New York, NY (February 3, 2020)—The Chainsmokers have been on the road supporting their latest record, World War Joy, which landed in December. While the next leg finds them heading to Europe this fall, the duo has already finished up its U.S. itinerary, which found it playing 41 arenas with a massive audio system provided by Rat Sound Systems (Camarillo, CA).
Manning a DiGiCo SD5 control package at FOH nightly, engineer Tristan Nelson-Hauer mixed through an L-Acoustics package comprised of 14 K1 plus six K2 downs per side as the mains, with eight K1 over eight K2 for the side arrays. Hangs of eight KS28 subs were flown behind each main array, with LF further anchored by a total of 16 additional KS28, typically ground-stacked in four blocks of four, all in cardioid mode. Up to a dozen Kara frontfills capped the subs in front of the stage lip, and the entire system was driven by eight LA12X and 38 LA8 amplified controllers.
L-Acoustics Kara II Revealed at NAMM
Also on-hand was the new L-Acoustics P1 processor. “With our front-of-house mix position being all the way at the back of the arena, the P1’s Autoclimate feature has taken our PA to the next level,” said FOH engineer Tristan Nelson-Hauer. “Being able to adjust the system for temperature and humidity changes on the fly has been amazing, especially when we got into some venues where we’d soundcheck at one temperature, then do the show at a very different one.”
The stage design for the World War Joy Tour featured an extended thrust, putting of the show in front of the PA, but the FOH engineer says that wasn’t even the biggest challenge: “At one point in the show, Drew [Andrew Taggart] would climb up on a catwalk and ride it up to 50 feet, which put him and his vocal mic directly in front of the long throw boxes. Having K1/K2 as the PA was great for getting the vocal on top, even with him in front of the PA, because with the precise horizontal directivity control pattern we were able to shift the high-end energy off the catwalk, which helped immensely. Regardless of the venue size and layout, L-Acoustics has always given us the proper tools to make each performance sound its very best.”
The Chainsmokers • www.thechainsmokers.com
Rat Sound Systems, Inc. • www.ratsound.com
L-Acoustics • www.l-acoustics.com
