Lights Aims for the Stars with Sound Devices Astral

Evolving pop artist conquers touring and the festival circuit with versatile wireless setup

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

To learn more about Sound Devices Astral Wireless, please visit: https://www.sounddevices.com/astral/

About Sound Devices:
For more than 25 years, Sound Devices has created premier audio equipment that helps sound professionals capture superior audio. The company's products have been used for an array of applications, from award-winning feature films and television shows, to live events, houses of worship, and educational applications. Sound Devices designs, assembles, and supports its products at their Reedsburg, Wisconsin, headquarters and their Madison, Wisconsin, and Rickmansworth, UK, offices.

For more information, visit www.sounddevices.com.