DMI-KLANG improves in-ear monitoring for The BossHoss, making nightly sound checks a breeze

Thanks to KLANG’s immersive mix capabilities, touring with The BossHoss became a trouble-free experience for sound engineer Manuel Knigge, with the whole tour benefitting from immersive mixes via the DMI-KLANG expansion card, installed in their DiGiCo SD12

Monitor mix intelligibility improved and band members were instantly more comfortable with their mixes, providing Knigge with a smooth and efficient workflow that freed him from extensive sound checks at every venue the band visited during their summer of outside events.

KLANG offers artists the consistency they need to relax and perform at their best by working with the brain’s natural processing power. KLANG expands the stereo field into a 360 degree fully immersive mix that gives every element the space it requires. In turn, this reduces strain on the brain and ears, reducing fatigue and improving the experience for the artist. Without this consistency, nightly touring would have required a lot of trial and error, as Knigge explains. 

“Summer tours can involve a lot of different styles of venue, one night we would be in a field, the next a tent. Before using KLANG, we had to work really hard to get the mixes right for every space,” Knigge recalls. “We would make adjustments at sound check, but then the audience would come in and change the acoustics, so inevitably I would have to spend the first couple of songs each night perfecting the mix, only to have it completely change the night after. It was pretty full on.”

A regular user of KLANG with his other clients, Knigge had explained to the band that KLANG would be the way forward for their IEM mixes, but when the opportunity to use  DMI-KLANG with their SD12 finally came around, there was no pre-production rehearsal. This could have meant that implementing the new mixes was a nerve-wracking experience, but Knigge was confident that everything would be fine and jumped into his new immersive mixes without a second thought.

“There were no production rehearsals this year, just a day of prep at Clair Global’s Berlin facility. Luckily, I had the multi-track recordings from last year, so I could make a rough 3D panned mix, just to give them a little more space in the mix,” he says. “I just went for it during our first sound check. As soon as they started playing, their faces lifted to look straight at me. After the first song the band turned to me and said, ‘whatever you did, don’t touch anything!’ And I just thought, phew, that worked!”

Once the band had played a few songs, Knigge asked if anyone had any changes to make. It was a revelation. There were only happy faces and from that point on, it only got better. Once they had got used to the simple immersive panning, Knigge was able to perfect his mixes, playing with height to ensure that levels could remain consistent while keeping important elements, like vocals, at the forefront of the mix.

“From a playing perspective, the best show was the first one because they were all excited about the change and they loved it,” Knigge says. “The band joked that they no longer needed a sound check because nothing needed changing and, by the end of the tour, they actually started ditching sound check! We’ve never had such good monitor sound with these guys and I’m very happy with the system.” 

Previously, the band had lots of requests for Knigge during the show, asking to adjust levels, but thanks to KLANG, this is now a thing of the past. Utilising KLANG’s spatial mixes enables him to place every element of the band’s sound in a way that ensures they have the clarity they need, without pushing up the volume. Each component has the space it needs to be heard, including the all-important vocal, which could get lost with ten musicians on stage.

“The need to keep pushing up the vocal during the show reduced a lot. With every band, there’s always one guy that needs himself louder during a show, and we have our share of that, but after adding KLANG, I barely had questions during the show. I think I had one or two requests a night, which is unheard of for a band with ten musicians”  

The ultra-fast, powerful FPGA architecture of DMI-KLANG enables 16 immersive in-ear mixes, with 64 channels available per mix, so it was a natural progression to offer the unused mixes to the crew. By the end of the tour, Knigge had control of ten musician mixes, a cue mix, a stage technician, three backliners and one guest mix that was used by the Pyrotechnic technician when not in use for guests. The whole tour team benefitted from the enhanced sound of KLANG’s immersive mixes, improving everyone’s experience, on stage and behind the scenes.

“Backline mixes are usually done at the last minute, and they’re not really thought through because no one ever has time. Simply putting the crew’s existing mix into 3D has already improved things so much,” Knigge concludes “Using KLANG makes me really happy. The band loves it and my job is now much easier compared to how it was before. I am pretty sure that KLANG is here to stay and will be our system of choice for many more tours.”