A view of a console in use backstage during the tour.
LOS ANGELES— The Sony Pictures Television-produced series The Sing-Off has hit the road for its first live tour with the support of Roland Systems Group’s M-480 V-Mixing System for Monitor Position, as well as the R-1000 for multichannel recording and virtual sound check. The a cappella show tour consists of season four’s Filharmonic, VoicePlay and Home Free.
Bryan Farina is production manager and front of house engineer for the tour. His background includes time as sound engineer for Manhattan Transfer for the last twelve years. He has also worked with New York Voices, Straight No Chaser and Grammy-winner Kurt Elling.
The tour’s monitor setup consists of the Roland M-480 with the S-1608 digital snake. The M-480 takes a MADI split from the Midas Pro1 Console and Klark Teknick DN9650 format converter using the Roland S-MADI Bridge. There is a mixture of Shure PSM 900 Personal Monitors and monitor wedges, which are all mixed on the Roland M-480 V-Mixer console.
“The Roland V-Mixing System makes it easy,” said Farina. “We just hit store, save the scene, name it, and hit recall when we are ready to go live.”
Another V-Mixing System component deployed on the tour is the Roland R-1000 Player/Recorder, which is used for virtual sound check with the Midas Pro1. Farina configured this by taking AES 50 from the Midas to the KT 9650 format converter, and then optical out to the Roland S-MADI converter into the R-1000 using a Cat5e cable. The R-1000 has an In/Out Patchbay, which enables Farina to configure, name, record and playback the live channels off the REAC A port.
“I hooked it all up, and the Roland units saw the signals and locked in immediately,” said Farina.
The R-1000 records the shows, then Farina uses it to playback the audio during sound check. The direct outputs go to the R-1000, and then they return to the tape returns on the desk.
“All I have to do is push a button on the tape return, which activates the virtual sound check and everything works great,” said Farina. “I’m ready to tune the room.”
The Sing-Off Tour kicks off the 32-city tour Feb. 19 in Verona, N.Y., and finishes March 29 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, Calif.
