Author: AMS Admin

American Music & Sound Web Administrator

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Modal Electronics

Modal Electronics Partners with American Music & Sound to Expand Distribution in US Market

Renowned innovator of next-generation synthesisers strengthens the distribution network in the United States.

Bristol, UK – 3rd January 2023. Modal Electronics, a leading global synthesiser manufacturer, today announced the appointment of American Music & Sound — an Exertis | JAM business, as their exclusive distribution partner for their ground-breaking synthesiser portfolio in the United States of America.

Since 2013, Modal Electronics has cemented itself at the leading edge of forward-thinking synthesiser technology. Fusing sophisticated analogue and digital circuitry with an innovative approach to synthesiser design, Modal Electronics’ current portfolio is regarded as the pinnacle for users seeking modern synth-centric tools engineered for the forward-thinking creative. Whether it’s the Wavetable-fuelled ARGON-Series or the Beyond Analogue COBALT-Series, users are empowered with unparalleled creative possibilities and the convenience of a 1:1 standalone app- and plugin-based control courtesy of MODALapp.

The growth and success of Modal Electronics demand a sales/distribution entity in the all-important US market with a thorough understanding of all aspects of the international music equipment marketplace. Modal Electronics identified exactly those qualifications and capabilities in American Music & Sound (AM&S). With extensive experience distributing some of the world’s top musical instrument and pro audio brands, AM&S aims to deliver top-flight service for Modal Electronics’ next-generation synthesiser portfolio via strategic routes to market and their wealth of proven first-hand expertise.

“Modal is a company we have admired for years,” notes Patrick Sullivan, President of American Music & Sound. “The design, functionality, and quality of their products make them an essential part of any keyboard for recording artists. They continue to innovate, most notably with MODALapp which connects the Modal synthesiser ecosystem and provides a modern platform to help their customers create. We are extremely excited to partner with them in the United States.”

Christian Stahl,  VP of Marketing of Modal Electronics, adds, “AM&S has been carefully chosen for their professionalism and ability to connect and support an extensive retail network for Modal Electronics’ product portfolio. We are excited to share our passion for synth technologies with the AM&S team and work with them as business partners for the US market.”

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Lake People

American Music & Sound to Distribute Lake People, Niimbus and Violectric

American Music & Sound has announced the addition of Lake People and Violectric to their range of distributed brands in the US market. Since 1986, Lake People has been developing first-class audio solutions for almost any professional use case—centered around its range of superb AD/DA converters and preamps for microphones, headphones and record players. Established by Lake People in 2009, the Violectric product line addresses the specific needs of the Hi-Fi home audio market. Focused on the top of the reference-class headphone amplifier market, Niimbus bears the ‘Ultimate Series’ label and wears it well. All three brands are proudly developed and manufactured in the picturesque Lake Constance region in southern Germany, with key components sourced from German companies. 

“American Music and Sound is proud to partner with Lake People to bring their high quality, German designed and manufactured products to the American pro audio and Hi-Fi markets,” notes American Music & Sound President Patrick Sullivan. “Their current product offering, including the Violectric and Niimbus ranges, truly leverages their over thirty-five years of development expertise and brings a wide range of solutions for the audio producer and enthusiast.” 

American Music and Sound is firmly established in a variety of verticals, providing US distribution for leading brands such as AeroWave (Ocean Way Audio), Allen & Heath, BASSBOSS, Focusrite, and Nord. With the latest addition of Lake People, Niimbus and Violectric, AM&S will continue to leverage industry-leading supply chain management, top-tier customer service, innovative sales management, and cogent marketing to achieve success across its world-class brand roster.

Lake People - AM&S
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Allen & Heath Focusrite Nord Uncategorized

American Music & Sound Makes Key Executive Changes 

Exertis | Jam, the leading Pro Audio, MI and CE distributor in the United States and Canada, today announced two key leadership appointments. Lynn Martin, the founder and long-time President of American Music & Sound will fill the new role of Director of Strategic Development for Exertis | Jam. Pat Sullivan has been tapped to fill the role of President of American Music & Sound. 

American Music & Sound, an Exertis | Jam business, has been led by Lynn Martin for almost 20 years. Given his stellar track record and keen eye for new products, companies and wider consumer trends, Martin will now fill a wider role as the Director of Strategic Development across Exertis | Jam. Replacing Martin as President, American Music & Sound is Patrick Sullivan, recent President of InMusic and past Vice President, Merchandizing at Guitar Center. 

Marty Szpiro, President, Exertis North America comments, “Lynn is an industry legend and a friend, he has done brilliant work developing and leading American Music and Sound (AM&S). Pat has had a stellar career and is highly respected across the Pro Audio and MI world. We welcome Pat and look forward to great things under his leadership.” 

Stuart Frenkel, President, Exertis | Jam states, “We are all delighted that Lynn will stay with the team and look forward to working with him in his new role. It’s great to have Pat on board bringing his exciting new view and ideas to our mission.” 

Despite sales exceeding $400 million annually, Exertis | Jam remains a customer-centric company at heart. Even as growth accelerated through acquisition and diversification, the company realized that each division – whether it be MI, CE, PA or lighting – had its own unique way of doing business. AM&S has demonstrated their high level of success from day one through superior supply chain management, excellent customer service for dealers and end users, superb sales management, world-class marketing and aggressive promotion. Today AM&S distributes and supports brands such as Allen & Heath, CAD, Focusrite, Fostex, Glorious, Hercules, Kurzweil, Nord, Novation, PLAYdifferently, Reloop, Studiologic and Xone. 

“What a great ride this has been with Jam and AM&S over the decades,” Martin notes. “I was there at the birth of the division, and have seen huge growth, all thanks to our great partnerships with fantastic brands. I am delighted to hand off the stewardship to Pat, we couldn’t have a better person in place for this transition. I look forward to playing an important role strategically in the future and will support Pat where I can.” 

Sullivan adds, “I am excited to join the growing Exertis | Jam team and build on the success that Lynn and the AM&S team have created. Their perspective on the opportunities within the industry match completely with my experience and vision for the future.”

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath Celebrates Multiple NAMM 2021 Believe in Music Week Wins

Cornwall, UK based audio mixer company presents nearly two dozen live sessions and continues winning streak

Allen & Heath stepped up and went big for the 2021 NAMM Believe in Music Week virtual trade event, hosting engaging interactive events, sponsoring key sessions and extending their award-winning streak. Taking place the week of January 18th, Believe in Music Week was a new online event and global gathering to unify and support people who bring music to the world. With the goal of providing a bit of something for everyone, Allen & Heath was highly visible throughout the week through their mix of product-focused demo sessions, ‘behind the scenes’ development stories, sponsored musical events and content premieres. 

Highlights within the calendar of twenty different live-streamed video events included sessions with veteran FOH and monitor engineer Michael Bangs (Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, Katy Perry, et al.) discussing how to successfully transition to broadcast mixing, a special Signal to Noise podcast episode with NAMM President & CEO Joe Lamond, ‘Dante in Worship’ case studies co-presented with Audinate, and Spanish language sessions showcasing the full Allen & Heath product range as well as a deep dive into its popular Avantis digital mixing console. Company representatives were also on hand during the show delivering tailored video chats and private product demos. 

“We were frankly blown away by the interest and the number of live viewers we saw throughout the week,” notes Allen & Heath USA marketing director Jeff Hawley. “Every session we hosted had many times the attendance we’d traditionally see for similar events held during in-person shows. Overall, we clocked well over ten thousand highly engaged live video views in our virtual booth alone — and many more beyond that when you count our sponsored events like Worship Musician Chapel TV with guest artist Lincoln Brewster. And of course this platform let us have fun with 1-on-1 video product demos to anyone who reached out for one, too. Totally cool.”

In addition to events for the general NAMM audience, Allen & Heath USA hosted their annual sales and marketing virtual awards ceremony which kicked off the 2021 theme, ‘REIMAGINE’. This year’s Rep of the Year distinction was bestowed upon Lawrenceville, Georgia-based HWPco. Outstanding Performance Awards went to firms which exceeded 2020 sales goals, including Brownestone, Excellence Marketing, Highway Marketing, HWPco, John B. Anthony Company (JBA), Mainline Marketing, Online Marketing, Richard Dean & Associates, and Samuel K. Macdonald (SKMac). Recipients of the Sales Bulldogs Award included Kevin Duthu (HWPco), Dennie Edwards (Highway Marketing), Joe Kokal (Excellence Marketing), Marco Marroquin (Mainline Marketing), Shawn McLoughlin (AudioBiz), Gilbert Perales (Brownestone), Zak Rickard (AudioGeer), Enrico Ruotolo (JBA), and Willy Seltzer (Image Marketing West). Enrico Ruotolo (JBA) was also honored with the 2020 Marketing Excellence Award. Sales Support Awards went to Sean Estrella (Richard Dean & Associates) and Julie Boatright (AudioBiz).

Allen & Heath was among the technical achievement winners at the 36th Annual NAMM TEC Awards, which celebrates the best in professional audio and sound production. The Avantis 96kHz 64 channel / 42 configurable bus console nabbed the top honors in Small Format Console Technology, netting a win for the third year in a row for Allen & Heath in the highly competitive category. Not to be left out, the company’s flagship dLive Digital Mixing System scored a big win in the SOS Awards as the ‘Best Live Sound Product’ of 2021, announced during Believe in Music Week and chosen by the readers of Sound on Sound magazine.

“We set out to look at the different format for NAMM Believe in Music Week as being an opportunity instead of a challenge,” adds Hawley. “This was a great chance for us to connect and share and support the industry we all love. We did our best to generate a lot of positive vibes and listen to our all-important sales partners, chat with the best fans on the planet, and get the Allen & Heath word out to more and more potential customers. Based on the numbers and the feedback I’m hearing, I think we can call Believe in Music Week a success!”

Allen & Heath was a proud sponsor of the Worship Musician Chapel TV livestream, featuring Lincoln Brewster.

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath’s Best of NAMM 2020

Leading manufacturer of mixing systems leaves Anaheim on continued winning streak; sets the stage for new product introductions

It was big, brash, and frequently overwhelming, and the only thing really missing amid the din of an incalculable number of floor demos was silence. When it was over all that you could feel was brain paralysis and your swollen feet, but there was one certainty: NAMM 2020 was a winning show to remember for Allen & Heath.


Visitors to the Allen & Heath booth may have noticed a number of awards on display. Topping the NAMM 2020 award roundup, the company’s SQ Series scored a repeat victory at the TEC Awards for the second year running in the Small Format Console Technology category. An achievement seldom seen in an age when today’s hot products rapidly become yesterday’s old news, this SQ Series win was aided in no small part by its V1.3 monitor-focused firmware update.

Beyond the TEC Awards, SQ’s winning ways continued at the show with the announcement of encore ProSoundWeb and Live Sound International Readers’ Choice Awards in the Console and Mixers category for the SQ-7 (Small Format Digital) and the SQ-5 (Digital Rack Mount Mixer), duplicating category wins for SQ initially picked up in 2019. Not to be left out of the repeat winning streak, MMR Magazine delivered a second coveted ‘Product of the Year’ award to the Allen & Heath booth to join its 2019 trophy.

Over at the AES Academy, crowds stormed the Allen & Heath training sessions. Allen & Heath USA live sound/touring manager Michael Bangs’ scheduled sessions were SRO, as was Billie Eilish FOH engineer Drew Thornton’s “Modern Front of House Mixing” session, which proved to be the most popular Live Sound Academy event of the show. Across the way in the arena, the second annual Loudspeaker Showcase at NAMM was managed from behind a dLive C1500, attracting a record crowd of its own as well as a most-ever number of 14 manufacturer participants.

Billie Eilish FOH Engineer Drew Thornton riffs during his standing room only “Modern Front of House Mixing” AES Live Sound Academy session.


NAMM was also the site of Allen & Heath’s annual Sales & Marketing Kickoff  Meeting, where Highway Marketing was named Rep of the Year, the Marketing Excellence Award went to Jaylon Shane of Pro Tech, a Sales Support Award went to both Rob Baker (Mainline Marketing) and Sheila Rose (Highway Marketing), and Bulldog Awards went to Brian Christ (AudioBiz), Shawn McLoughlin (AudioBiz), Wes Pitzer (Highway Marketing), Rich Nichols (John B. Anthony Co.), Kevin Duthu (HWPco), Jaylon Shane (Pro Tech), Zak Rickard (Audio Geer), Kyle Matthews (Audio Geer), and Gilbert Perales (Brownestone). Taking home Allen & Heath’s Outstanding Performance Award were Pro Tech, SK Macdonald, Online Marketing, Excellence Marketing, Highway Marketing, Richard Dean Associates, and HWPco. The gathering additionally featured presentations made by Allen & Heath USA senior staff members and guest presenter Chris Foreman, who analyzed macro trends within the US house of worship market.

On the new product front, Allen & Heath delivered a bolt from the blue by offering attendees an unannounced sneak peek at its new dLive CTi1500, the world’s first titanium mixer. Outfitted with 12 faders over six layers, built-in audio I/O, powerful audio networking, a 12-inch capacitive touchscreen, and a Harmony UI to quicken workflow, the new console weighs-in at well under 50 lbs. with its flight case, making it 14 lbs. lighter than a standard C1500, and perfect for fly dates.
“A heartfelt thanks needs to go out to all our fans and friends who provided their support throughout 2019 and during the show,” Allen & Heath USA Marketing Manager Jeff Hawley said shortly after the NAMM crowd had exited the building on the final day. “We wouldn’t have even made it here if it hadn’t been for our outstanding reps, dealers, and engineers out there who rely upon us for mixing everything from corporate gigs and weekend church services to sold-out world tours. We’re excited to hit 2020 and step it up another notch or two.”

The Allen & Heath booth was packed throughout the show with engineers putting an array of networked mixing consoles through their paces. 

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath Announces Plans for Expanded Winter NAMM 2020 Presence

Allen & Heath is diving into 2020 with a showing of its growing product line-up in booth #18219 that includes SQ, dLive, and the new Avantis. The company’s extensive array of I/O hardware will also be featured, including dedicated solutions for Dante integration.

A number of AES Academy live sound classes will be offered by the manufacturer at this year’s show as well, with veteran FOH and monitor engineer Michael Bangs (Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, Katy Perry, et al.) hosting hands-on Masterclass training offering insight into mixing techniques for festival, house of worship, broadcast, and other live applications. A special ‘Modern Front of House Mixing’ Masterclass will be presented by Parnelli Front of House Engineer of the Year Nominee Drew Thornton, FOH engineer for six-time Grammy Award nominated pop phenom Billie Eilish. Daily dLive certification courses round out Allen & Heath’s extensive AES Academy training offerings, with those enrolled earning CTS International Renewal Unit (RU) credits.

Allen & Heath dLive, SQ and Avantis

For those anxious to hear an Allen & Heath system in action, a compact dLive Wings rig comprised of a C1500 control surface and DM48 MixRack has been selected as the console of choice for the NAMM Loudspeaker System Showcase, mixing loudspeakers from 14 different companies in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena. Participating companies will be featured in multiple demos per day, during show days on Thursday, January 16 through Saturday, January 18.

Allen & Heath begins 2020 following a successful year of awards and new product introductions last year. Custom Control—a cross-platform control app for dLive mixing systems—added to the company’s laurels with a New Product Award at WFX in September, while Avantis took home its first award win October at AES with a Best of Show nod. Parnell Awards voting opened in November with dLive named as an Indispensable Audio Technology nominee. The SQ Series received news in December of its selection as Product of the Year for the second year running among MMR’s 27th annual Dealers’ Choice Awards. TEC Award nominations for 2020 were announced last month as well, with the SQ getting a repeat nod in the Small Format Console category, and dLive named as a competitor in the Large Format Console group. Not to be left out, the new DT168 Dante Expander also received a Music & Sound Awards nomination for Console Hardware of the Year before 2019 ended.

Looking back on all the company has accomplished in the last 12 months, Allen & Heath USA Marketing Manager Jeff Hawley is ready to call it a wrap and prepare to ring in 2020 with appropriate aplomb. “We’ve had a great time celebrating our 50th anniversary throughout 2019,” Hawley remarked recently. “It’s been a notable year for us on many fronts. Here’s to everyone in our industry for a sensational run going forward. We’re looking forward to seeing you all in Anaheim!”

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath QU Series Plays Multiple Roles at Highview Baptist

Four Allen & Heath Qu Series digital mixers perform a wide variety of jobs for Highview Baptist in the smaller and medium-sized spaces across its three-campus network in Louisville, Kentucky. Technical Director Rick Mead says these rooms host everything from band or drama rehearsals to large meetings and conferences. “So, part of my job is to equip each of these spaces, and the groups who use them, with the audio systems and other tools they need to be successful.”

Highview’s first Qu Series mixer was a Qu-24, purchased from Full Compass Systems to replace an older analogue console. Mead says, “Honestly, we were so blown away by what that little mixer could do that it changed our thought process for our smaller spaces.” Highview then added three Qu-16s and Mead continued, “One of the things I love about the Qu Series is that, for a small mixer, the features and hardware are great. The preamps are super clean and the digital processing for reverbs and effects is actually better than some larger mixers I’ve worked with from other brands.”

Highview also purchased three AB168 portable remote AudioRacks to use as stage boxes and a ME Personal Mixer system for in-ear monitors in their main sanctuary that travels to the smaller spaces as needed. “After I put in that first AB168, I decided I was done with analogue snakes,” said Mead. “And all my band members just love the ME-1s.” Mead often records events using the mixer’s multi-track Qu-Drive output linked to a PC running Waves Tracks Live. For training and setup, he plays back the recordings using the mixer’s virtual soundcheck (VSC) feature.

ALLEN & HEATH QU SERIES PLAYS MULTIPLE ROLES AT HIGHVIEW BAPTIST

Mead used his Qu-16s for a recent youth retreat. “We had two separate bands in two different spaces and, for the last session, we needed to combine them. I had spent a lot of time doing things like dialling in the drums and didn’t want to start that process over. So, I saved my show file on a flash drive. Then, I brought up another Qu-16 in a portable rack, recalled my settings from the flash drive and configured a few more inputs. What could have been a complicated setup became fluid and simple.”

Mead comments, “Allen & Heath is the only manufacturer I’ve found that keeps a similar workflow and structure from their smaller mixers, like the Qu, all the way up to their larger consoles, like SQ and the new Avantis. That greatly simplifies training and helps us standardize our systems. My ultimate goal is for us to be top to bottom Allen & Heath.”

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Allen & Heath

Coti Tours Spain with dLive Wings

Grammy award-winning Argentinian performer, Coti, recently completed a 20-date tour of Spain, culminating in a performance at the Gexto Sound Festival, with a compact dLive Wings system handling monitor duties.

Coti Sorokin is one of the best-known artists, songwriters and producers in the Spanish speaking world, with numerous Platinum discs to his name. For Coti’s latest Spanish tour, monitor engineer, Alejandro Blanco opted for his very own highly portable mixing system, comprising a dLive C1500 19” Surface fitted with a WavesV3 card for multitrack recording and a DM32 MixRack, fitted with a Dante card, a superMADI card, for digital splits and AES10 card, for running wedge monitors and side fills.

“dLive is the best sounding console on the market right now and in my opinion, there’s no other mixer that offers the capabilities of dLive, without the need of third-party plugins or servers – the power and quality of the DEEP plug-ins is impressive,” explains Blanco. “Apart from the quality, weight and size is very important and it now only takes 15 minutes or less to set everything up, which is perfect for festivals with quick changeovers.”

The show required in-ear mixes for Coti and his violinist, keyboard player and backing vocalist, plus four wedge monitors and side fills. As such, a portable DX168 expander provided additional I/O onstage. Blanco comments, “I run dLive Director and load my iPad with the MixPad app to facilitate soundchecks. As we don’t carry a full production, every show has a different monitor mix, so having the ability to roam the stage is fundamental – particularly when you work with an artist who doesn’t perform soundchecks. It’s essential that I’m able to hear what Coti hears, in order to create the perfect mix for him.”

Introduced in dLive’s V1.8 firmware update, Blanco utilises MCAs in conjunction with DCA spills, enabling full and simple control over his IEM’s. Blanco adds, “As a small ‘trick’ on my C1500, I have all my individual channels grouped into different DCA’s. This means that I can immediately access the member channels I need via DCA Spills and access each mix through the Softkeys. MCA’s are also perfect for mixing the artists IEM’s.”

Blanco also made extensive use of dLive’s Dyn8 processor for dynamic EQ and multiband compression, adding, “Dyn8 is a total live saver for vocals, it’s always clear and on point, no matter if the singer sings softly, shouts or cups the mic. The combination of Dyn8 and the Opto compressor, which I place on each of my outputs, is great and provides this sweet and balanced sound. The musicians have even said how happy they are with their mixes now.”

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Allen & Heath

dLive Supports Lewis Capaldi on Sold-Out Run

Continuing his run of sold-out arena shows, Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi takes on the world one show at a time, along with an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system covering FOH and Monitor duties.

Capaldi made history by becoming the first-ever artist to both announce and sell out an arena tour before the release of his album, which went on to become the UK’s best-selling record in the past five years and gained him global mainstream success throughout 2019.

“In early 2019 we were looking for an audio package that was powerful, flexible and compact enough for us to use on every show, be it a Lewis headline as part of a tour, or a run of overseas festivals where space, weight and set-up time were at a premium” explains FOH engineer, Andrew Bush.

DLIVE SUPPORTS LEWIS CAPALDI ON SOLD-OUT RUN

Supplied by Glasgow-based audio hire company, FE-Live, Capaldi’s full arena set-up includes two dLive S5000’s on both FOH and Monitors, paired with a DM64 MixRack (monitors) and DM0 MixRack (FOH). Additionally, Bush utilises two DX32 expanders for further I/O.

Prior to upscaling the surface, Bush originally opted for a smaller dLive Wings rig, which is now used for fly-in dates and comprises a multi-surface set-up with two C1500’s and a DM48 MixRack. “The combination of two C1500s and a shared DM48 easily satisfied the initial criteria and we have since moved our show files to two S5000s for our current US/EU/UK touring schedule,” explains Bush. “The transition between surfaces was easy: the dLive software is identical regardless of the stage box or surface, so moving from C1500 to S5000 was simply a case of reorganising the fader layouts.” Furthermore, Bush uses a Dante card (fitted to the surface) for virtual sound-check and recording each show.

Both Bush and Lawrie make full use of dLive’s built-in FX and onboard DEEP processing features, particularly when it comes to Lewis’ vocals – “Lewis has an incredible voice, but the first time you mix it, it’s terrifying! Lewis can go from head-voice to chest-voice in a matter of seconds and so I use the Dyn8’s multiband compression and dynamic EQ, which is a complete godsend and allows me to quickly even the mix out where needed. I also love the routing options with dLive and being able to double bus, it just means I can just refine my mix more and get a really even sound at the end,” comments Lawrie.

Bush adds, “I also use the Dyn8’s multiband compression a lot on vocals, bass and guitars. However, I also really like the Opto and 16VU – they’re just very transparent and being able to put them on multiple channels without any limitations is excellent.”

Despite almost finishing the US and European leg of the tour, 2020 will see Capaldi perform to over a quarter of a million people during his UK and European headline shows. Bush adds, “In terms of the shows, they’ve added so much since the start of the year and they’ve increased in scale and capacity as we’ve had to try and keep up with Lewis’s trajectory. It’s really shown us that dLive can definitely handle the demanding needs of this tour while providing class-leading tools and studio-quality sound.”

Watch the video interview with Bush and Lawrie here.

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Allen & Heath

Luck of the Irish Thrives with Allen & Heath

MILWAUKEE, WI — It may be widely known for its Germanic roots and mass celebration of beer, bowling, and bratwurst, but this town is also the site of Irish Fest—the world’s largest celebration of Irish music and culture—which this year utilised dLive and SQ Series consoles from Allen & Heath.

Held downtown at Henry Maier Festival Park along the shore of Lake Michigan, Irish Fest 2019 featured 100 musical acts and 300 different performances spread across 16 stages. With Clearwing Productions handling the bulk of the event’s sound reinforcement needs, the Ingleside, Illinois-based independent rep firm Audio Biz deployed five dLive and six SQ Series consoles across seven of the stages plus a preshow/demo suite. Among the dLive systems were S5000 and C3500 control surfaces supported by DM48, DM64, and CDM48 MixRacks. Utilised at smaller stages where space was at a premium, SQ-5 and SQ-6 mixing systems were used to run both the house sound and monitors simultaneously from a single control surface. For I/O needs, Allen & Heath’s DX168 and GX4816 were chosen.

“Bands and engineers came in for the event from all over the country and Ireland,” Audio Biz’s Shawn McLoughlin relates. “And while most of the engineers had heard of the dLive and SQ Series consoles, not quite everyone had worked with them yet. That’s why we created the preshow/demo suite, which was outfitted with a dLive S5000/DM64 and an SQ-6. The idea was to provide a space for everyone to familiarise themselves with the desks and prep for their shows before they actually went out to face the crowds.”

As the event transpired, McLoughlin and Brian Christ, his Audio Biz colleague who was also on-site for the duration of the festival, found that their gambit paid off. Comfort levels with the desks materialised quickly. Many of the engineers even downloaded dLive Director, a multi-platform editor including control software that allowed them to configure their systems before the festival and arrive for their showtimes ready to go.

“Everyone who took advantage of the preshow/demo suite walked away with a clear plan of action,” Christ adds. “Many set up show files, then simply dropped them into place and were up-and-running. The desks integrated themselves into the event quite easily and could even be set-up to mimic whatever configuration someone was used to, even from another manufacturer’s board. It was almost as if no experience was required to obtain excellent results and reap the workflow and sonic benefits the SQ and dLive have to offer.”