Across November and December, Concorde Audio Productions supplied the touring audio package for The Greatest Christmas Show on its inaugural run, supporting two troupes travelling throughout Australia and New Zealand.
We were engaged to provide sound design for the production, which meant we were able to create the content for exactly the technology that would be delivering it to audiences. This, combined with a thorough overview of the requirements from both the producer’s perspective as well as what the musicians would need, meant there were no surprises throughout the process.
Once the show hit the road, the tour moved quickly between venues during a busy end-of-year period, often with limited access time and a wide range of in-house systems that needed to be integrated with the touring rig. The priority was consistency: ensuring the show sounded the same night after night, regardless of the room or its limitations.
The production travelled with a self-contained audio control, playback, and mics package (including RF and IEMs), which meant a consistent signal flow, gain structure, and monitoring setup for performers at every venue. Playback and network infrastructure were fully redundant, with primary and secondary playback machines and paths running concurrently, allowing seamless failover of show-critical elements without impacting the performance.
This show also made use of some key VST plugins running in a live environment providing some specific reverbs and tonal control that wouldn’t otherwise have been achievable.
Venues ranged from small rooms through to 5,000-capacity theatres and arenas, with installed PA systems and setup configurations varying widely. By keeping the touring control system unchanged, time could be spent ensuring the show was adapted acoustically to each room without wasting time rebuilding routing or show files each day.
Good touring audio comes down to repeatability and speed of deployment. For The Greatest Christmas Show, this approach allowed the tour to move efficiently through a demanding November-December schedule while maintaining reliable playback, RF performance, and consistent audio quality throughout.
