DiGiCo Quantum double for Ian Munsick
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This year, his rapid rise is reflected in his tour itinerary, which has taken him from a western honky-tonk bar one night to opening for Morgan Wallen in a stadium the next before headlining his own arena shows. You can also see that narrative written in how his tour sound has evolved. Beginning this year, Munsick’s sound team was bolstered by the addition of a dedicated monitor engineer, after they transitioned to a pair of DiGiCo Quantum225 consoles, supplied by Clair Global.
Seth Hewson was Munsick’s initial front-of-house engineer when the artist’s burgeoning career was still using what Hewson describes as a “Clair ‘band-in-a-box’” with a 32-input mixer and Shure PSM 1000 in-ears packaged together. “Ian and the band mixed their own ears using the app on their iPhones, with no monitor engineer,” he recalls. “I worked with Clair Global on the Quantum225 spec and we introduced the consoles at rehearsals back in March of this year. I was there when Ian first transitioned to the DiGiCos, which was also the first time he hired a monitor engineer.”
That monitor engineer was Graig Clinton, who since July has moved to mixing FOH, with Greg Roberts coming aboard as the newest monitor engineer. There was now a complete mix team, both on Quantum225 desks, just as Munsick’s career was ready to shift into overdrive - and it was a big shift.
“The difference in moving to DiGiCo was as stark as you’d imagine,” says Hewson. “We loaded an SD-Rack with 32-bit input and output cards, which only emphasised the effect: the noise floor was ultra-low on the output cards and the dynamic range of the inputs felt sky high compared to the previous pre-amps. I spec’d the Quantum225 desks because I didn’t want to lean on outboard or external plug-in servers.
“The Mustard processing and Spice Rack had so much functionality, as well as character, and they’ve helped take the show to a whole new level. We also went from 32 inputs on the previous rig to 56 pre-amps on the SD-Rack and 72 inputs on the consoles. We were able to split out track stems, add some triggers for drum noise gates, add some more utility instruments for Ian, and introduce some guest/MC channels in the RF count. It helped make us much more robust, especially on the two arena headline shows that Ian played earlier this year.”
Current FOH engineer and production manager Graig Clinton adds: “I’ve been a DiGiCo guy for ten years, but the Quantum processing really does take it up to another level. I was a Waves user for years and loved it, but with the Quantum, I’m using Mustard and Spice Rack pretty much exclusively now, and it’s been an amazing transition.”
