Jars of Clay Upgrades to Aviom A360 Personal MixersAviom personal mixers have been a required component in the Jars of Clay touring setup since 2003. The band also has an Aviom personal mixing system installed in their studio. Now, after the band's release of its first independent album, Inland, on their new label, Gray Matters, they have upgraded their Aviom personal mixers that they take on tour to the new A360 personal mixers. In the studio Jars of Clay uses an AN-16/i-M mic input module to send audio to an A-16D A-Net distributor and then to their individual A-16II personal mixers. The A-16D distributes both power and audio to each of the A-16IIs. According to Matthew Odmark, Jars of Clay's rhythm guitarist, banjo player, and harmony vocalist, "We rarely need more than six or so channels in the studio setting. Live, however, is really where we have integrated our Avioms to their fullest potential and where we use them most." On the road, the band had been using a combination of A-16II personal mixers and A-16R rack-mounted personal mixers with A-16CS control surfaces. The band travels with a Yamaha DM1000 that they use for a monitor console. Among the cards installed in this console is an Aviom16/o-Y1 A-Net card that sends 16 channels from the console to an A-16D Pro A-Net distributor and then to the personal mixers. In the past, the drummer, the cellist, and the keyboardist, Charlie Lowell, all used A-16IIs. Odmark, along with Dan Haseltine, the lead vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Mason, all used the A-16R and A-16CS combination to simplify their connections to their wireless in-ear monitors. Now the entire band is using the A360 personal mixers. With the new network mix back feature, made possible with the use of Aviom's new D800 A-Net distributor that started shipping this month, the connection to wireless in-ears remains simple. Each A360 connected to the D800 can send a stereo mix back to the D800 and can be output via an AN-16/o v.4 output module for connections to the wireless in-ear transmitters. The A360 personal mixers also provide more mix controls, specifically designed to improve the experience of those who use in-ear monitors. Guitarist Odmark says, "One word on the new personal mixers: wow. They are very cool. I was unprepared for such a large step up in sonic experience, and all the new features are so useable . . . such great improvements to an already essential item." 
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