USA - DirectOut was chosen for Jonas Brothers’ The Tour. The Prodigy.MP was selected for the band’s global trek, thanks to its precision engineering and audio clarity. Adam Robinson, front of house engineer, along with systems engineer Cameron Manes, explain how they came to decide on Prodigy.MP for Jonas Brothers system and redundancy requirements.
“In the past we were using different system processors, but it felt like it was colouring our sound, so we wanted to look for a new solution that gave us the flexibility we were looking for without affecting the signal,” Manes recalls. “We needed a way to future-proof our system and respond to the growing demands of the production throughout the tour, but also retain the clarity we were looking for.”
Both Robinson and Manes were excited by the opportunity to expand control of their audio system and were interested in the level of autonomy that DirectOut and globcon could offer. With long-term vendor partner, Clair Global, their investigations have been a complete success. The rental company was happy to help them try different cards and the swaps were easy thanks to the modular design of the Prodigy series. Manes is using globcon and a Stream Deck interface, to control multiple Prodigy devices and his playback system, as well as using the Prodigy.MP to control their Smaart acoustic test and measurement software.
“Prodigy has become my Smaart interface. I no longer have a separate Smaart computer and that means that I can route all my wireless mics wherever I want,” Manes says. “We're running quite a few wireless mics for system measurement and tuning. With Prodigy I can route that to our front of house console, which makes it visible to Adam at the console and on Smaart.
“We are using two additional Prodigy.MP, one on either side of the stage. They send AES signals directly from the FOH Prodigy.MP into our d&b amplifiers,” Manes expands. “Should there be any issues, I also have the signal in analogue. Our primary transport is AVB. A lot of manufacturers are integrating AVB into their products now, so we have transitioned to that format for our networking.”
