Joe Nichols Finds a Home

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 by Mike Taylor

CTS was recently given the opportunity to begin providing audio support for Joe Nichols.  Joe, who is up for “International Artist of the Year”, through the CMC Music Awards needed an upgrade to handle his increasing stage needs.  Michael Houlihan, Joe Nichols’s Tour Manager, came to CTS Audio to see if we could help alleviate the ever growing needs at the monitor console and to see what options they may have.  Knowing that this system had to fit into a trailer behind a bus, we knew we would have weight and space issues already.  CTS had recently purchased a fully loaded Venue Profile and no sooner had we assembled this package, we able to find a client that fit the system perfectly.  CTS Audio was able to deliver the upgrade to monitor engineer Josh Collins from an Avid SC-48 to an Avid Profile giving Josh the outputs and plug-in capability needed to handle such a complex band.

Using a minimal amount of plug-ins and having basically no output needs, FOH engineer Eric Elwell was able to do what he needed on an Avid SC-48 to help keep the truck pack down in size.  We then sent in a few of our technicians to see how we could help with some of the patching and multi cable connections to simplify the process.  What we came up with was a system that can be handled by 2 Technicians and be set and ready for a show with a minimal effort.  “After working 16 hour days consistently through the week, we need to keep our focus on the boss.  CTS Audio makes it easy to focus on the job at hand, not how the gear fits together and whether it will work”, says FOH Engineer Eric Elwell.

When we get new clients who are carrying stage and console packages and need to adapt to different venues consistently, we really get creative in creating a package that fits them exactly.  We made a lot of custom pieces for this tour, and I feel very proud of the system they are touring with.  There is no standard cookie cutter approach that should be taken to an artist; each system needs to be designed to fit their specific needs.  That is something that makes us clearly different than today’s large conglomerate companies, and something that will continue to define where we are going with our clients.