[ATTACH=JSON]206391.vB5-nodeid=206391[/ATTACH]INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – May 2017 — GRAMMY® Award-winning Contemporary Christian music artist Chris Tomlin—whose recently released 11th studio album, Never Lose Sight, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Albums Chart—is currently leading a powerful multi-artist national tour known as Worship Night In America this spring.
Kicking off on April 4 at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, the tour brings together a diverse array of music styles for nearly two dozen concerts staged across the US through mid May. Artists Big Daddy Weave, Phil Wickham and Zach Williams join Tomlin performing everything from high-energy worship songs to intimate acoustic ballads, and as he has for several years now, Tomlin is relying on an L-Acoustics K1/Kara combination to get every note and lyric across clearly.
The PA system, provided by Indianapolis-based Mid-America Sound, consists of 28 K1 and 12 Kara enclosures split evenly between stereo hangs, with the Kara acting as downfill speakers. Thirty-six more Karas are split 18 per side as the flown sidefills, while six more Kara boxes are placed in four strategic locations as front fills. Sixteen SB28 subwoofers arrayed in 4×4 cardioid configurations amply handle low end.
The main system is driven by 14 LA12X amplified controllers—the first time Tomlin has taken these out on the road—while 16 LA8 power the Kara down, front and side fills, as well as the subwoofers. The tour also uses four DiGiCo SD Series consoles and two Dolby Lake processors, which are accessible through an insert point on the DiGiCo SD10 console used by Tomlin’s front-of-house mixer, Kyle McMahon.
McMahon, who began mixing FOH for Tomlin this year after having previously worked with the artist as his monitor engineer, says that the L-Acoustics K1/Kara combination has worked well for Tomlin’s multi-artist tours for over five years.
“The K1 is a very linear speaker as far as its tone—it doesn’t change from artist to artist or from high energy songs to quiet ballads,” McMahon explains. “When using other PA systems on these kinds of tours where we have multiple artists and a lot of dynamics changes from one song to the next, I used to find myself chasing the music trying to tune the system for each new emotional level after it happened. It was easy to get very aggressive with the mix when I didn’t intend to. That doesn’t happen with the K1—it sounds consistently even and great from song to song, all night long.”
Nick Turner, the system technician on Worship Night In America, says he’s noticed the volume levels going from 92 dB(A) to 102 dB(A) during the course of a single show. He notes another reason the K1/Kara combination has worked so well for Tomlin now and in the past: in certain smaller venues on the tours, the spaces allow them to use the Kara boxes as the main PA system, with 12 to 18 Kara hanging per side. And he likes the fact that the entire system can be packed into three semi trucks, keeping the tour economically sound.
McMahon, who has been a fan of L-Acoustics since he first worked on a V-DOSC system a decade ago, says the K1 and Kara are easy to specify for a wide range of shows. “They just sound great on vocals, and they play well together in a system,” he says. “That’s why we developed this configuration over the last few tours with Chris, in an attempt to keep things as consistent as possible from tour to tour, and show to show.”
Turner amplifies that, noting, “In Contemporary Christian music, the vocals and lyrics are very important, and the K1 has a very smooth midrange sound that really helps bring clarity to the vocals and entire mix. The K1/Kara PA works so well for this kind of show; we couldn’t imagine doing it without them.”
For a list of Worship Night In America’s upcoming tour stops, visit [url]www.christomlin.com[/url]. Mid-America Sound can likewise be found online at [url]www.midamericasound.com[/url].
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About Chris Tomlin
Likely “the most often sung artist anywhere” according to TIME Magazine, Chris Tomlin is among the most influential artists in Christian music. Selling over 7.5 million albums and 10.7 million digital tracks, Tomlin has 15 No. 1 radio singles, a GRAMMY® Award, three Billboard Music Awards, two platinum and five gold albums to his name. Tomlin’s latest album Never Lose Sight and debut children’s book Good Good Father are available now.
About L-Acoustics
Founded in 1984 near Paris, France, L-Acoustics is a leading manufacturer of turnkey solutions for the professional sound industry. Part of the L-Group, which counts 400 team members, L-Acoustics is present in over 80 countries either through subsidiaries or via a network of certified distributors or providers. Twenty percent of L-Acoustics’ team-members are dedicated to research and development.
Recognized throughout the industry for pioneering the modern line array, L-Acoustics offers a total system approach for both the touring and fixed installation markets, and a product line responding to the needs of venues from the most intimate club to the grandest arena. L-Acoustics sound systems can be heard in places like the Hollywood Bowl, the NFL Cardinals University of Phoenix Center, or the Philharmonie de Paris. L-Acoustics solutions have been used at five of the world’s ten top-grossing festivals*, the London, Sochi and Rio Olympics, and on the Adele 2016/2017 World Tour, among others.
