Mixing SNL50: The Homecoming Concert for Broadcast

New York, NY (May 6, 2025)—SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, marking five decades of Saturday Night Live at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in February, was a complex live production, but Music Mix Mobile (M3) was up to the challenge.

Joel Singer, co-founder of M3, and his team were responsible for broadcast sound on the event. “This was a massive production, not only in terms of the artist lineup but also from a technical perspective. We had to accommodate a vast number of sources and deliver an impeccable mix. Lawo consoles were central to making that happen,” Singer explains.

The lineup featured the Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile, Chris Martin, Cher, David Byrne, Dave Grohl, DEVO, Eddie Vedder, Jack White, Jelly Roll, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Post Malone, The B-52s, The Roots, Snoop Dogg and many more.

M3 deployed its two mobile units, Phoenix and its flagship truck, Eclipse, each equipped with a Lawo mc²56 console. These mixing systems provided the necessary capacity to manage the 448 mic preamps needed for the production—224 on each desk. “We used fiber exclusively, no copper at all, running everything through Lawo’s interfacing systems,” Singer notes. “This not only ensured the highest audio quality but also helped us avoid grounding issues, which can be a concern.”

M3 has been a Lawo user for years, with a fleet that includes six Lawo consoles, including mc²56 models in its trucks and an mc² 56 flypack—the first immersive flypack M3 has deployed.

For far more detail into the production, check out Mix’s April cover story, SNL50 Concert Brings It All Back Home.