For two guys from Columbus, Ohio, Twenty One Pilots (aka TØP) have made a lot of
noise. After winning Artists of the Year and Album of the Year at the Alternative
Press Music Awards, and Top Rock Artist and Top Rock Album at the Billboard Music
Awards, the duo memorably accepted a 2017 Grammy Award for Best Pop
Duo/Group Performance in their underwear on February 12 in Los Angeles.
Two nights later they resumed their Emotional Roadshow World Tour, which kicked
off in Cincinnati last May and wraps up in Australia this April. Keeping TØP’s sound
in top shape are a pair of DiGiCo SD Series mix consoles. There’s an SD5 at front of
house—fitted with a Waves SoundGrid Extreme Server and a MacBook Pro for
recording with a DiGiGrid MGB MADI-to-SoundGrid interface—piloted by FOH
Engineer Shane Bardiau. Monitors, handled by Lawrence “Filet” Mignogna, benefit
from an SD10 and SD10RE Redundant Engine, along with a MacBook Pro for
recording with an MGB interface. The tour, outfitted by SR provider VER Tour
Sound, also carries two SD-Racks (one of which is redundant) and one SD Mini Rack
with a redundant rack. The crew is additionally carrying two SD9 consoles and an
SD-Rack for their opening acts, Jon Bellion and Judah and the Lion, who join TØP on
stage for several songs. Audio Crew Chief and Systems Engineer Kenny Sellars,
from VER, Monitor Technician Dustin Lewis, and Audio Technicians Alex Martinez
and Murphy Johnson round out the capable crew.
Prior to this tour, Twenty One Pilots had been using another manufacturer’s digital
consoles on the road. But as the band’s popularity mushroomed, it was time to go
to the next level. “Although I certainly had good shows on the other desks, I wanted
to take the opportunity to learn a whole new console for this tour,’ Bardiau
explains. “I’ve always heard good things about DiGiCo, so I decided to roll with one,
and there are many things I like about the SD5. The first thing I noticed was the
open architecture—I can make any fader whatever I want. Another thing I love are
the DigiTubes because they enable me to colour my inputs similarly to my previous
console’s preamps. Beyond that, the console gives me a crisp, clean sound.’
Twenty One Pilots’ sound can go from sparse to full in the space of a song. Bardiau
says the SD5 can easily handle that. “This console gives me so much space to put
everything in the mix,’ he says.
For more info on Twenty One Pilot’s upcoming tour stops, visit www.twentyonepilots.com/tour.
VER Tour Sound can likewise be found online at www.ver.com.
