"Taking an equipment truck simply wasn't an option," states the band's production manager and FOH mixer, Matthew Grunden. "To cut costs, we had to fit everything into a trailer behind the bus. The MINA arrays were key to making that happen."
With tickets for some shows as low as $10, Big Daddy Weave's tour hit the road in March, zig-zagging between Wyoming and Florida through spring and summer, playing 800 - 1,000 seat venues that include churches, meeting halls, and high school auditoriums. At every site, Grunden flew six Mina cabinets per side on a Genie tower and bolstered the bass with a quartet of 700-HP subwoofers. An MJF-212A stage monitor covered lead singer Mike Weaver, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 616 processor tied everything together.
The tour's audio production package was supplied by Nashville-based Digital Console Rentals (DCR). As DCR's Howard Jones explains, Mina was the ideal keystone component. "Big Daddy Weave is the perfect example of the clients we can reach with Mina. With its small size, low power consumption, high output, and easy rigging, Mina fits their needs to a tee."
Opening for Big Daddy Weave were American Idol finalist Chris Sligh and breakout band Luminate . Other equipment on the tour included an Allen & Heath iLive-T80/iDR-32 MixRack for FOH, a Yamaha LS9 monitor console, an array of Sennheiser microphones, and a Sennheiser IEM rig with Westone custom molds.
(Jim Evans)
