For her first-ever arena tour, Kali Uchis wasn’t content with just dazzling visuals—she wanted every seat in the house to feel like the front row of a private session. The solution? A wall of JBL speakers, Crown amps, and one very determined audio crew who turned cavernous arenas into something shockingly close to a recording studio.
This was a big leap for Uchis and her longtime FOH engineer Danny Muñoz, who’s been mixing her sound since the club days. Instead of just “making it loud,” the team built a system so precise you could practically hear her thinking (Muñoz actually joked about that). "Even with Kali in front of the PA and fans screaming at 110 dB, the system stays cohesive. I just want it to feel like two huge studio monitors in the space, and that’s what it does," said Muñoz in a statement.
The gear list reads like an audiophile’s dream:
- 72 JBL VTX A12 line arrays
- 52 A8s for fills and 270° hangs
- A small army of subwoofers (24 flown S28s + 16 ground-stacked B28s)
- Crown amps powering it all like the musical equivalent of a rocket launch
When the production designer added a thrust and B-stage, the audio crew took the chance to sneak speakers underneath and around them. That meant fans pressed up against the catwalk didn’t just see Uchis up close, they heard her voice locked in right where it should be.
Systems engineer Chris “Cookie” Hoff also rolled out JBL’s Venue Synthesis software to virtually map the sound before showtime. The payoff? Balcony fans weren’t listening through a blanket, they got the same clarity as the people on the floor.
But tech aside, the magic came from the crew, the people climbing, cabling, and tweaking all day so Uchis could step into the spotlight at night. Their effort made the difference between a “big show” and a seamless experience. And judging from the flood of social posts praising the clarity, fans noticed.
Photo credit Amaury Nessaibia
