Grammy and multiple Dove Award-winning Christian music artist Chris Tomlin’s latest musical trek, The Stories of Worship Tour, which recently crossed the finish line after 26 shows, presented the performer’s songs and personal stories that were mixed through DiGiCo Quantum consoles supplied by Nashville-based Spectrum Sound.
Engineer Jeff Sandstrom employed a DiGiCo Quantum338 desk at front of house, with monitor mixing for a special Good Friday event handled by Joseph Mirakovits on a Quantum7 while for the tour, monitors were mixed on a second Quantum338 by Meredith Empie. Held at Nashville’s 20,000-seat Bridgestone Arena, the seventh annual Good Friday Nashville concert benefitted foster care and adoption through For Others, a non-profit foundation created by the artist and his wife, Lauren. Also performing were special guests CeCe Winans, Blessing Offor, and Bethel Music’s Jenn Johnson plus New York Times best-selling author/pastor Max Lucado.
The tour didn’t carry its own PA system, instead using the installed sound systems in the large church venues that the tour visited. It was a return to Tomlin’s roots, says Sandstrom, who has worked with the artist for 15 years.
“This was how we toured for years, before we transitioned to arenas, carrying our consoles and some subs and front-fills for the house PA systems,” he explains. “It’s so different being back in churches, where the sound systems and acoustics are different every show. It’s challenging but it can also be fun, and the Quantum338 helps that because it gives me a consistent yet flexible work surface for every show. I can load my file and just mix, with muscle memory letting me concentrate on whatever new wrinkles there might be in each venue. I’m totally comfortable on the console, so I can really focus on the PA and the house.”
The consoles were looped together on Optocore, with a single shared SD-Rack for inputs. Sandstrom says the workflow is simpler than for arena shows, with gain control at the monitor desk. “If there are any changes to the gain structures, we communicate that, but mostly it’s been a set-it-and-forget-it kind of workflow, which is great. You can really focus on the music while saving on truck space and load-in times.”
Sandstrom points to the console’s flexibility, being able to “put any fader anywhere,” he says. But specifically about the Quantum processing, he’s been using the Spice Rack on key input channels, including on Tomlin’s vocals and on the bass guitar, as well as the onboard Tube Drive on kick, snare, and bass. “Some of that workflow comes from my studio days, when I relied on the consoles for mic-pre’s and EQ and outboard processors for dynamics,” he recalls. “That’s one of the key things about DiGiCo; I can work any way I want to, and the console conforms to my workflow, not the other way around.”
Empie, who served as RF technician for Good Friday Nashville in addition to serving as the tour’s monitor engineer, says of the Quantum338: “I can set it up the way that works best for my preferred workflow, keeping everything within easy reach; I can almost live on a single page for the whole show,” she says. “I know where every fader is without having to think about it, and that lets me concentrate on creating a great mix.”
She adds that she hasn’t had to delve too deeply into the concole’s processing, relying on a show file created by her predecessor and the console’s naturally great sound. However, the onboard reverbs and dynamics help in a very specific manner on this tour.
“Churches can be a challenge because each one can be very different from the next acoustically; one can sound as dry as a studio, while another has tons of slapback coming from the back wall,” she explains. “Either way, it can interfere with keeping the mix onstage as tight and transparent as Chris would want. Using a combination of reverb, gates, and compression, I can compensate for either of those scenarios. With the Quantum338, I’m pretty much ready for any environment we’re playing.”
