Italian singer-songwriter, Massimo Pezzali has been captivating audiences during his Italy tour, accompanied by his Sound Engineer, Michele Nicolino, who utilises a DiGiCo Quantum7 digital mixing console at the monitor position.
The decision to choose the Quantum7 for this year’s tour was the result of a selection process and consideration of various factors, one of which was the desire to preserve a configuration as closely resembling the setup employed by Morson during two of Pezzali’s major productions at San Siro Stadium in the summer of 2022. “By maintaining a setup closely akin to Morson’s, our aim was to ensure a seamless audio experience for the concertgoers, thereby upholding the overall high quality of the tour,” Nicolino explained.
Nicolino’s first experience with DiGiCo was in 2017 when he had the opportunity to use an SD9 for the first time. “It was proposed to me as an option for an upcoming tour, and since I’d never used it before and couldn’t find one available in my local area, I reached out to Federico Bianchi of Audio Link, asking if I could visit their office to learn how to operate the console,” said Nicolino. “I was immediately impressed by Federico’s willingness to help and the company’s emphasis on training. Most importantly, I was amazed by the outstanding sound quality of that console, which was truly remarkable compared to all the cheaper and smaller consoles I had used up until that point.”
For Pezzali’s tour, all the audio equipment was sourced from Italian rental company, Agorà. The monitor setup featured an Quantum7 with Optocore loop and SD-Racks, ensuring top-notch audio quality.
“When it comes to monitoring, we opted for in-ears for everyone, except for a couple of 15″ wedges that we kept as backups,” explained Nicolino. “For the artist and the music director who was handling playback tracks like guitars, synths, and backing vocals, we provided an L/ R mix sent directly to their IEM transmitter. As for the band, we employed a personal monitor system, granting each member the freedom to access customised stems tailored precisely to their individual requirements.”
Incorporating the personal monitor system allowed Nicolino to achieve individual balance control, made possible by a DirectOut split converter, which facilitated redundancy on the two Quantum7 engines’ outputs through a manual switch. “This setup ensured seamless signal conversion in the proprietary format for the S4000 control unit,” continues Nicolino. “From there, all power supplies and signals were directed towards the personal mixers, enabling an analogue signal to be sent directly back to the IEM transmitters. All audio processing was handled internally within the desk, except for the voice reverb, where I utilised a TC M3000. Furthermore, both the Quantum7 and the personal mixers were flawlessly synchronised using a clock generated by an Antelope Audio Isochrone Trinity.”
“I also had the chance to use the Mustard processing for the first time, and I found it to be an outstanding tool with exceptional sound quality. I used it on several channels, including as the main compression for the artist’s vocal channel. The Quantum7 surface allows for straightforward and efficient control of every aspect of the mix. Overall, I am very pleased with the console’s performance, and I am eager to have a further meeting with the Audio Link team to delve deeper into the world of KLANG:technologies, with their immersive in-ear monitor mixing solutions having piqued my interest for some time now.”
“Having the Quantum7 for this tour gave me a great sense of security and comfort, not only in terms of reliability and functional flexibility, but also in terms of sound quality. What I love most is the availability of Dynamic EQ for every channel, allowing me to finely adjust the timbre with musical precision, resulting in a more natural and distortion-free sound,” he concluded.
