Maluma is a Columbian Reggaeton mega-star with an eye for detail. The first choice for his 2025 Maluma+Pretty+Dirty worldwide arena and stadium tour had to be a DiGiCo. Front of house engineers German Tarazona and Rudy Rosales Cuéllar, chose the DiGiCo Quantum 338 with Pulse upgrade, supplied by Clair Global, for both the monitor and front of house positions.
Over recent years, Maluma has enjoyed huge success, filling stadiums globally and massing huge numbers of followers and listens across all his social media platforms. His collaborations include singles with Madonna, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Karol G, The Weekend and many more.
Tarazona has been working with Maluma for seven years, starting on monitors, now working at the front of house position, and Rosales Cuéllar joined them at the monitor position last year. The consoles provide an elegant workflow and all the audio processing the pair need to deliver Maluma’s signature sound to between 12-18,000 people per night on their extraordinarily popular tour, including a sold-out night at London’s O2 Arena in this March.
“It’s a massive, important arena tour, which continues over the summer with dates across Mexico,” Tarazona expands. “We started building it in November 2024 with our musical director, Miguel Martez, who is very dedicated to audio. We upgraded our two Quantum 338 consoles to Pulse because we needed extra resources.
We connect to a DiGiCo Orange Box on the Optocore loop between the two consoles, the Orange Box is used for the sequencers via MADI. We don’t have any analogue to digital conversions between the sequencers and the band, the whole protocol is digital. This offers us spectacular stability and makes full use of the DiGiCo ecosystem.”
Rudy Rosales Cuéllar manages 16 stereo mixes at the monitor position, so ease of console workflow is paramount to his process. He relies upon the console effects, using Mustard Processing and Spice Rack to their full potential. With the upbeat vibes of Maluma’s Reggaeton style, keeping up and maintaining the high energy is his top priority.
“My workflow is very simple and I use a lot of internal compressors, both for colouring and for dynamics,” Rosales Cuéllar says. “The Mustard Processing and Spice Rack makes me very happy, I have multiple options and I can play with different processors to see which one works best for us, which can also be a problem as you never finish creating! The Spice Rack is phenomenal. It’s a reggaeton show. It has a lot of good energy, so I don’t want to cut it off. With Spice Rack, I can keep it under control without it being too compressed. Maluma is someone who is super committed to the development of not only the technology, but also the show itself, so we work hard to make it perfect.”
Maluma leads the audio team, working hand in hand with Tarazona to ensure that his concepts become reality. The pair will listen back to recordings together, fine tuning microphone choices and developing the shape of the live audio so that the whole team can be sure they are heading in the right direction, as Tarazona continues.
“Maluma is a young artist with a strong interest in technology,” he says. “He challenges us to be better, so the flexibility of the DiGiCo consoles has been a very important differentiator for me. The possibility of alternative inputs, the speed of the Macros and Snapshots all make it a calm and pleasant experience behind the console. The integration is also exactly what I need; if I want to use Fourier, or analogue systems, I can. Any kind of protocol is possible, Dante, MADI, AES, nothing is a problem.”
Another feature of DiGiCo consoles the team greatly appreciate it the global network of consistent and reliable support.
“The console has become a really spectacular hub to achieve the sound I want. I feel that quality is number one,” Rosales Cuéllar says. “Wherever I use my Quantum 338 Pulse, I know what to expect, from input to output. I always know how a microphone should sound, so if something doesn’t sound right, I know the problem is between the stage and the stage rack, because from the stage rack to my ears, I’m always going to hear the same thing. For me, consistency and global support is important, especially when you’re on tour. If you have any problems, you have someone to turn to and a quick response.”
Having switched consoles only a few years ago, developing this relationship with DiGiCo and the network of global partners, offering quick and effective support, whenever it is needed, has been a more than a bonus for Tarazona, as he concludes.
“For me, the most important thing is support and the understanding that my problems arise during the hours when everyone else is resting. So, for me, field support is essential, and I have it through DiGiCo or Clair Global at any time, and that has been spectacular.”
