Inter BEE 2025
Nov 19, 2025 – Nov 21, 2025
Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan
Tech Trust will be exhibiting Sound Devices Mixer-recorder products on booth no. # 2410 (Hall 2)
Author: mattwaddell
Lights Aims for the Stars with Sound Devices Astral
TORONTO, CANADA, October 30, 2025 — Since 2008, Canadian multi-hyphenate Lights has brought listeners on a unique musical journey through an ever-evolving blend of electropop, alternative rock, and dance music. 2025 proved to be one of her most ambitious touring circuits yet – headlining dates across North America as well as making appearances at several international music festivals in support of her critically-acclaimed release, A6. To ensure top-quality performances throughout the tour, Lights and her audio team, Monitor Sound Engineer Andrew ‘Slipper’ Brown, and FOH/PM Chris Kaplinski have invested in a versatile wireless infrastructure capable of delivering on any stage she sets foot – Sound Devices Astral.
Fresh connections across the live circuit
A charismatic performer with a flair for rearranging material on-the-fly to suit the venue or audience, Lights is constantly finding fresh ways to connect in the live environment. A major part of the success of this approach has been an active, creative back-and-forth with Slipper and Kaplinski to ensure her ability to express herself anywhere in the venue without constraints on the monitoring environment or impact on the sonic output to FOH. “Our working relationship [with Lights] is very strong because she’s such an inspiration – she’s one of the most driven, creative artists I’ve ever worked for,” says Kaplinski. “It’s our goal to replicate the sound of the record while still leaving room for the performances to evolve or change as she sees fit.”
“We want a very adaptable, and most importantly scalable setup that can be equally effective in a large club as it is on a massive festival stage.”
The evolving nature of the performances also applies to the size and locations of the gigs. From intimate fan-pop ups, to the largest stages of her career. Being able to deliver on all stages at a high level is top priority, and Lights and her team have prepared accordingly. “I’ve had the privilege to witness this arc happen a few times, and Lights is at the point in her career where the opportunities are coming and we’re demonstrating our ability to match some very high level productions,” explains Slipper. “It’s all about being able to jump into any configuration or size of venue and deliver a flawless technical experience for the artist on all fronts.”
“We’ve made it our business to operate at that level already in terms of our expertise and experience, and we’ve made wise gear choices to guarantee the sort of high-quality audio and multiple fail-safes that are expected at this level,” he continues. “Sound Devices Astral has become a big part of that.”
‘Good, clean wireless every day without the stress’
Kaplinski and Slipper built the latest Lights wireless rig around a Sound Devices ARX16 True-Diversity Wireless Receiver with Spectraband after being introduced to the Astral product line by the team at GerrAudio Distribution early in 2025. The pairing proved perfect for the duo’s dream of a compact, wireless toolkit that could work on every stage the tour hit, and beyond. “It was immediately impressive in terms of form factor, but the thing that got us right away was how much of a full-featured toolbox it was in terms of features and technical specs,” says Slipper.
“We’re able to roll up to a show, scan and quickly with no other hardware required, deploy clean frequencies, and offer a consistent, quality wireless signal no matter where we’re playing that night. The wide bandwidth capability, 169MHz – 1500MHz offers so much flexibility and really is a massive stress relief entering hostile wireless environments.”
“We’re really hitting a diverse range of venues now, from massive festival stages, to 2500 cap rooms, to smaller places in more remote locations,” he continues. “Being able to maintain a super high level of consistency regardless of the situation is exactly what you want in that situation, and with Astral, we get that.”
“What’s incredible is that all that capability fits into a 1RU Rack Shelf that I can carry on the plane in a Pelican 1510 case! We can fly it anywhere, plug in, and have the confidence of knowing that we’ll be good to go no matter what.”
On the performance end, Lights sings through a customized Astral HH Digital Wireless Handheld Microphone with an SE V7 MC1 Capsule that was introduced during tour rehearsals. The improvement in fidelity showed an immediate impact in the artist’s performance. “Lights is very dialed into microphones and she notices the smallest details in terms of response,” Kaplinski says. “We knew it was a good sounding microphone when we tested it through a cheap mixer in the rehearsal space and it already sounded great. Things got even better when we customized a model for her and paired it with the DiGiCo Consoles that we used on the tour. That opened up the top end even more so, and then we knew we were winning.”
“We’re in a great position in this partnership,” Slipper adds. “The combination of our shared experience with having the tools to operate at that level means we can deliver a consistently great show and match the drive that Lights brings in every day.”
“Stepping out of North America and going International, we have to be able to set it all up in 30 minutes and deliver the highest quality production we can,” Kaplinski concludes. “Having the confidence of knowing you can run as such, makes all the difference, and Sound Devices Astral gives us that added guarantee.”
All photos by Veronique Giguere
Products Mentioned
Chris Welcker Brings Heightened Naturalism to Sinners with Sound Devices Scorpio and Astral Wireless
New Orleans, LA, October 29, 2025 — Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has been one of the most unique and memorable box office hits in recent memory. The film’s masterfully entertaining blend of action, suspense, and Southern gothic horror has resonated with critics and audiences alike while also attracting considerable attention for its technical achievements – specifically being shot in film for IMAX and the impressive ‘twin-work’ of star Michael B. Jordan as brothers ‘Smoke’ and ‘Stack’ Moore. A key aspect of Sinners’ atmosphere is the film’s relationship with sound – a heightened naturalism that draws the viewer into both the creeping eeriness of the film as well as the infectious energy of its ample, period-correct musical numbers. Emmy Award-winning production sound mixer Chris Welcker of Catgut Sound [Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, Daisy Jones and the Six, Queen & Slim] and his team were responsible for threading the needle of these two extremes on the production, for which he relied on Sound Devices 8-Series and MixPre Series recorders as well as Astral Wireless equipment.
Sound mixing for IMAX
One of the primary challenges of shooting films for IMAX is navigating around the mechanical reality of the cameras required – the noise of which typically requires ADR. In this case, Chris employed the use of sound only recordings to be done where the actors would perform without the camera running for audible dialogue recordings. Adding into that the complication of re-shooting scenes for Jordan’s multiple roles required a uniquely collaborative environment for Welcker and his team, Boom Operator and Music Playback Operator Ryan Farris, Primary Utility Sound Person Emily Poulliard, and Fill-In Boom and Utility Sound Person Charlie Nascagni to capture the dialogue and ambient sound in as natural a way a possible.
“This was an incredibly involved project for Sound Mixing because of all of the different layers we were responsible for,” Welcker explains. “We really had to be close with the director and script supervisor to create a fluid, seamless environment that would still allow the actors to perform comfortably while capturing everything we were responsible for at the highest possible level of quality.”
“We were all committed to coming up with effective solutions to accomplish what the production needed.”
The process required Welcker to think like an editor and devise a flexible capture system that could deliver high-quality audio at a moment’s notice while also offering flexible routing options for the captured audio. Welcker’s primary recorder for the production was his Sound Devices Scorpio as well as a mini-cart built around a Sound Devices 833 and SL-2 Wireless Module for exterior work and an Astral A10 Rack for Wireless via Dante. “The Scorpio is still the center of what I do, but we made use of the 833 and MixPre 6 for different situations depending on what was needed,” he says. “A major factor in Sound Device recorders that is extremely helpful to me and especially so on Sinners was the ability to route audio to different bus mixes and have so much control over what we could send, be it Analog or Dante.”
“For the twin work with Michael, we would prerecord audio from the previous take with the body double and then map it to cues of the footage with ADR beeps. Having the flexibility to route the audio to Ableton Live and then chop things up and play it back through the recorders and out of speakers gave us a system that could work quickly and preserve the energy of the take.”
“It gave us so much flexibility for some of the crazier tasks that would have been impossible to do without it,” he continues. “We put those features to the test when it came to the music shoots.”
Grit, energy, and ambiance
Music plays a major role in setting the ambiance of Sinners, from an early impromptu blues guitar performance that takes place in a moving Model T, to the lively song-and-dance numbers at the juke joint, to the final, mournful full-band performance by blues legend Buddy Guy. All of these performances were captured live, and similarly required a similar level of cooperation between Welcker, his team, composer Ludwig Gӧransson, executive music producer Serena Gӧransson, and music editor Felipe Pacheco. A musician himself with ample experience in live performance, Welcker and his team worked to dial into the grit and energy required to give these scenes maximum authenticity.
“In addition to doing justice to the music and the performers, a big element was watching the energy and intensity of what you were seeing on screen to heighten the ‘feel’ of it without making it sound unnatural,” Welcker explains. “As difficult as it could be at times technically, we had a lot of fun capturing the performances and getting all of those ambient elements – stomping feet on wooden floors, background yelling for the juke joint scenes – together. Once again, it helped to have these really powerful, compact Sound Devices units so we could be physically closer to the action without being an obstruction to the shoot, with track count determining what was used in a given scenario.”
“Often we paired this with the MixPre 6 for ambisonics and sound effects capture, which gave us even more to share with the post team and provide elements for Atmos mixing. It really allowed us to be naturalistic while still achieving everything we needed to in a technical sense.”
“Ultimately this was one of the most exacting productions I’ve ever worked on in terms of what was required technically, but at the same time, one of the most creative,” he concludes. “The camaraderie of the group really came together to create a very special film, and the Sound Devices gear gave us everything we needed to solve some very unique challenges.”
To learn more about Chris Welcker and Catgut Sound, please visit: https://www.catgutsound.com/
Products Mentioned
Atlanta Mixer Mixer 2025
Nov 7, 2025 – Nov 9, 2025
Atlanta, GA, United States (US)
Join Sound Devices for the 2025 Atlanta Mixer Mixer, Friday, November 7th to Sunday, November 9th!
Friday
- 11am–5pm: Manufacturer workshops at the IATSE Local 479 Union Hall
- 7:30–11:30pm: Kickoff Party at Gotham Sound Atlanta
Saturday
- 9am–2pm: Manufacturer workshops at the IATSE Local 479 Union Hall
- 2–10pm: Food, Fun, & Fellowship Potluck hosted by Media Team at Encyclomedia
Sunday
- 9am-10am: Sound Devices workshop with Paul Isaacs and Laura Sillanpää at the IATSE Local 479 Union Hall
- 10am–4pm: Manufacturer Meet & Greet at IATSE Local 479 w/ presentations, demos, and prizes
- 5–8pm: Wrap Party at Trew Audio
IATSE Local 479 is located at at 4220 International Parkway #100. All events there and elsewhere are open to the public.
RSVPs are requested for the workshops and the expo, but not required.
More details below and use our sponsored ride code MIX25GOTHAM with Lyft to help you travel safe during the festivities
NAB New York
Oct 22, 2025 – Oct 23, 2025
Javits Center, New York, New York, United States (US)
Visit Sound Devices at Booth 552 to experience the latest in Astral Wireless, 8-Series, and more.
See Astral Wireless firmware v8.20 and 8-Series v11.00 in action:
- Astral v8.20 delivers the most expansive feature set ever, including support for multiple NexLink antenna locations via the Astral Outpost network, enabling extended NexLink coverage and more!
- 8-Series v11.00 introduces the new CL-16 Waveform view.
Don’t miss this opportunity to see the next-level of audio technology firsthand!
Introducing Astral v8.20: Over-the-Air Firmware Updates, Multiple Astral Outpost Network Support, Frequency Exclusions, and Major Web App Improvements.
Astral v8.20 introduces the most impactful and expansive feature set ever released for the Astral Wireless Products, it brings support for the use of multiple NexLink antenna locations via Astral Outpost network, enabling expanded NexLink coverage.
This update also introduces a new over-the-air firmware update feature, frequency exclusion regions, our patent-pending TV-Channel Finder, a whip antenna length tool, and a wide range of web app usability improvements.
To download firmware v8.20, please click this link to the product download page.
Multiple Astral Outpost Network Support
New in v8.20: The Astral ARX16 and ARX32 receivers now allow you to connect up to 8 Outposts for seamless command and control of your transmitters across extended NexLink coverage—from dressing rooms to the far end of the venue and everywhere in between.
TV Channel Finder
The new TV Channel Finder automatically detects and displays TV channels—gray regions with overlaid numbers—helping you avoid assigning frequencies within their 6, 7, or 8 MHz bandwidth.
Whip Antenna Length Menu
Introducing the Whip Antenna Length menu: select your frequency range, and your Astral Receiver instantly shows the exact length to cut—fast, accurate, and always on hand in the field.
Web App: Updated RTSA
You can now see each receiver channel’s Q, and we’ve added our audio meters per channel—so you don’t have to jump between RX Views and the RTSA anymore.
Select a meter and a compact control panel automatically appears allowing you to toggle your transmitters’ Power, RF, and Mute all without leaving the RTSA view.
Web App: Receiver Channel View
The updated receiver channel view now includes RSSI level and duration scales in the RF History—click the duration scale to adjust it in real time—and clearer Antenna A and B labeling on the RSSI meter bars.
New in Firmware v8.20
Huge Web App Improvements:
- Added keyboard entry for channel frequencies
- Added new 1RX View ‘Select TX’ menu to manage multiple transmitters that are assigned to the same channel.
- Added ‘dBm’ and duration scales to the RF History plot in the 1RX View.
- Added duration shortcut in the duration scale of each 1RX View’s RF History plot.
- Added –70dBFS to audio meter scales.
- Added antenna A/B labeling to each antenna RSSI meter bar in 1RX Views.
- Improved RF > Antenna Mode map graphics.
- Added new 8RX row view in the Home tab.
- Improved expand (+) and collapse (-) RX channel row functionality in the Home tab.
- RTSA now shows transmitter names vertically to prevent names overlapping with neighboring transmitters.
- New RTSA Meters mode for displaying Q + Audio Meters. Roll mouse over the meters to display the compact TX control panel with Power, RF, and Mute On/Off buttons.
- More responsive audio and RF metering.
New Astral Outpost Features:
- Multiple, up to 8, Outposts can now simultaneously control and monitor Astral transmitters.
- Outposts can now wake up transmitters that have been powered off for > 4 hours.
- Added support for distributing timecode via NexLink.
New Features for Astral ARX Receivers:
ARX16 & ARX32
- Support for simultaneous NexLink communication via multiple Astral Outposts.
- Support for distributing timecode to transmitters via NexLink from Astral Outposts.
- New firmware update menu includes the ability to wirelessly update Astral transmitter firmware.
- Ability to abort wireless pairing and exit the TX List’s wireless pairing screen.
- Frequency Exclusion Regions – the ability to exclude specified frequency ranges from the AutoAssign and manual assign process.
- TV Channel Finder algorithm for detecting and displaying 6, 7, or 8 MHz TV channels in the RTSA and Scan Views.
- New Whip Antenna Length tool. Select a frequency range to display a real-size graphic to assist in cutting whip antennas to the correct length.
Astral ARX8
- New firmware update menu includes the ability to wirelessly update Astral transmitter firmware.
- Ability to abort wireless pairing and exit the TX List’s wireless pairing screen.
- Added Frequency Exclusion Regions – the ability to exclude specified frequency ranges from the AutoAssign and manual assign process.
- Added TV Channel Finder algorithm for detecting and displaying 6, 7, or 8 MHz TV channels in the RTSA and Scan Views.
- Added new Whip Antenna Length tool. Select a frequency range to display a real-size graphic to assist in cutting whip antennas to the correct length.
New Features for Astral Transmitters:
- Added the ability to wirelessly update Astral Mini, TX, and HH firmware from an Astral receiver.
Astral Remote Improvements:
- Added Group NexLink On/Off toggle switch.
- A20-TX Remote is now Astral Remote
Updates & Improvements in Firmware 8.20
Astral ARX16 & ARX32
- NexLink re-connection and stability improvements
- Improved audio performance at the edge of RF range and better interference resistance
- Main Menu icon color changes for consistency across all Astral Receivers and web apps.
- Astral TX or Astral HH transmitter control button option ‘GPIO’ has been changed to ‘Control’. The Control option can be used to trigger Macros or GPIOs.
- Accessing the Web App RTSA now goes directly to the last viewed band’s RTSA.
- RF History now runs in the background – it no longer resets when switching views.
- Fixed inaccurate RF History duration and accuracy.
- T&M modulation high-frequency phase drift no longer occurs.
- Normal + Peak Hold and Average + Peak Hold added to the RTSA Trace Type option list.
- Dante and Control network port MAC addresses are now displayed in the Network Menu.
- 1RX View > Audio Outs > Aux On/Off toggle can now override/disable the TX Aux On state.
- Default static IP is now different from the Astral ARX32 and Outpost.
- 75-ohm termination switch added to the Timecode menu. This applies to rear panel LTC/WCK BNC input.
- In RF Mirror mode, if the Secondary unit takes over control due to the Primary failing, it no longer switches back to the Primary when the Primary comes back online.
- Added option for the RF Mirror Secondary unit to use the Primary’s Outposts or its own local Outposts.
ARX8
- NexLink re-connection and stability improvements
- Improved audio performance at the edge of RF range and better interference resistance
- Main Menu icon color changes for consistency across all Astral Receivers and web apps.
- RF History now runs in the background – it no longer resets when switching views.
- Fixed inaccurate RF History duration and accuracy.
- T&M modulation high-frequency phase drift no longer occurs.
- Added missing Scan Width button to Scan view.
ARX2
- Receivers now report the correct TX battery level in long range mode
Astral Wireless Manuals
- PDF and online manuals have been updated to reflect the changes listed above.
- These can be found on the product download pages.