Bruno Mars is riding high off the success of his sold-out ‘Moonshine Jungle’ outing. Sporting a diverse set-list with a mix of eclectic covers, radio hits, and originals (many from his latest outing, Unorthodox Jukebox CD), the tour was recently made Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “50 greatest live acts right now.”
The Clair Global tour is outfitted with dual DiGiCo SD7s at FOH and monitors, both running redundant Waves SoundGrid servers.
Each desk has two SD racks for individual control of preamps and are connected completely via digital Optocore fiber cable.
FOH engineer Derek Brener sends MADI lines direct from FOH to the record rig, handled by Charles Moniz, who records 96 channels to a Pro Tools system seamlessly without the need for an expensive audio router for archival purposes.
Brener’s managing a total of 108 physical inputs for the eight-piece band consisting of two drum kits, bass, guitars, multiple keyboards, a B3 organ, plenty of vocals, horns, playback, and a couple of talkback mics.
He’s been a DiGiCo fan since Mars’ first run in 2011, and stepped up into an SD7 (from an SD8) because of the larger input requirements.
“We have 108 physical inputs and I still have plenty of capacity for eccentric bussing, effects, and outboard apparatus,” he explains. “I also take advantage of the macros, too.
“I love to have hot keys to turn sends on and off to delays. For example, the delays in ‘Just the Way You Are’ are live so the hot keys make it very easy for me play the desk like an instrument and delay just certain words instead of either having it on or off.
“I love DiGiCo consoles for their smooth sonics and ultra-customizable surface. The SD7 is a monster and gives me a lot of freedom and space to experiment and tweak. It has a staggering amount of features and power.
“Do you need to use all of the features? Hell no! But is it nice to have them right there if you need them? Absolutely! The snapshot recall scope is great, dual engines, dynamic EQs, etc.
“I can go on and on about the features it offers, but simply put, for a digital desk, it’s the cream of the crop. Straight up.”
