Zach Williams was out on a solo, headlining tour when the COVID pandemic began to peak. Though the remaining shows for the year were cancelled, Williams still yearned for the live stage and delivering his gift of song to fans. The Christian country/rock star, together with Big Daddy Weave, organized the “Drive-In Theater Tour.” Though social distancing protocols required smaller crews, which also meant less gear on stage, Williams’ FOH and monitor engineers were in agreement that the DPA d:facto and 2028 Vocal Microphones were essential to the performances.

“We had one 20×24 SL100 mobile stage, definitely smaller than what we’re used to, and all of the attendees would park and stay in or near their car,” explains Carson Brannock, monitor engineer for Zach Williams. “I didn’t even realize there were this many drive-in theaters still operating in the country, but we did about 30 separate tour stops. From an operational perspective, the biggest difference on our end was that we didn’t advance any local stagehands in order to keep the crew consistent throughout. No one was allowed backstage, not even family, so we did everything on our own. It was a bit of an adjustment, but we got into a flow that worked fairly well. It was definitely different than the normal setup and atmosphere than we’re used to, but it was really cool.”