like the tour leg before it, for KING & COUNTRY's final trek for 2020 continues to carry the same DiGiCo consoles that FOH Engineer Ralph Rivera and Monitor Engineer Zach Escobar have been using all year.
Up until about four years ago, we were touring with another console brand, but then I finally got a taste of DiGiCo with an SD8 and I've never looked back, says Rivera, who has been with for KING & COUNTRY for eight years but has also worked with the Smallbone family for 23 years, previously running FOH for Joel and Luke's also-famous sister, Grammy Award-winning Rebecca St. James.
Blackhawk Audio has been our touring partner for five years now, and we've been on their DiGiCo SD12s for FOH and monitors for the past three of those, he continues. It would be hard for me to say any one specific thing that I appreciate about the SD12 because I appreciate everything about it, including how flexible it is to use and how great it sounds, even before any plug-ins are added. It's been a solid and reliable performer and keeps getting better, especially with the 96-input channel upgrade, which is helpful because we're typically running 84 physical inputs between the stage, tracks, RF, and program feeds.
Connected via fiber, both the FOH and monitor consoles are paired with SD-Racks, each loaded with seven 32-bit Ultimate Stadius Mic Preamp modules, five 32-bit DAC modules, and two AES output cards. A DiGiGrid MGB interface at the house console allows Rivera to connect to his laptop for live multitrack recording of all the shows for virtual soundchecks using the Waves Tracks Live platform. Similarly, the SD12 96 monitor console also is equipped with a DMI-WAVES SoundGrid expansion card for multitrack recording when desired.
Although there are eight musicians on stage, the input count is higher than might be expected because nearly every band member is a multi-instrumentalist. Everyone in the band pretty much plays every instrument, and four of them are also background vocalists, describes Escobar, who has been with the group since January of this year. Our guitar player will jump to the bass riser and play there for a few songs, then jump down to the synth station. Our drummer plays keytar for a song, and our bass player plays cello, mellophone, and marimba, so there's a lot of moving around on stage. There's also a trombone, a second drum kit, marching drums, and tube bells.
Because there are so many inputs and I need all the faders accessible quickly, I use the Aux to Faders panel religiously instead of the physical solo buttons. That allows me to keep my bread-and-butter layers on the desk at all times. I also reach for EQ and dynamics rotaries pretty regularly as well as aux pan rotaries. Then I keep my crowd mics in a CG with that fader assigned to one of the masters, so I can easily ride audience mics between songs and at special moments. I'm really pleased with the setup and everything's been working great.
Escobar is generating a dozen stereo monitor mixes-eight for the performers, plus four more for backline, playback tech, spare/guest mix, and himself-all of which are being heard on JH Audio JH13V2 PROs. Every mix for every member is different for every song, so the quicker I can get to a fader, the better, he adds. Because we're a one-truck tour where space is everything,' the SD12 puts a decent fader count into a small form factor that is good for me and great for our truck pack.
The DiGiCo consoles also get high praise for their pristine sonics. I hear multiple comments every night about how good the show sounded and how appreciative people are to be able to hear everything so clearly, especially the vocals, says Rivera. I love the SD12's onboard processing and use it on almost all of my channels and in conjunction with Waves plug-ins, which I use on vocals and drums to take the same sounds from the studio and vice versa.
Joel, Luke, and the whole band have also been pleased with the sound of the SD12, shares Escobar. They like that it doesn't color or tonally change what they're sending me. It's a true representation of what they're playing, which is really the ideal.
Both engineers go on to thank Production Manager Matt Brewer, Stage Manager Ezra Salmine, Blackhawk System Tech Cody Wayne Scott, and Tour Manager Chico, among the rest of the crew. These guys make the impossible happen-including building our own stage and PA towers every single day-and they allow Ralph and I to keep our minds on the mixes. This show couldn't happen without them, says Escobar.
Same goes for DiGiCo, Rivera adds. Ryan Shelton and Kyle McMahon at Group One Limited [DiGiCo's US distributor]
Most recent headlines
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
08/05/2025
A sinister fairy infiltrates a desperate family in Kenneth Dagatan's In My Mother's Skin, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo co...
08/05/2025
As expected, continued weak demand from key sales markets and declining economic...
08/05/2025
A new three-part series is coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One
(Image: The Christie Archive Trust)
The BBC has announced Agatha Christie's Endless Night, a...
08/05/2025
For skyward-bound operators, training focuses on the unique aspects of flying ISR missions, including the management of onboard surveillance equipment and the e...
08/05/2025
The cable industry has told the Federal Communications Commission it supports the National Association of Broadcasters' proposal to allow broadcasters to us...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Consumer Technology Association has continued its opposition to mandates requiring that NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 tuners be included in new TV sets, sa...
08/05/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real time visualization, has named Paul Maroni as Vice Pres...
08/05/2025
This year's UK Pavilion in hall 5, once again managed by Tradefair, will provide visitors with the unique opportunity to discuss and be involved in cutting ...
08/05/2025
Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its latest energy-efficient transmitters and 5G Broadcast technologies, designed to support network operators and content provider...
08/05/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group has tapped Bill Nardi as vice president of station operations, responsible for overseeing the day-to-day broadcast operations ...
08/05/2025
SEATTLE LumaTouch is partnering with CNN Academy to improve mobile storytelling techniques and support training across all of CNN Academy's training simulat...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Society of Broadcast Engineers has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission that support a proposal by the National Association ...
08/05/2025
Senior adviser to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake has announced that One America News Network (OAN) will provide newsfeed services for fre...
08/05/2025
EdMon Expands as AI-Driven Post Production Workflows Gains Traction in Sweden an...
08/05/2025
Using Luma Mattes in Adobe Premiere Pro
Graham Quince May 7, 2025
0 Comments
This very quick tutorial shows you how to take an RGB clip and apply its ...
08/05/2025
OpenDrives Unveils Free Your Data' Initiative with New Astraeus Cloud-Nativ...
08/05/2025
Student Spotlight: Grigori Balasanyan The Armenian composer, who was named Boston Conservatory at Berklees 2025 student commencement speaker, talks about his ...
08/05/2025
08 May 2025
VEON Shareholders Re-elect Board at 2025 AGM, Founder Augie Fabela ...
08/05/2025
Comedy and entertainment channel U&Dave bring back their #1 ranked programme of ...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Unveils New Premieres Spanning Film and Music
Slick Rick's Victory with Idris Elba a...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces Lineup for Inaugural Storytelling Summit
11-Day Industry Event Launches with Tal...
08/05/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Vizrt's Nicholas Jameson on AI in Workflows, Pushing Boundarie...
08/05/2025
Creating Alternative Brand Experiences: Live Sports in the Age of Fortnite, Meta...
08/05/2025
PGA TOUR's David Piccolo: Advanced Graphics and Virtual Production Tools are...
08/05/2025
Tech Focus: Advancing Immersion in Sports Broadcasting with AR and Virtual Produ...
08/05/2025
Expect even more chaos this July with Harriet Webb leading the returning cast, p...
08/05/2025
Back to All News
Now in Production: Comedy Action Film Husbands in Action'...
08/05/2025
TenneT relies on Arvato Systems for market communication
Energy industry: Impressive market communication know-how and system integration expertise
G tersloh...
08/05/2025
When Taiki Hamamoto, 22, came across a Hanafuda deck at his local game shop, he was intrigued. He had grown up playing the traditional Japanese card game with f...
08/05/2025
The Liveline is now open , said Joe Duffy earlier today, as he previewed this af...
08/05/2025
RT , in association with the BBC, Screen Ireland and Cineflix Rights has reveale...
08/05/2025
Artificial intelligence is helping identify and treat diseases faster with better results for humankind. Natural disasters like wildfires are next.
Fires in th...
08/05/2025
Calling all wiseguys - 2K's acclaimed Mafia franchise is available to stream...
08/05/2025
As AI use cases continue to expand - from document summarization to custom software agents - developers and enthusiasts are seeking faster, more flexible ways t...
07/05/2025
Discovering music should feel effortless and fun. That's why Spotify continu...
07/05/2025
SBS and NITV mark National Reconciliation Week with compelling premieres recogni...
07/05/2025
SBS commences search for a new Western Sydney production hub location
7 May, 2025
Media releases
SBS has today launched a Request for Expressions of Intere...
07/05/2025
Warsaw, Poland - April 28, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest March All Screens Video Landscap...
07/05/2025
LONDON Movie fans hoping to save money by waiting until their favorite new films appear on streaming services will have to wait a bit longer now, according to a...
07/05/2025
MECCA, Saudi Arabia Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA) has selected Grass Valley to provide a major technology upgrade of its broadcast facility here....
07/05/2025
Sony and Nevion provide guidance on IP network architecture options for live pro...
07/05/2025
Media Pioneer Publishing AG Expands Editorial Capacity
Brie Clayton May 7, 2025
0 Comments
Pioneer 2 boat production environment powered by Blackmagic...
07/05/2025
LONDON Movie fans hoping to save money by waiting until their favorite new films appear on streaming services will have to wait a bit longer now, according to a...
07/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau is seeking public comment on a Petition for Rulemaking from HC2 Broadcasting Holdings asking...
07/05/2025
WASHINGTON Following a decision by U.S. Department of Education to terminate its 2020-2025 Ready To Learn to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, CPB has in...
07/05/2025
NEW YORK Fox's ad-supported streaming Tubi made a series of product and partnership announcements during IAB NewFronts in New York, including the launch of ...
07/05/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. Google Fiber (GFiber) has announced a redesigned app that the company said will simplify how customers set up service, manage devices, and...
07/05/2025
WASHINGTON NASAs on-demand streaming service, NASA+, has launched a FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) channel on Prime Video....
NASHVILLE, Tennessee - November 2020 - Australian-born, Nashville-based sibling duo for KING & COUNTRY are currently out on the road with A Drummer Boy Drive-In: The Christmas Tour in support of their first holiday album, A Drummer Boy Christmas. Performing 20 concerts between November 12 and December 20, Joel and Luke Smallbone's show is backed by six additional multi-instrumentalists on stage and the sound reinforcement gear and expertise of Blackhawk Audio, which is deploying a pair of DiGiCo SD12 96 consoles for FOH and monitors each night.
