Having set out in mid-October 2017, Justin Moore’s Hell On A Highway tour continues into 2018 with dates in more than 40 cities across the US.

Touring in support of his 2016 album Kinda Don’t Care, the singer and songwriter has scored seven number one singles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and in 2014 won the New Artist Of The Year title at the Academy Of Country Music Awards. His eponymous debut album and follow-up release Outlaws Like Me both went double platinum in the US while third album, Off the Beaten Path, achieved gold status.

Special Event Services is the audio contractor for the tour, deploying part of its extensive Outline inventory – LR hangs of 12 GTO C-12 modules with a single, wide-dispersion GTO-DF down-fill cabinet flown at the base of the array. Six Outline Lab 21 HS subwoofers per side provide the lows, while six Outline LIPF-082 dedicated stage lip-fill enclosures cover the seats immediately in front of the stage.

Moore’s long-standing engineer Jeff Oliver is manning the FOH console and clearly enjoying touring with SES’s Outline system: ‘When it comes to mixing Justin Moore every night, I want a system that faithfully represents what I’m sending to it and it’s no surprise that Outline’s GTO C-12 never disappoints.’

‘Our show is very dynamic in design, as it ebbs and flows from slower ballads to straight out heavy rock-and-roll country. These dynamics require a PA system that is precise during the quiet, intimate songs as well as in the hardest hitting moments. With more than 700 shows under my belt mixing Justin, I’ve never come across another system that has the sonic accuracy and headroom of Outline’s GTO C-12 – I know that when I step up to the console every night, even without a soundcheck, I can push up my VCAs and be where I was the night before.

‘Not only do I enjoy the creative side of mixing, but the science of audio engineering has always piqued my interest,’ he continues. ‘Line array technology has come a long way in the past 20 years, with Outline at the forefront of the industry. Like its big brother GTO, which we’ve carried before on more than 80 dates, C-12 has many superb features of which my favourite is Outline’s HF horn and waveguide. Phase response is linear right across the frequency range of the system and over the entire venue. Every seat in the house can experience the same sound quality as I do at FOH. Even fans in the back of the venue over 300 feet away can feel like they’re right in front of the stage.

‘Another great characteristic is the interaction between the left and right channels, as you can be far off of centre and still hear a great stereo mix. I’m also a big fan of Outline’s GTO-DF down-fill cabinet – attached to the bottom of the main array and with 120-degree horizontal dispersion, it’s the perfect complement to cover the entire front section of our audience.’

‘We chose Outline GTO C-12 over the larger GTO for this tour due to weight and height restrictions in some of our theatre venues, but GTO C-12 has ample headroom to handle our larger arenas as well. The system is easily deployed, and also so well designed for trucks – the entire rig fits in 22ft of truck space.

‘Mixing a concert for me is about conveying a feeling to the audience,’ he concludes. ‘Whether it’s a grooving bass and kick drum rhythm that has people jumping up and down and dancing in their seats, or a singer belting out a sustained high note at the pinnacle of a song, we as engineers help move people. Outline GTO C-12 helps me achieve that goal without compromise.’

‘The Outline C-12 has quickly become one of my favourite systems to work with,’ adds SES’ Andrew Steelman, who is Systems Engineer on the tour. ‘Upon first spending time with it I was quite surprised at how similarly it behaved to its bigger brother, the 15-inch GTO. The voicing of the two boxes is extremely close and many times I forgot that I was not listening to the C-12’s bigger brother. On a daily basis I very rarely had to do any system equalization above 1kHz – the top end response was smooth, natural and very pleasing to the ear.

‘The low frequency output of the 12-inch drivers in the C-12 is quite potent and at first I was a little concerned about the jump from a 12’ driver to the 21-inch driver in the Lab 21 HS sub. After several shows of seeing and hearing the C-12 easily reach down to 40Hz, my doubts were no more. The C-12 is a very strong and powerful PA that is extremely transparent. You get out what you put into it, and that is the ultimate goal.’