Denver and the Mile High Orchestra (DMHO, seen at left), a 13-piece contemporary Christian big band, have noticed a difference in their recent performances: “The Aviom Monitoring System has revolutionized our band,” says Kenn Hughes, musical director for DMHO. “The dynamics have greatly increased because we can play soft passages and still hear one another, as well as play more musically and better in tune. We can really let ourselves get lost in the performance. Aviom has delivered a monitoring system that helps us play our very best!”
The band, which performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, currently performs more than 100 dates a year at some of the nation’s largest Christian music festivals, churches and conferences, as well as at their countrywide, third-annual Big Band Christmas Tour, which begins Thanksgiving night and ends a few days before Christmas.
Prior to turning to the Aviom Monitoring System, DMHO used wedges, which lead to longer soundchecks and undesirable sound levels. During Summer NAMM two years ago, Jared Ribble, drummer for DMHO, approached Aviom to check out the Personal Monitor Mixing System.
“The Aviom gear far surpassed any other type of in-ear monitoring system,” says Ribble. “This system allows each musician to create their own mix and then recall the mixes for each show, which is definitely one of the most useful features.”
Without having practiced with the new equipment, a few of the DMHO players began using the Aviom gear during the first show of their Christmas Tour last year. Ribble continues, “All I remember is we set up the A-16s, plugged them in and the next thing I heard was the piano player saying, ‘Oh my gosh, oh wow, this is amazing.’
“After we started using the Aviom gear, our stage level dropped at least 10 dB because we could hear ourselves—our sound tightened up and we became better players. We are able to hear our mistakes and can fix them. The Aviom gear has also given us a level of consistency when we play in different venues. Those were the big challenges in our monitoring world that this product has really helped.”
For more information about this product, please go to Aviom’s Website at www.aviom.com.
