DiGiCo Quantum 338s for Halsey's Back to Badlands World Tour

	(l-r) Schyler Blackman Shannon Fitzpatrick (audio tech), James Butera

Front-of-house engineer James Butera has been touring with Halsey since 2023, and Schyler Blackman, monitor engineer, has been with them for almost a year. Both engineers are enjoying the DiGiCo Quantum 338, supplied by Clair Global for the singer's Back to Badlands World Tour, which ran from October through February.

The switch to DiGiCo Quantum 338s happened in 2023, after a catastrophic failure of Butera's previous console. The desk failed at the top of his very first show with Halsey and, coupled with compatibility issues, he switched to a different manufacturer. His main concerns were stability and compatibility with the existing Dante playback system. As a bonus, he could streamline the audio rig with DMI Dante cards, reducing rack space too.

"DiGiCo's I/O flexibility and stability were the two big selling points," Butera recalls. "We cut the amount of rack space and gear in half when we switched to DiGiCo and we no longer started festival set changes with, 'Hold on, I need to power cycle,' which was great! Global availability is also excellent. Every festival you walk into, it's a DiGiCo, which is reassuring. There are a lot of administrative details that make DiGiCo an easy choice for a global act.

"I think all the major players have great-sounding consoles," Butera continues. "It's like Porsche versus Ferrari. They're both beautiful cars and they both go fast, At some point, it becomes a personal preference, but there are definitely some shortcomings in terms of flexibility if you leave the DiGiCo ecosystem. There is so much flexibility, all the network options on hand are great. Built-in Dante on the Quantum 112 looks really good, DiGiCo is just really hard to beat."

Communication between consoles is also improved with a DiGiCo ecosystem. Blackman can quickly share data from the monitor position with the console send/receive functionality, via the Optocore loop. This function is available to any consoles on the loop and removes the need for additional multicore runs by easily assigning any send as a latency free port, instantly visible to other consoles via the network.

"I've been flitting in and out with DiGiCo since 2015, depending on whether I get to choose, obviously," Blackman explains. "It's the flexibility, stability and reliability that really stand out. No matter where you're at in the world, whether it's Topeka, Kansas, or London, you can find a DiGiCo somewhere close. I was on a gig this summer in Seattle and one of the cards in our stage rack developed a fault; we discovered it at power-up and within 20 minutes we had another one on-site from a local audio vendor. That's not always the case with all manufacturers. Just being able to source parts on the rare occasion where something does go wrong is amazing."

"I like having the IO flexibility too, DiGiCo is friendly with everything," Blackman says. "I'm using a LiveBox, a bunch of outboard gear and Dante. Having one system that is compatible with all of the different players in the game is really, really nice."

"The support is pretty impressive, we were doing a show in Minneapolis and needed some help," Butera adds. "Matt Larson, Group One vice president was travelling home at just the right moment and he jumped off the plane to come straight to us. The commitment is amazing, the DiGiCo team just can't get enough!"