Photo above: The Trilogy Tour’s three monitor engineers (left to right): Matt Holden (Pitbull), Eddie Caipo (Enrique Iglesias), and César Benítez (Ricky Martin)
Latin pop luminaries Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Pitbull have teamed up for The Trilogy Tour, a North American arena trek taking the three multigenerational global powerhouses out for shows in 37 cities between October 2023 and March 2024. Following a successful first leg of sold-out concerts that ran into mid-December, the second half of the Live Nation-produced, Sound Image/Clair Global-reinforced run picks back up in late-January with four performances in California before sweeping east across the continent. The tour is enjoying a tremendous amount of success thanks to the talent and charisma of its headliners, but three unseen performers—a trio of KLANG:konductor immersive IEM mixing systems—are also doing their part to help the three bilingual superstars and their backing bands deliver a stellar combined four-hour fiesta at each stop.
Eddie “El Brujo” Caipo has worked with Enrique Iglesias as his monitor engineer for 11 years and is currently using his KLANG:konductor paired with a Mac Mini running KLANG:app and an Avid S6L-32 console. Sending pre-fader/post-mute direct outs via MADI to retain all of his plugin processing, he creates his mixes—21 in total, with a number of them in KLANG:app—then feeds them back to a stereo pair of inputs, which are sent to the desired aux mix to the IEMs. His console receives timecode to trigger snapshots simultaneously sending MIDI to the :konductor to trigger the snapshots in KLANG.
“I’ve always made it a priority to help my artists and band members feel as if they aren’t wearing IEMs by using a mid-side processing spreader, et cetera, but with KLANG, it’s a whole different ball game than just me trying to use a stereo imager or spreader,” Caipo says. “KLANG literally removes that factor and allows me to separate instruments in such a way that it allows them to run the overall volume quieter, making it a much better experience for the listener. The band used to love my stereo mixes, but after using KLANG, everything is even way more enjoyable. Now, hearing stereo is just so sad. I don’t plan on ever going back; 3D IEM mixing is the way to go.”
Ricky Martin’s monitor mix has been in the hands of César Benítez Seilhamer since 2021, when he first used a DMI-KLANG card with a DiGiCo Quantum5. A year later, he upgraded to a KLANG:konductor loaded with two MADI-B DMI cards connected to the same console, plus added a :kontroller onstage for the drummer to have quick hands-on access to his own IEM mixes. Creating 16 immersive mixes and 48 total mixes from 124 input channels, he notes that “the :konductor and Quanum5 are able to easily handle this amount of processing and still leave me room for more,” says Benítez, who controls his immersive mixes both natively on the console and via KLANG:app running on an external computer screen. “The integration between KLANG and DiGiCo is so user-friendly, allowing me to make changes throughout our shows and soundcheck directly from the console. Sometimes I forget that the :konductor is a processor outside of the console!”
“The KLANG platform has changed my life and been an amazing improvement for everyone, starting with our main artist who told me that he never wants to go back to a stereo mix,” Benítez adds. “Everyone can play more comfortably and focus on their performances, not the mixes. And I can easily mix much more complex shows with high input counts in 3D without even feeling like I have ears or headphones on. In fact, every once in a while I’ll turn around thinking I hear a sax or a background vocal behind me, and they’re onstage! I’m really happy with this setup and would never want to go back to left-right. I recently worked for a week without KLANG on a big awards show, and when I came back to The Trilogy Tour, it was so refreshing to hear mixes on KLANG again. It’s amazing how much space it provides.”
As The Trilogy Tour’s third monitor engineer, Matt Holden has been an integral part of Team Pitbull since January of 2015, and is using a DiGiCo Quantum5, recently upgrading from a DMI-KLANG card to a :konductor with the optical card. He primarily controls KLANG via his console, using the external touchscreen monitor for setup and the visual representation. Holden shares how the :konductor has been a step up: “Using KLANG has made my job easier just by making it easier sonically to provide a great-sounding mix naturally without having to use more plugins to enhance the stereo image, and by using less EQ to clean up the muddiness of the mix.”
“KLANG has really helped me get the band to a place where they are very happy with their mixes and the fact that they can focus on the performance rather than worrying about technical issues, which in turn allows me to focus on my artist and not having to field a dozen other requests from the band at the same time. Once we got past rehearsals, requests from the band have pretty much stopped during the show. It’s a much more relaxing experience to listen to the KLANG mixes when we’re performing upwards of 75 to 100 shows a year. Now, I don’t get many comments about KLANG except for the shows where we don’t have it. Then they let me know for sure! At this point, the :konductor is pretty much a necessity for us to have at all times. Being on tour with César and Eddie has been a great learning experience and it’s been a lot of fun sharing ideas and picking everyone’s brain about KLANG.”
For more info on The Trilogy Tour, visit www.livenationentertainment.com. Sound Image and Clair Global can be found online at www.sound-image.com and www.clairglobal.com.
