OSLO, Norway – Sound engineer Christian Boman has been working on tours with an array of noted pop, indie pop and hip-hop artists such as Undergrunn, Marstein, Mustii, Aiba, Jon Ranes and Plaza. In recent years, he has turned to compact, powerful and flexible Allen & Heath dLive mixing solutions. Allen & Heath’s Norwegian distributor Benum caught up with Boman before one of Undergrunn’s two sell-out shows at the 9,000-capacity Oslo Spektrum last fall.
More details from Allen & Heath (www.allen-heath.com):
Despite his young age, Boman has already garnered several years of experience, touring with renowned artists such as Marstein, Musti, Aiba, Jon Ranes, Plaza, and Undergrunn. However, his start in the industry was much more humble. “I started at youth clubs and always tried to leave a good impression on the artists who came by. Since then, I’ve worked my way up in the industry,” he says.
In the past two years, Boman has primarily toured with Allen & Heath dLive, expressing his satisfaction with the choice. “I opted for dLive due to the flexibility of the ecosystem. I receive consistent processing capability regardless of the Surface size, which is very nice at festivals where I can barely fit a C1500,” he says. “Unlike other brands, I don’t have to sacrifice channels or busses such as sends etc, because all the processing is in the MixRack.”
Describing his festival summer experiences in 2023, Boman shares, “We [FOH and Monitor engineers] both have a C1500 Surface and share a CDM32 MixRack with a gigaACE card. Everything from tracks and clicks to cues is run over Dante in Ableton from two Mac Minis.”
Since its launch, the C1500 Surface has become a firm favourite in compact touring, particularly where size and weight need to be carefully balanced against audio requirements. The rack-mountable C1500 features 12 faders over 6 layers, built-in audio I/O, and audio networking port, a 12″ capacitive touchscreen and the innovative Harmony UI for a faster workflow.
During their subsequent Norwegian tour, the setup was upgraded. The monitor system featured a DM48 rack on stage, and Boman utilized a DM0 tielined over gigaACE. Additionally, he incorporated a Waves card for virtual soundcheck and implemented Waves SuperRack for additional processing.
These setups prove to be convenient for fly gigs and are quick and easy to set up, taking up minimal space in small clubs and festival stages. But when Undergrunn filled Spektrum for a two-day rap event, Boman turned to the dLive S7000, the largest surface in the dLive range with 36 faders and dual 12″ touchscreens.
Allen & Heath’s emphasis on a user-friendly interface in the dLive series is a feature that resonates with Boman. “dLive is very user-friendly and allows for a smooth workflow, with no mixer function more than two taps away.”
