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Jonas Brothers’ engineers choose DirectOut solutions for worldwide tour

DirectOut’s Prodigy.MP has been selected for the Jonas Brothers’ “Five Albums. One Night.” world tour. 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 coloring our sound, so we wanted to look for a new solution that gave us the flexibility we were looking for without affecting the signal”, says Manes. “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.”

Self-confessed geeks, 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 offer. Hand-in-hand with long-term vendor partner Clair Global, their investigations have been a success. The rental company helped them try different cards. Manes is now 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”, says Manes. “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.”

When doing one-off performances or fly-ins, the team sometimes find the supplied sound system is not exactly what they were hoping for; there could be a little less energy in the front fills or stage thrust loudspeakers than they need. With Prodigy powering the system, Manes can send an extra feed via MADI to the Front of House (FOH) console which then gets passed on to the stage rack, where it can be split into additional powered speakers that can be placed exactly where required.

“We are using two additional Prodigy.MPs, one on either side of the stage”, continues Manes. “They send AES signals directly from the FOH Prodigy.MP into our d&b amplifiers. Should there be any issues, I also have the signal in analog. 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.”

With Globcon software, Robinson and Manes can view and edit any part of their system simultaneously. Manes’ interface layout displays only what he needs for the show ensuring a streamlined look, while Robinson’s screen shows just system EQ, as a reference. “Cameron has given me an ‘All’ page, so I can just make a quick EQ change to the whole system if needed”, says Robinson. “It’s great that we can both interact with the system, making changes at the same time, even to the same EQ. If I add a filter and Cameron adds a filter, we’ll both see them.”

“I’m the type of person that only wants to see the things that are relevant to me at any given time,” adds Manes. “With Globcon, you can create floating objects and configure a page where everything that’s relevant to you can be right at your fingertips. I have also integrated a Stream Deck for tactile control of my scripts.”

Manes has written scripts that send OSC commands to automate functions throughout the show, including switching from work-mode into being ready for the audience to enter. With a single push of a button on his Stream Deck, Manes can switch to the correct music playlist, start the audio, un-mute the correct loudspeakers in the system and bring music to the correct level with a gentle fade-up.

“My scripts are executed seamlessly”, concludes Manes. “When I first started playing with automation, I was a little apprehensive, but Prodigy has quickly become the most reliable part of the entire audio system. Whatever I ask it to do, it does it, and exactly how I want it to.”

(Photos: DirectOut GmbH)

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