At Lollapalooza 2021 in Chicago, the Billboard-charting act Grandson (stylized ‘grandson’) — the brainchild of multi-talented songwriter/musician Jordan Benjamin that blends bluesy hard rock guitars, trap-influenced beats and EDM production — performed with support from a duo of networked Allen & Heath dLive digital mix systems that graced both monitor world and front of house on the Grant Park T-Mobile stage.
“dLive is the most flexible console system on the market today,” notes Tib Csabai, grandson FOH engineer. “It sounds wonderful and I love the amazing DEEP compressor models built into the channel strips. The onboard effects are the best of any console I’ve ever used.”
Unique to Allen & Heath XCVI consoles, the DEEP processing architecture embeds processing, such as vintage compressor models, directly within input and mix channels. This approach allows the engineer to the tools on the fly, and without the added latency and license issues generally associated with external plugins. Csabai continues, “Of course these sonic tools aren’t of much value if you can’t easily get to them — luckily the dLive user interface is simple, powerful and designed to adapt and implement processing quickly.”
Specifically, FOH was covered via a dLive S5000 with a DM0 MixRack while monitors were handled by a second dLive S5000 with a DM64 MixRack. The two consoles were networked via a gigaACE digital split, enabling a 128 x128-channel, 96 kHz audio connection. Chicago-based audio visual production company V2 Productions provided the consoles and monitor package, which was rounded out by Shure PSM1000 in-ear monitor systems.
“It was great to be back in action,” adds grandson monitor engineer Chris Rubi. “And dLive allowed me to deliver consistent sound across one of the most iconic festivals out there. I agree with Tib on the DEEP plug-ins and how they capture the nuances of classic gear and give us a crazy amount of power to shape things just how we need them to be. I’m definitely a fan.”
“We are seeing a lot of engineers shift over to dLive when the gig requires ‘mission critical’ audio in challenging environments and in a small footprint,” says Allen & Heath USA Marketing Director Jeff Hawley. “It makes no difference if it’s the S5000 like Tib and Chris chose for Lollapalooza or the super compact CTi1500 and C1500 that will be used for the grandson tour. You get universal showfiles with no conversion, the same DEEP plug-ins at all levels, Dyn8 engines fully available across the range — no skimping on mixable channels or effects or features as you move up and down the line like with other desks. It is great to see dLive as a go-to in these types of festival scenarios, but it is even more exciting to see events in general slowly but surely coming back around in a safe and sustainable way.”
According to Lollapalooza 2021 officials, roughly 90 percent of festival goers (~385,000) showed proof of vaccination while an additional 8 percent demonstrated a recent negative COVID test for entry. Analyzing health data a few weeks after the event, Chicago Health Officials have gone on record noting Lollapalooza was not a ‘super spreader’ event.
