Allen & Heath SQ console supports complex live mixes for Sacramento Mandarins drum corps

Background and context

The Sacramento Mandarins, a long-established drum and bugle corps founded in 1963, compete at the highest levels of Drum Corps International (DCI) and regularly perform on full-size football fields. Their shows combine more than 100 performers, extensive brass and percussion, and electronic instruments spread over a wide performance area.

Managing sound for this kind of moving ensemble poses very different challenges from typical concert or theatre work. Audio teams must deal with long distances, changing formations, complex RF environments, and the need to keep acoustic and electronic elements coherent for audiences in stadium seating.

Since 2023, audio engineer Griffin Law has led the Mandarins’ sound team, overseeing live mix duties and supervising production staff during performances.

Key announcement

To address the demands of mixing a large, mobile ensemble, the Mandarins have standardised their front-of-house setup around an Allen & Heath SQ digital mixer, supplemented by a CQ-20B used as a dedicated submixer for keyboard percussion. According to Law, the shift came after the group’s previous console proved limiting in how it handled groups, buses, and the large number of outputs required for field-wide coverage.

The CQ-20B feeds multiple stereo outputs into the SQ and is controlled remotely via tablet, giving the team a compact way to manage the synthesizers and mallet keyboards that anchor much of the corps’ electronic content.

Law cites the SQ’s routing and patching workflow as a primary benefit for this application, particularly its matrix-style patching screen. He notes that the X/Y grid layout makes it quicker to train seasonal staff and volunteers who rotate through the audio team, while still supporting complex signal paths.

Instead of using a single main stereo mix, the Mandarins rely heavily on post-fade aux buses to feed distributed speaker systems across the field. The main layer on the SQ effectively becomes a master control for those sends, with customizable fader banks used to keep critical channels immediately accessible.

Law also uses the console’s SoftKeys and Soft Rotaries to create dedicated communication paths with ensemble coordinators and synthesizer players, routing talkback via nearby stageboxes when needed.

Industry impact

The Mandarins’ deployment highlights how marching and pageantry arts are adopting digital console features that were once associated primarily with touring and installed sound. Functions such as per-channel input and output delay, scene recall, and flexible aux structures are now being used to solve problems unique to large outdoor performance areas.

RF coordination is another major factor. At DCI events, multiple corps share similar wireless frequency ranges. Law’s team performs detailed RF planning before each performance to avoid interference, reflecting a broader trend toward more sophisticated spectrum management in live events.

Time alignment remains critical when instruments move more than 100 feet during a show. The SQ’s ability to apply delay on every input and output helps the Mandarins manage phase relationships between multiple speaker stacks, on-field microphones, and the acoustic sound of an 80-plus member brass section.

The corps uses around 30 scenes during a 12-minute production, automating changes such as which microphones are active, level adjustments between brass and electronics, and how different speaker zones are fed as the show evolves.

Why this matters

For event technology professionals, the Mandarins’ workflow illustrates how mid-format digital consoles are being pushed into roles that demand both flexibility and speed. Seasonal staff, rapidly changing performance environments, and tight rehearsal schedules mean systems must be intuitive to operate while still offering detailed control.

The approach also underscores growing expectations for audio quality in outdoor, large-scale pageantry. Audiences now expect a mix that reflects the nuance performers hear on the field, even when listening from high in the stands. Balancing reinforced brass, field microphones, and electronic sources to achieve a coherent sound image is becoming a core competency for audio teams working in this sector.

Law’s practice of monitoring from the field while a second engineer listens from the press box, communicating via RF directly into his headphones, further shows how distributed roles and communication tools are being integrated into show control.

More information on Allen & Heath’s SQ and CQ digital mixers is available on the company’s official website at allen-heath.com.