Over the years, EMI records’ Christian music artist Chris Tomlin has been building a loyal following of fans throughout North America. This month, Tomlin on piano, guitar and lead vocals — with his regular four-piece band of supporting musicians (along with opening acts Tenth Avenue North and Rend Collective) brings his own brand of rock and worship music to more sold-out arena shows to promote Love Ran Red, his tenth album. With multiple Grammy and Dove awards and nominations to his name, Tomlin has enjoyed mega success in the Contemporary Christian market and shows no signs of slowing down.
“We have been with them for three or four years,” says Kerry Darrenkamp, the president of Mid-America Sound, which is handling the tour and providing a huge L-Acoustics rig for this outing. “Some of the top Christian artists’ production rivals any top rock tour,” says Darrenkamp, adding “this is an absolutely top-level show in every aspect.”
But Mid-America’s involvement on the current Love Ran Red tour began well before the opening show. “We have an 80- by 60-foot grid in our building at 40 feet that holds 200,000 pounds, where we can do full arena rehearsals and preps right here. They did full arena rehearsals — with video, lighting and audio prep — before the tour went out,” Darrenkamp explains, speaking of his company’s full-on, start-to-finish services.
“This is probably one of the biggest Christian tours of the year; we’re in a lot of A-market, mid- to large-sized arenas — we had 12,000 the other night. It’s been very well-received and well-attended,” says FOH engineer, Jeff Sandstrom, who along with monitor engineer Kyle McMahon, have been working with Tomlin for years.
McMahon also has a long association with Mid-America Sound. “I started out doing sound in high school and with church choirs,” he recalls. “I began working with Mid-America Sound as an intern right after high school and got a university degree in technical theater. Yet, most of what I learned came from being in the real world at Mid-America Sound. I worked with them for eight years full-time and then started doing freelance stuff.”
Sandstrom hails from slightly different roots. “I was a trumpet player in college. I was a classical and jazz music guy and wanted to play in a symphony. During my sophomore year in college, I saw guys who were older than me and could play circles around me, but couldn’t get jobs in orchestras after they left school. It was kind of a wake-up call for me and I had to find another area in music where I could make a living. I did get my degree in musical performance. I think that helps me with the band, because I approach what I do as a musician first — rather than a technician.”
After college, Sandstrom worked in an Atlanta recording studio where he met the guys in Tomlin’s band and in 2007, he heard that Tomlin’s front of house guy was leaving. “They asked me if I wanted to go on the road, which I didn’t, but asked me to fill in for some summer festival dates. That was seven years ago and I’ve been with the band ever since. Loading trucks can be very addicting,” he laughs.
Console Conversion
Both engineers are fairly recent converts to the DiGiCo platform, with Sandstrom working on a SD10 and McMahon on a SD5 — all with a full package of Waves plug-ins.
“I had used DiGiCo on some other tours and had a chance to use them on large conferences with high input counts and lots of mixes, McMahon says. “Compared to some other consoles, the DiGiCo platform, with its flexibility seemed to be the way to go. Also, I can grab a file and go from an SD5 to a something smaller, easily convert it to an SD9 or a different console and I’m 85 percent there. In the past, I toured with a lot of Midas stuff, a lot of Avid stuff — and in the past two years a lot of DiGiCo, and really like it.”
“From my end of the snake at front of house, we’ve been touring with Avid consoles for the last six years or so, and the Profile was my comfort zone and kind of my security blanket,” says Sandstrom. “I was interested in the idea of trying a DiGiCo, but not jumping up and down for it because I’d been so comfortable with Avid. But with the DiGiCo’s connectivity between front of house and monitors — just running two fiber lines between the two consoles —the reduced truck space, the reduced footprint and less rack space we’re using make it all so streamlined.”
According to Sandstrom, the sonics of the DiGiCo platform had a huge impact. “This is the first tour where we’ve been able to do true 96 kHz straight from the SD racks to the amps. We’re only doing one A-D conversion in the signal flow and I really feel like it’s been a big step-up sonically for the audience. Also we both have Waves SoundGrid servers at our disposal, so we can still integrate our plug-ins into the mix and with the way Waves and DiGiCo work together, it’s been a piece of cake.”
The System
A great sounding console is one thing, but he other end of the equation is equally important and Sandstrom is a definite L-Acoustics fan. “We have L-Acoustics K1 mains and KARA for the downfills and sides. One thing I really like the K1’s is that when it does get louder, it’s never harsh or unpleasant or brittle sounding at all. It just gets bigger. Moving to the K1’s a couple years ago was a huge plus, where everything seems to open up when it gets louder. I never get any complaints about loud levels — it can get loud, but is never out of control.”
Speaking of control, Sandstrom keeps the house SPL’s in check, while providing plenty of impact. “If you take an average of the whole concert, it’s probably right around 100 dB A-weighted. However, the dynamic range of the music is pretty great, because of what it is. There are times when it’s just acoustic and vocal or just piano and vocal and those are pretty quiet. There are a couple songs that peak out around 102 or 103, but it’s not crazy loud, mostly due to the program material itself, which doesn’t dictate a face-melting approach.”
No Magic: Just Clean and Pure
The FOH position is uncluttered, and little more than the SD10 and some Dolby Lake system drives. “There was time when I had some Distressors I’d use at front of house on some vocal channels, but I’m relying mostly on the Waves plug-ins and what’s onboard the DiGiCo,” says Sandstrom. “I’m not doing any magic tricks — the stuff I have sounds fine. Even with the mic package. Chris is a Shure-endorsed artist and we carry a basic Shure package: I have 57’s on the guitar amps, 57’s on snare top/bottom, KSM-32’s for overheads, a Beta 91 and a Beta 52 for kick inside and outside — it’s simple, but it’s really about having a clean, tried and true signal path and it works really well.”
The same philosophy applies to vocal mics. “Chris is on a wireless with a Beta 58 head for his vocals, McMahon adds. “When I first came on board, he was using a KSM9, but he likes to feel the audience a lot and their response to his worship music. When he’d come off the mic, the KSM9 wasn’t as forgiving and would change depending on proximity effect or whether he was on it or off it. The Beta 58 stays truer, whether he’s on or off the mic.”
The bass amp is miked with a Beta 57, which routes solely to the monitor feed, while a signal from a Radial JDI passive direct box goes to the house. “Instead of taking the miked bass channel, I’m double patching the D.I. and processing that second channel with the Waves guitar plug-in to add a little grit and a little more of an amped sound,” says Sandstrom. “This way, I can get a little more growl on the bass for the up songs and I can ride that fader and add as I need it.”
The Wireless Approach
On the wireless side, McMahon handles all the RF coordination for the tour, with some 40 channels of wireless, for Tomlin the two support acts. “While I was out with an artist last year, we were using a Shure Axient AXT600 Spectrum Manager and Wireless Workbench 6 and it worked out great, so we got that,” McMahon recalls. “In the past, I’ve used things like WiNRADiO, Signal Hound and Professional Wireless IAS, but now all the wireless tools are in one package. I can coordinate and re-sync everything in less than ten minutes. We have all Shure wireless, with 12 channels of UR for Tomlin and PSM 900’s, which we’ve had since they came out [in 2010]. We’re still on the original version and the original packs, so eventually we’ll go to PSM 1000’s, but we’ll have to wait for these to break first.”
According to McMahon, the entire band has been using JH Audio earpieces for the past two years. “Tomlin, the bass player and I are all on JH-16’s and the rest of the band are on JH-11’s. The support at JH has been awesome and they are a lot of fun to mix on, with a smooth top-end and a little bit of low-end kick.”
The all-IEM band has other advantages as well, such as keeping the onstage levels under control. The only monitors are a couple L-Acoustics 8XT coaxials used when a choir comes out for one song.
“There’s no Butt Kickers and no drum subs,” says McMahon, “because when we went to the JH earpieces, the drummer said it sounded fine and we got rid of the dual-18 sub behind him. There are also no side fills, and the guitar amps are hidden beneath the stage, so the only stage volume is cymbal bleed and a little bit of bass. It’s nice and quiet.”
“This really makes mixing FOH easier, especially with getting the guitar amps off the stage,” adds Sandstrom. “Even when Tomlin is on the upstage edge, he’s still at least 10 feet from the cymbals and when he sings tight to the mike we can really get that isolated vocal. We do have a thrust on the stage that ends on a diamond-shaped ‘B’ stage, so when he’s out there in front of the P.A., there are times when I have to make a little EQ adjustment to prevent feedback, but generally he’s pretty good about staying right on the mic when he’s out on the thrust.”
The Team Approach
“I tech my own monitor rig and we have two guys out from Mid-America who hang the P.A,” McMahon explains. “One of them [Jed Faessler] helps pin the stage for the support acts and the other [Kyle Spurling] is the system tech and handles the P.A. tuning. Jeff and I are setting up consoles, running our snakes, pinning our stage, so we all tech our own worlds.”
“This has been a great tour,” he continues. “All the gear sounds great and has been extremely stable and all the guys who are out are easy to get along with. Having said that, something’s probably gonna blow up tonight [laughs]. But honestly, there has been very little drama and no hassles at all. All of us on the crew are aware of what Chris is trying to do and what he’s trying to communicate. We’re recreating a church-like experience — even in an arena — and we’re all onboard in doing that, not just from the technical side, but also from an emotional and spiritual standpoint as well. That definitely sets this apart from other tours we’ve been on.”
Chris Tomlin Love Ran Red Tour
Sound Company
Mid-America Sound
Crew
- FOH Engineer: Jeff Sandstrom
- Monitor Engineer: Kyle McMahon
- System Engineer/A1: Kyle Spurling
- P.A. Tech/A2: Jedidiah Faessler
- Tour Manager: Steven Samuels
P.A. System
- Mains:(28) L-Acoustics K1’s (14 per side)
- Subwoofers: (16) L-Acoustics SB28
- Outfills/Downfills: (54) L-Acoustics KARA
- Front Sills: (5) L-Acoustics 8XT coaxials
- Amplifiers: (10) L-Acoustics LA-RAK touring racks
FOH Gear
- Consoles: DiGiCo SD10 plus SD9 sidecar
- Plug-ins: Waves SoundGrid
- Recording: Waves Tracks Live (at FOH and monitors)
Monitor Gear
- Console: DiGiCo SD5
- Plug-ins: Waves SoundGrid
- RF Tools: Shure Axient AXT600 Spectrum Manager and Wireless Workbench 6
- Monitors: L-Acoustics 8XT (used as monitor for choir)
- Wireless Mics: Shure UR4d with Beta 58 heads
- IEM System: Shure PSM 900
- IEM Earpieces: JH Audio JH-16’s, JH-11’s
- Instrument Mics: Shure SM57 (guitar amps); Beta 57 (bass); SM57 (snare top/bottom), KSM-32 (overheads); Beta 98 (toms), Beta 91/Beta 52 (kick drum), KSM-141 (hi-hat).
- D.I. Boxes: Radial Engineering SW8’s, J48’s, JDI’s
