PORTLAND, OR — Christian rockers Kutless, who have sold more than two million albums, are playing a variety of venues on their latest tour, ranging from churches and civic auditoriums to an outdoor field and even a Minnesota casino. Regardless of the venue type or size, the band relies on a Meyer Sound MINA line array system supplied by Blackhawk Audio to deliver a consistent-sounding show.
“We pretty much cover the gamut on this tour, which is why I wanted to take the MINA system,” said Tim O’Neill, the band’s production manager and FOH engineer.
Room layouts and acoustics vary drastically, though most venues are in the 1,500- to 2,000-seat range. For a typical configuration, main front arrays are 12- or 14-each MINA a side flown from the twin Applied Electronics mini line array towers carried on the tour. The remaining MINA loudspeakers are used for front fill or out fill, with eight 700-HP subwoofers for low-end support. Various configurations are programmed in the Galileo speaker management system with one Galileo 616 processor, and the settings can be previewed and recalled in the Compass control software.
“They’re a great size for us, since we’re on a one-truck tour and MINA lets us get all of our PA in about 10 feet of truck space,” said O’Neill. “Also, it’s easy to work with. We use a lot of volunteer crew, so the small size and simple rigging make it a fantastic box from that angle.” Completing the tour’s compact sound system are dual Avid VENUE SC48 consoles at FOH and monitor, Sennheiser in-ear monitoring, and Audio-Technica wireless microphone systems with the AE5400 condenser capsule for lead vocals.
The 2012 tour concludes on New Year’s Eve in Myrtle Beach, SC.
