Italy – Tony Pitony’s concert at the Milan Hippodrome was both entertaining and musically impressive, featuring an interesting setup centred around an agile Allen & Heath Avantis console which enabled the monitor engineer to meet every request throughout a long and demanding summer tour.
The vibrant live performance at the Milan Hippodrome provided the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at the work of monitor engineer Andrea “Pit” Tosi and the technical choices behind Tony Pitony’s live production.
Introduction: Monitoring, the hidden heart of a live show
If the PA system and Front-of-House tell the story of the show to the audience, monitoring tells it to the artist. It’s the often-unseen work that allows performers on stage to feel comfortable, stay in tune, maintain timing, and deliver their best performance night after night.
Behind every flawless in-ear or wedge monitor mix is a monitor engineer who knows the artist inside out. They understand the repertoire, vocal habits, and the common surprises that can arise on tour.
Andrea “Pit” Tosi’s role: Tailored monitoring for a long and demanding Tour
Tony Pitony’s concert at the Milan Hippodrome is a particularly interesting example, with the show combining entertainment with strong musicianship, built around an unconventional setup featuring Allen & Heath’s highly versatile Avantis console.
As one of the longest and most demanding tours of the summer season, Tony Pitony’s tour required a monitoring system that was stable, responsive, and reliable enough to keep pace with a busy schedule, last-minute setlist changes, and the many requests coming from the stage each night.
In his interview with Show Gear Network, Andrea “Pit” Tosi discusses the technical decisions that helped create a monitor mix capable of delivering:
- Stable and precise monitoring, both for wedge and in-ear systems
- Fast handling of song-to-song changes typical of a high-energy show
- A streamlined and efficient console workflow, enabling every on-stage request to be addressed, even during the longest tour dates
Allen & Heath Avantis: At the heart of the monitoring setup
At the centre of the monitoring system was the Allen & Heath Avantis digital mixing console, a 64-channel mixer expandable to 96 channels and powered by the XCVI FPGA engine, the same technology found in the company’s flagship dLive series.
Among the features that made Avantis a strong choice for live monitoring, and that explain the agility highlighted throughout the show, are:
- Ultra-low latency of just 0.7 ms, essential for a natural-feeling in-ear mix
- dLive-class audio processing, delivering professional-grade sound quality and flexibility
- A powerful combination of physical controls and touchscreen operation, enabling a fast and intuitive workflow even under the pressure of a live performance
Why Avantis was the right choice for this tour
For a monitor engineer, fast access to key parameters is just as important as audio quality. During a long and demanding tour such as Tony Pitony’s, the ability to recall scenes, adjust mixes, or make channel changes in just a few touches can mean the difference between smoothly resolving an issue and jeopardising the show.
Tosi highlighted how the combination of dedicated physical controls and the Avantis touchscreens make console operation feel more intuitive, reducing reaction times during the performance and allowing greater focus on refining the mix, show after show.
A brief look at FOH
If monitoring is the voice the artist hears on stage, Front of House is the voice the audience hears out front. While these two mixes are created to serve very different purposes, they need to remain closely aligned to ensure a consistent and successful show from start to finish.
Allen & Heath’s Avantis proved more than capable of keeping up with the pace of the tour, reinforcing its reputation as a reliable solution not only for monitor engineering but for live sound mixing as a whole.
Conclusion: Technology in service of the show
Tony Pitony’s concert at the Milan Hippodrome demonstrates how even the most entertaining and energetic productions are supported by meticulous technical planning and execution, capable of sustaining the demands of a lengthy summer tour.
Thanks to the insights shared by Andrea “Pit” Tosi and the contribution of Show Gear Network, Allen & Heath’s Avantis once again proved itself to be a powerful, agile, and dependable solution for live monitoring applications.
