Four Year Strong standardises touring setup with Allen & Heath SQ-5 console
Background and context
US rock band Four Year Strong is heading into a busy 2026 touring cycle with a focus on making its live sound consistent from venue to venue.
With eight studio albums, including the 2024 release Analysis Paralysis, the band is scheduled for a spring run supporting The Devil Wears Prada, plus slots at Welcome to Rockville and the 2026 Vans Warped Tour, among other dates.
To manage that workload, the production team has adopted a compact, repeatable front-of-house setup built around a 48-channel Allen & Heath SQ-5 digital console.
Key announcement
Rather than relying on whatever console is provided in each venue, Four Year Strong now travels with a pre-configured, flyable mix system centred on the SQ-5.
Front-of-house engineer Jonah Kay said the goal is to reduce variables from show to show. With the same desk and layout every night, he can focus more on the room and the performance, and less on adapting to different control surfaces and routing schemes.
The SQ-5’s size and feature set appear to be a key factor in that decision. The desk offers enough inputs to cover the band’s channel count while remaining small enough to travel easily between tour legs and festival dates.
A built-in 32-channel USB interface is central to Kay’s workflow. He records multitrack audio from every show directly to a laptop, which serves both as an archive and as source material for virtual soundchecks at subsequent venues.
Custom fader layers are another tool he relies on to streamline operation, allowing him to group and arrange channels according to his own preferences rather than a fixed surface layout.
Processing is largely handled on the console itself. Kay makes use of Allen & Heath’s DEEP processing options, including 16T compressors on vocal and snare groups, a bus compressor on drum groups, and tube-style preamp models for added colour on selected channels. By running paired vocal paths — one clean and one with tube saturation — he can switch or blend textures without external hardware.
SoftKeys on the SQ-5 are programmed for fast access to certain mix changes. For example, Kay uses them to switch preamp settings and move between mono and stereo guitar presentations, widening the image in choruses and tightening it back down for verses.
Industry impact
Four Year Strong’s approach reflects a broader shift in touring audio practice, where compact, self-contained FOH rigs are increasingly common across club, theatre, and festival circuits.
By carrying a consistent console and show file, engineers can minimise setup time, reduce reliance on in-house gear, and maintain a recognisable sound signature despite varying PA systems and room acoustics.
The emphasis on onboard recording and virtual soundcheck capability is also in line with trends across the live sound sector. Multitrack capture is now used not only for live releases and social media content but also for refining mixes in challenging venues and training new crew members.
At the same time, Four Year Strong keeps its production relatively lean in terms of automation. The band occasionally uses click tracks, but performances are largely playable without in-ear systems or playback, using amps and wedges as a fallback. This hybrid approach balances technological control with resilience if parts of the system fail.
Why this matters
For touring acts and production professionals, Four Year Strong’s setup underlines how mid-format digital consoles like the Allen & Heath SQ-5 can anchor a touring rig that is both portable and capable.
The combination of configurable control surfaces, integrated recording, and onboard processing enables smaller touring productions to achieve a level of consistency previously associated with larger, more complex systems.
As the 2026 tour season builds, similar flyable FOH packages are likely to remain attractive for bands navigating mixed schedules of club shows, support slots, and major festival appearances.
Further technical details about the SQ series consoles are available via Allen & Heath’s official website at allen-heath.com.
