Europe - DirectOut is the creator of Prodigy.MX, a multiformat audio matrix that interfaces with the whole range of protocols offered by DirectOut. The Prodigy.MX is used by Nils Labenz, an experienced monitor engineer, who is currently on German metalcore band Electric Callboy’s Tekkno tour.
The Prodigy.MX fulfils a variety of tasks within the Electric Callboy audio workflow. First, the band uses it to supply redundancy for the playback system, utilising EARS (Enhanced Automatic Redundancy Switching) to ensure the switch is interruption-free. It is also the Dante Clock Master for the entire network and, when required, uses the MADI card with SRC to forward audio signals to outside broadcast trucks for events such as the Rock am Ring Festival, held at the Nürburgring racetrack in June 2024.
Nils (Labbi) Labenz began working with the band in 2022 for the Hypa Hypa tour. As a monitor engineer, his main concerns were in-ear-monitoring and on-stage audio systems, but his role has steadily increased to include backing tracks and on-stage communications.
The band were introduced to the Prodigy series when Jan Euler, Electric Callboy’s guitar tech, read an online article about DirectOut. He shared it with Pascal Schillo, the band’s guitarist, and producer for many of their music videos, who got in touch with DirectOut and its German partner, sphereo distribution. Jonas Gehrmann, founder and owner of sphereo was only too happy to give the band more information, consulting on how the devices could improve their redundancy and conversion solutions.
“The Prodigy.MX is now the central component of our audio system,” Labenz explains. “We use two Apple Mac Minis as backing track players and each is connected separately to a Dante card in the Prodigy. A third Dante card is used for the rest of our audio network. EARS automatically switches between the two Dante cards. We have redundant network switches at every position on the audio network. This means that all signals have redundancy at every point and can always continue to be used for live mixing and recording."
In addition, the sound team also utilise three Andiamos as analogue to digital convertors. Andiamo is a powerful conversion tool and shares the sonic qualities of the Prodigy series. Electric Callboy use the Dante Network cards to convert analogue signals for the guitars and IEMs onstage, with the third Andiamo unit forming part of the redundant system. Working alongside the Prodigy.MX, these devices from DirectOut offer a robust and stable solution for unforgiving touring schedules.
“The Prodigy.MX runs super stable and has always delivered under any conditions,” Labenz says. “Since installing it in May, we've performed more than 30 shows across Europe, North America, Australia and Japan, and it has run exactly as it should at every show. Despite tough touring conditions, there hasn’t been one error message or misbehaviour.”
