FOH Engineer Peter Thompson makes use of Soundcraft Vi7000 digital mixing console for Modest Mouse’s Lonesome Crowded West tour sound.
New York, NY (February 28, 2023)—Marking the silver anniversary of its now-revered sophomore album The Lonesome Crowded West, indie legends Modest Mouse just lately hit the street to revisit the gathering, taking part in it in complete each evening together with extra fan faves and rarities. Along for the journey was FOH Engineer Peter Thompson, on-hand to combine a really totally different band than the one he first labored with…a number of months in the past.
“Modest Mouse was a seven-piece throughout my first run with them final summer time,” stated Thompson. “This Lonesome Crowded West tour was a four-piece and all guitar amps, no digital profilers or something, so the entire setup was very analog.”
Well, not all of it. While the pared-back band mirrored a back-to-basics strategy in comparison with their latest excursions, its live performance stay sound was likewise easy, but it surely was additionally digital as Thompson enlisted a Soundcraft Vi7000 digital mixing console with a Vi Stagebox and Realtime Rack Core for the trek.
Thompson noticed the selection of desk as a no brainer, given the circumstances: “The solely problem was battling the ambiance of the stage, getting the guitars to venture and nonetheless have room for vocals. I’ve been utilizing Vi consoles for a very long time, since 2007 or so, and I’ve used them with Steely Dan and Bob Seger and several other different old-school acts utilizing amps and screens, so I took it to the front-of-house for this tour as a result of it’s my go-to desk.”
Equipped with as much as 128 inputs, 32 mono/stereo busses and enhanced 96 kHz 40-bit floating level digital audio processing, the Vi7000 was designed to supply a simple stay mixing expertise. “The Vi7000 addressed how I prefer to work,” defined Thompson. “I’ve executed a number of totally different sorts of issues with the Vi setup and it’s so simple, easy and quick. The greatest plus is that it’s very fast to navigate—like once I have to do fast panning and whatnot for sure songs, I program the pan knob to be proper there in entrance of the faders. The ergonomics of the desk is very nice—and it’s not that I don’t use different desks as effectively, however I nonetheless preserve coming again to the Vi.”
Marking the silver anniversary of its now-revered sophomore album The Lonesome Crowded West, indie legends Modest Mouse just lately hit the street to revisit the gathering.
In addition to the Vi7000, the Soundcraft Vi Stagebox supplied Thompson with an additional 64 mic/line inputs and 32 analog line outputs for extra flexibility and routing choices. Thompson additionally utilized a Soundcraft Realtime Rack Core for entry to results and plug-ins by Universal Audio, which the band often required even with their scaled-down setup.
“The Realtime Rack is mainly built-in into the Vi system, which is nice,” added Thompson. “I used it for the Lexicon reverb and a few easy compression on the vocals, however I didn’t use a heck of plenty of it on this explicit run. I used the Realtime Rack quite a bit with the common Modest Mouse tour, although, as a result of Isaac would have distortion results and issues like that that aren’t constructed into the Vi. But for probably the most half, all of the parameters like comps, gates and EQ work to the purpose the place I usually don’t want extra plugins. Everything I want is already constructed into the desk.”
FOH Engineer Peter Thompson makes use of Soundcraft Vi7000 digital mixing console for Modest Mouse’s Lonesome Crowded West tour sound.
New York, NY (February 28, 2023)—Marking the silver anniversary of its now-revered sophomore album The Lonesome Crowded West, indie legends Modest Mouse just lately hit the highway to revisit the gathering, taking part in it in complete each night time together with further fan faves and rarities. Along for the trip was FOH Engineer Peter Thompson, on-hand to combine a really completely different band than the one he first labored with…a couple of months in the past.
“Modest Mouse was a seven-piece throughout my first run with them final summer season,” mentioned Thompson. “This Lonesome Crowded West tour was a four-piece and all guitar amps, no digital profilers or something, so the entire setup was very analog.”
Well, not all of it. While the pared-back band mirrored a back-to-basics strategy in comparison with their current excursions, its live performance dwell sound was likewise easy, but it surely was additionally digital as Thompson enlisted a Soundcraft Vi7000 digital mixing console with a Vi Stagebox and Realtime Rack Core for the trek.
Thompson noticed the selection of desk as a no brainer, given the circumstances: “The solely problem was battling the ambiance of the stage, getting the guitars to mission and nonetheless have room for vocals. I’ve been utilizing Vi consoles for a very long time, since 2007 or so, and I’ve used them with Steely Dan and Bob Seger and several other different old-school acts utilizing amps and screens, so I took it to the front-of-house for this tour as a result of it’s my go-to desk.”
Equipped with as much as 128 inputs, 32 mono/stereo busses and enhanced 96 kHz 40-bit floating level digital audio processing, the Vi7000 was designed to offer a simple dwell mixing expertise. “The Vi7000 addressed how I prefer to work,” defined Thompson. “I’ve executed a number of completely different sorts of issues with the Vi setup and it’s so simple, easy and quick. The largest plus is that it’s very fast to navigate—like after I must do fast panning and whatnot for sure songs, I program the pan knob to be proper there in entrance of the faders. The ergonomics of the desk is very nice—and it’s not that I don’t use different desks as effectively, however I nonetheless preserve coming again to the Vi.”
Marking the silver anniversary of its now-revered sophomore album The Lonesome Crowded West, indie legends Modest Mouse just lately hit the highway to revisit the gathering.
In addition to the Vi7000, the Soundcraft Vi Stagebox offered Thompson with an additional 64 mic/line inputs and 32 analog line outputs for extra flexibility and routing choices. Thompson additionally utilized a Soundcraft Realtime Rack Core for entry to results and plug-ins by Universal Audio, which the band sometimes required even with their scaled-down setup.
“The Realtime Rack is principally built-in into the Vi system, which is nice,” added Thompson. “I used it for the Lexicon reverb and a few easy compression on the vocals, however I didn’t use a heck of lots of it on this specific run. I used the Realtime Rack quite a bit with the common Modest Mouse tour, although, as a result of Isaac would have distortion results and issues like that that aren’t constructed into the Vi. But for probably the most half, all of the parameters like comps, gates and EQ work to the purpose the place I typically don’t want further plugins. Everything I want is already constructed into the desk.”
POOLgroup’s workforce with a few of its new Meyer Panther audio system.
Emsdetten, Germany (February 22, 2023—POOLgroup has taken the plunge in the case of buying loudspeaker techniques for touring and occasions, because it was introduced the German manufacturing firm has purchased almost 200 of Meyer Sound’s flagship Panther large-format linear line array loudspeakers.
The new buy encompassed 192 Panther loudspeakers, 166 1100-LFC low-frequency management components, 82 Leopard compact linear line array loudspeakers, and 20 Galileo GALAXY Network Platforms.
POOLgroup, beneath its authentic title of Westfalen Sound, has been utilizing Meyer Sound techniques since 2005. “We have a really excessive stage of belief in Meyer Sound,” Carl Cordier, one in all POOLgroup’s two managing companions. “Meyer Sound’s experience extends from primary analysis to the wonderful particulars of producing. But ultimately, it’s a business consideration. We have all the time produced a strong return on our investments of their merchandise.”
Citing Panther’s power-to-weight ratio, compact dimension and self-powered facets, he famous, “These will not be simply sonic benefits but in addition clear benefits in occasion logistics.”
POOLgroup often provides audio techniques for the huge Parookaville Festival. Photo: Robin Böttcher
The techniques might be put to good use for a wide range of initiatives, notably the upcoming pageant season. “We usually serve not less than seven festivals,” mentioned POOLgroup’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Oliver Ohrndorf. “With that form of dedication, when coupled with excursions and company occasions, it may be tough to fulfill all our tools necessities. While up to now it was potential to lease tools over an extended time frame, at this time’s market now not reliably gives this feature. With this new acquisition, we are actually in a good higher place to tackle the European legs of main world excursions, backed by applicable logistics with our personal vehicles and extremely expert crews.”
Meyer Sound techniques from POOLgroup have supported excursions by artists equivalent to Volbeat and David Guetta in addition to the World Club Dome, Parookaville, and KPOP.FLEX festivals. Corporate shoppers served by POOLgroup embody BMW Group, Samsung, and Deutsche Telekom, whereas governmental occasions embody the G20 and G7 summit conferences.
POOLgroup is headquartered at Emsdetten in northwest Germany, with extra workplaces in Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart.
POOLgroup’s staff with a few of its new Meyer Panther audio system.
Emsdetten, Germany (February 22, 2023—POOLgroup has taken the plunge in terms of buying loudspeaker methods for touring and occasions, because it was introduced the German manufacturing firm has purchased almost 200 of Meyer Sound’s flagship Panther large-format linear line array loudspeakers.
The new buy encompassed 192 Panther loudspeakers, 166 1100-LFC low-frequency management components, 82 Leopard compact linear line array loudspeakers, and 20 Galileo GALAXY Network Platforms.
POOLgroup, below its authentic title of Westfalen Sound, has been utilizing Meyer Sound methods since 2005. “We have a really excessive stage of belief in Meyer Sound,” Carl Cordier, one among POOLgroup’s two managing companions. “Meyer Sound’s experience extends from primary analysis to the nice particulars of producing. But ultimately, it’s a industrial consideration. We have all the time produced a stable return on our investments of their merchandise.”
Citing Panther’s power-to-weight ratio, compact dimension and self-powered features, he famous, “These aren’t simply sonic benefits but additionally clear benefits in occasion logistics.”
POOLgroup recurrently provides audio methods for the large Parookaville Festival. Photo: Robin Böttcher
The methods will probably be put to good use for quite a lot of initiatives, notably the upcoming pageant season. “We sometimes serve at the least seven festivals,” stated POOLgroup’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Oliver Ohrndorf. “With that form of dedication, when coupled with excursions and company occasions, it may be tough to satisfy all our tools necessities. While up to now it was doable to lease tools over a protracted time frame, at present’s market now not reliably supplies this feature. With this new acquisition, we are actually in a fair higher place to tackle the European legs of main world excursions, backed by applicable logistics with our personal vehicles and extremely expert crews.”
Meyer Sound methods from POOLgroup have supported excursions by artists comparable to Volbeat and David Guetta in addition to the World Club Dome, Parookaville, and KPOP.FLEX festivals. Corporate purchasers served by POOLgroup embrace BMW Group, Samsung, and Deutsche Telekom, whereas governmental occasions embrace the G20 and G7 summit conferences.
POOLgroup is headquartered at Emsdetten in northwest Germany, with extra workplaces in Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart.
Chicago’s long-running Metro Club recently upgraded its in-house concert sound audio system, first with the PA and more recently with a pair of new consoles for FOH and monitors.
Chicago, IL (February 16, 2023)—Over its four-decade history, the Metro Club in Chicago has gone through thousands of acts, hundreds of engineers and a fair amount of live sound gear, too. Since the pandemic began to cool off, the venue’s hosted acts like Metallica, Green Day, and Fall Out Boy, all of which got to perform through a new PA installed during lockdown. That audio upgrade highlighted a need to refresh the club’s console situation, and now that, too, has been rectified.
“In 2021, we changed everything about the PA—except the actual audio consoles,” recalled installer John Wagner of Ayre Productions. “They inquired about Allen & Heath’s dLive platform, so we set them up with a demo.” The team eventually decided to purchase two dual-screen dLive C3500 surfaces, along with a pair of CDM48 MixRacks. Both systems are each equipped with AES output cards, which allow them to feed the venue’s amplifiers using digital AES/EBU signals.
“We’re a small venue that hosts a lot of big acts,” explained Ben Gordon, the Metro Club monitor engineer, “so we’re always trying to minimize our footprint without sacrificing functionality. dLive hit all the marks for us.” Justin Yates, who runs front of house, added, “We get a lot of guest engineers, some of whom aren’t familiar with digital consoles. With dLive, it’s easy to get them up to speed and mixing a show in a couple of minutes. Guest engineers are really excited to see the dLive consoles; even the folks who bring in their own console are curious and want to play around with a dLive.”
The key to interviewing legendary FOH engineer Frank Gallagher, host of Soundman Confidential, is to not interrupt, because much like an extended guitar solo, every story is headed somewhere unexpected—like this one, which starts off in late-1970s New York City.
“Manhattan—this was my old hood here. The B-52s, Talking Heads and The Ramones had the same manager; Broadway and 57th was the office. I lived on 85th and Columbus; the Bs used to be sent out as our opening act and we did shows in Central Park at Wollman Rink. I used to skate there every day in the winter—walk to Wollman Rink and then go to the office if I needed to. We played the Wollman Rink with the B’s and the next day, the New York Times had a glowing review of Talking Heads and how it sounded.
[John Rockwell wrote in the August 18, 1979 edition, “The same sound system that had exposed the B-52’s served the Heads superbly, revealing new subtleties in their textural ideas, and providing new confirmation of their success in evolving gripping, interesting live versions of songs….”]
“Talking Heads also played there in 1980, and I will tell you as a soundman—whoa! Talking Heads were very secretive and back then, there’s no cell phones, no faxes; the word would come from the office. I got a call: ‘10 o’clock tomorrow morning, Brit Row rehearsal.’ Britannia Row, Pink Floyd’s sound company, had a warehouse out in Long Island City. I get to Brit Row and there’s Bernie Worrell from Funkadelic. There’s Busta Jones, another bass player. There’s Adrian Belew. There’s Nona Hendryx. There’s Steve Scales, the percussionist. And I walk in on that! That’s how I found out about ‘the big band!’ As artists, Talking Heads were very protective of what they were doing and their thinking was, ‘If it don’t work, we don’t want anybody knowing it didn’t work.’ But I had no idea it was coming. I thought, ‘Get on with it. I’ve got a mixer, a box of mics, we just go at it.’ The whole sound for that nine-piece band was sculpted in one day.
“The first show we played with the big band was Heatwave Festival—60,000 people in a field in Canada—and the second show was Central Park. I’m thinking to myself, ‘Oh my God, what are we gonna do with this,’ but you just do it. The only thing I remember was Adrian Belew saying to me—and I usually hated notes from artists—Adrian said to me, ‘Frank, just make sure that everything I play sails over Central Park,’ and that was how I mixed that show—made it sail.’ Some of it’s on the live album, The Name of This Band is Talking Heads.
“Later that year, we were in Paris, set up at the Baltard Pavilion. U2 were the support, but their van broke down in Calais. Again, no cell phones in those days; they showed up with just guitars and drumsticks, and said, ‘Where can we get gear?’ I pointed at the stage and said, ‘Right there.’ They used Talking Heads’ gear as it was and played the show. And they’ve never forgotten.
“Years later, I was in Dublin with Buddy Guy—I toured with Buddy for years—so I called up Paul McGuinness, their manager. I said, ‘Is the Edge in town?’He said, ‘He is.’I said, ‘He should come down and see Buddy.’ And McGuinness said, ‘Well, why would he do that?’ I said, ‘He’ll get a free guitar lesson!’”
Frank Gallagher, seen here line-checking the B-52’s at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, has started his own podcast, Soundman Confidential, to explore the artist/engineer relationship.
New York, NY (February 9, 2023)—Frank Gallagher has a keen ear for two things—mixing a band and telling a story—and with a resume that includes engineering Talking Heads, Simple Minds, The Go-Go’s, The Bangles, Gang of Four, Buddy Guy, Suzi Quatro, Marshall Crenshaw, Skunk Baxter and dozens more on the road, he’s done a lot of one, which has led to a lot of the other. Blessed with a wry sense of humor and a Scots accent that sounds like a sly grin, there are few things he can’t get away with saying—which may explain his longevity in the field.
“I tell bands, if you’re not giving me what I need, there’s no point in me being here— you may want to find somebody else, because I’m not going to sit here and suffer and do damage control,” said the veteran FOH engineer, speaking backstage at New York City’s Beacon Theatre during a recent stop on the B-52’s farewell tour. “This band here, I’m going to give them notes tonight on the show last night. I’m a socialist when it comes to a show—we’re all equal, we’re all in this together!”
Gallagher’s Live Sound CV is epic—there’s also stints running a hip London eatery in the Seventies, helping open and book New York’s legendary Irving Plaza in the Eighties, production managing San Francisco’s annual OysterFest for 16 years, doing corporate audio to this day and more—but in recent times, he’s added another occupation to the list: Podcast host. An offshoot of an autobiography in the works, Soundman Confidentialfinds him talking to old pals and acquaintances, from rockers (Vernon Reid, Davey Johnstone and virtually all the aforementioned artists) to fellow audio pros (Ed Stasium, Steve Lillywhite).
“Originally, the premise was to explore the relationship between the soundman and the band,” he said. “How does what we do get in us— because sound is in us. I remember this vividly: I was three years old, living in a little Scottish mining village. Every year, the traveling fair would come by, and that was the first loud music I heard; it had to be loud to get over the hum of the generators. The speakers were big [Altec Lansing] Voice of the Theater models and they had these Vortexion amplifiers—metal, military-grade P.A. amplifiers that looked like an ammo case and were indestructible.”
The lure of loud sounds eventually snared Gallagher for good (“I got in a van in 1966 and never got out”) and by the early 1970s, he was mixing Suzi Quatro around the world on three prototype WEM six-channel mixers daisy-chained together and WEM Festival Stacks: “Incredibly clean, and you could do 4,000 people with a couple of bins; they’d blow the ice cream outta your cone.”
Moving on to work at UK audio provider Concert Sound, Gallagher was immediately sent to start a tour in Switzerland: “They couldn’t get anyone to do it; they said, ‘Pick up these two American bands in Zurich’—and it was Ramones and Talking Heads. Ramones had a full crew; Talking Heads had no roadies, no music out in Europe, nothing. The second man on the P.A. got to mix the opener, so I set them up at the Volkshaus in Zurich, and barely got a line check. They opened the doors, the place was sold out. Talking Heads came on stage, and first song, I was busy getting a mix. Second song, I began to pay attention. Third song, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up—‘Psycho Killer? What is this?!’
“True story: I went back to the hotel after the show, barely knew them, had a wee production meeting with them. I had a cup of tea and I said to Chris and Tina and David, ‘I have no idea what’s going on here— but I want in.’ Instant decision. I don’t believe in coincidences. Fate takes a hand, but you’ve got to be smart enough to take advantage of it; I’ve never been shy about letting people know. Talking Heads brought me to New York for a couple of shows at the Entermedia Theater in New York’s East Village; by that time, they had graduated from CBGBs. We started playing up and down the Eastern seaboard, and in America, I got used to using house systems, which I did not have the luxury of in England; I was so happy!”
The decades that followed found Gallagher moving to the U.S. permanently and honing mixing philosophies that he follows to this day:
“I believe in keeping it simple. I tell people it’s because I’m lazy, but that’s not the truth. I’m keeping it simple because I’ve learned the less there is, the less that can go wrong.”
“I never listen to the record. If I’ve got preconceived ideas about what’s going to come off the stage and it doesn’t meet expectations set by the record, that’s not really a good place to start. Also, I’m a realist: I have to deal with what’s coming off the stage because that’s all I have.”
“When I go into a house these days, I don’t touch the house settings because the guy’s usually got it dialed and why would I want to reinvent the wheel? Also, I want an easy day.”
“I don’t go over the top with effects. I’ve got one little reverb on drums and one on vocal—and if you can hear them, you’re lucky. I want it to be there without anybody knowing it’s that there, but when you take it away, you can tell.”
“Rock and roll bands are like buses: There’ll be another one along in a minute. Once you get a couple of names on your resume, people think it means something; it doesn’t. You’re only as good as your last show.”
For the B-52’s tour, he adhered to all of those rules and more (“I don’t work for anybody with more than a two-truck tour anymore; the personalities, I don’t want to be dealing with all of that”). For the journey, he opted to mix on a Yamaha CL5 console using only onboard effects (“Never owned a Waves license”), capturing vocals on Shure wireless mics outfitted with Heil PR 30 capsules (“They give me another 10 dB before feedback over anything I’ve heard”).
The jaunt capped off a busy 2022 that saw Gallagher also mix runs with Gang of Four and Skunk Baxter, as well as tech at multiple corporate events. “Post-Covid, people are working again,” he said. “Hugo [Burnham], the drummer from Gang of Four, called and said, ‘Do you want to come out?’ I was quite enjoying being at home—Flagstaff is beautiful—and my wife said, ‘Get out of the house; go do this tour.’ And I’m not gonna say ‘my mojo,’ but my mix is back with a vengeance.”
The B-52’s tour may be over, but Gallagher will see them soon enough, helming the desk for their upcoming Vegas residencies in May and August; more runs with Baxter and Gang of Four, as well as Indian artist L. Shankar, are also in the offing. It’ll be a hectic year ahead, which suits him just fine. “I’ve lived a charmed life,” he admitted. “I’m from a little coal mining village in Scotland, got pulled in by the fairground, and had a restaurant in the middle and a dance hall in Manhattan, so I’m not afraid of anything really. Except my wife. Sometimes.”
Engineer George Adrian will have his Allen & Heath dLive at every stop on the upcoming Maggie Lindemann tour.
Los Angeles, CA (February 7, 2023)—Punk pop singer Maggie Lindemann has a busy year ahead of her, as she kicks off an international tour in support of her 2022 album Suckerpunch. Hitting the road in March, she’ll careen around the U.S., Australia and Europe as she headlines clubs, hits festivals and supports Machine Gun Kelly at different points. Along for the ride will be audio engineer/tour manager George Adrian, who will have his personal Allen & Heath dLive surface and MixRack at every stop.
A fan of the compact form factor, Adrian bought himself a 20-fader dLive C2500 surface and a CDM64 MixRack just before the COVID pandemic; for the Lindemann tour, he’ll use it to simultaneously run both front-of-house and in-ear monitors. “I try to use minimal compression for in-ear mixes,” said Adrian, “so that means double-patching some of the inputs and sending a different processed version to the front-of-house mix.”
He’s already expecting to use dLive’s DEEP plugin package heavily, the new Dual Threshold Expander (“I use it on basically all my channels”) and the DYN8 Dynamic EQ for things like lead vocals and kick drums. “I like to be able to boost certain frequencies only when that frequency crosses a set threshold,” he said, “and avoid just boosting everything in that signal at that frequency all the time, like you would with a static EQ.”
Adrian also has a Dante card installed in his dLive, explaining, “Using Dante, I can get audio to and from my SMAART rig, I can record multitracks, and also run Virtual Soundcheck. On this run, we’re gonna have limited time before each performance; we have to get a soundcheck done pretty quickly, so I can check the IEM mixes without the artists actually playing on-stage.”
Social Distortion monitor engineer Bill Black at his DiGiCo SD12 96 desk.
Los Angeles, CA (January 30, 2023)—Social Distortion has always had an analog kind of sound—punk with everything from rockabilly to Americana thrown in—but for the Mike Ness-led band, it’s more than a vibe; it’s an ethos. Back in 2010, the group talked to Mix about tracking on tape even as it mixed on Pro Tools. That mindset extended to the road as well, and it’s only in the last year that digital has become part of the band’s live package.
“The band is set up for all rock & roll—no computers, not even any wireless except for their in-ears, which are kind of recent,” says Bill Black, Social Distortion’s monitor engineer, who says that he “inherited” the band’s analog gear when he came aboard. “I was cool with it. It’s the nature of the band and I love analog’s sound.”
However, Black, who is also a staffer at RAT Sound, brought along a DiGiCo SD12 96 and an SD-Rack for Social Distortion’s November to January run, provided by the tour’s SR provider, Eighth Day Sound/Clair Global, and it’ll be there as the band heads to Australia and New Zealand in February, co-headlining with Bad Religion.
The relatively recent addition of in-ears—JH Audio IEMs used in conjunction with a Shure PSM 1000 wireless system—have helped the band’s onstage monitoring but have changed its aural environment, attenuating the excitement of the crowd noise onstage. To compensate, Black assigns particular ambient microphones into Ness’ and other band members’ in-ears, using the SD12’s routing and snapshots to give them a specific tonality for each song.
“I have one bank for Mike and I can give him the crunch and sustain he wants to hear onstage as an insert in his monitor channel, along with some great room sound,” says Black. In particular, he says, the DiGiTube emulator on the Channel Setup panel, which allows for the emulation of the non-linearities of a tube guitar amplifier, has been helpful. “I got into this about halfway through the tour and it’s changed my whole approach,” he says. “I can put those on the guitar and bass channels and color the sound any way they want it. We’re doing big rooms and smaller rooms, plus some outdoor shows, but I can give them the analog sound they want in the monitors consistently in any environment.”
Social Distortion monitor engineer Bill Black at his DiGiCo SD12 96 desk.
Los Angeles, CA (January 30, 2023)—Social Distortion has always had an analog kind of sound—punk with everything from rockabilly to Americana thrown in—but for the Mike Ness-led band, it’s more than a vibe; it’s an ethos. Back in 2010, the group talked to Mix about tracking on tape even as it mixed on Pro Tools. That mindset extended to the road as well, and it’s only in the last year that digital has become part of the band’s live package.
“The band is set up for all rock & roll—no computers, not even any wireless except for their in-ears, which are kind of recent,” says Bill Black, Social Distortion’s monitor engineer, who says that he “inherited” the band’s analog gear when he came aboard. “I was cool with it. It’s the nature of the band and I love analog’s sound.”
However, Black, who is also a staffer at RAT Sound, brought along a DiGiCo SD12 96 and an SD-Rack for Social Distortion’s November to January run, provided by the tour’s SR provider, Eighth Day Sound/Clair Global, and it’ll be there as the band heads to Australia and New Zealand in February, co-headlining with Bad Religion.
The relatively recent addition of in-ears—JH Audio IEMs used in conjunction with a Shure PSM 1000 wireless system—have helped the band’s onstage monitoring but have changed its aural environment, attenuating the excitement of the crowd noise onstage. To compensate, Black assigns particular ambient microphones into Ness’ and other band members’ in-ears, using the SD12’s routing and snapshots to give them a specific tonality for each song.
“I have one bank for Mike and I can give him the crunch and sustain he wants to hear onstage as an insert in his monitor channel, along with some great room sound,” says Black. In particular, he says, the DiGiTube emulator on the Channel Setup panel, which allows for the emulation of the non-linearities of a tube guitar amplifier, has been helpful. “I got into this about halfway through the tour and it’s changed my whole approach,” he says. “I can put those on the guitar and bass channels and color the sound any way they want it. We’re doing big rooms and smaller rooms, plus some outdoor shows, but I can give them the analog sound they want in the monitors consistently in any environment.”
