Live: Lady Gaga
Abstract (summary)
Benzuly
describes an Oakland (California) Arena performance by entertainer Lady Gaga. Live sound engineering is
discussed, and front-of-house technician Horace Ward talks about his role,
which he says is "invisible." He and monitor (speaker) engineer Ramon
Morales share their techniques, discuss equipment, and the challenges they face
in mixing sound for the live shows.
Full Text
Lady Gaga
is an experience. The performer. The artist. The musidan. The fashion icon. The
brand. And when "Mama Monster" hits the stage, all her little
monsters in the Oakland Arena (Oakland, Calif.) eagerly pumped their paws to
the sky in time with her chart-topping hits such as "Telephone,"
"Paparazzi" and "Poker Face." In part evoking a dance club
atmosphere while quieting down for softer moments where she tickles the ivories
for "You and I," the Lady Gaga Monster tour is part visual spectacle
- replete with numerous costume changes, each more interesting than the
previous - and part true musicianship of Gaga and her 12-piece band
But for
front-of-house engineer Horace Ward, he humbly says that his role in the
concert's production is more "invisible." "A concert is a
feel," he explains. "When you go to a club, you feel the music. It's
the same thing here. There are visuals that take your eye, but you still feel
the music. It's supposed to be that enhancement. It brings you closer to the
stage, closer to the artist. The better the sound, the closer the artist seems
to you. If you go away and say that guitar kind of hurt, you're distracted by
the sound; there should be no distractions like that. When you look at the P.A.
and wonder what's going on up there, then you're taking your eyes away from the
stage. I've got to be as loud as I can because it's that club-type feel - big
low end - but your eyes are supposed to be wandering around the stage. When you
look at an instrument, you're supposed to hear it. That visual thing is what
it's all about."
While
Ward may be taking a backseat role in the concert's experience, it's his deft mixing - coupled with that of
monitor engineer Ramon Morales - that truly makes a Lady Gaga show exciting and
great-sounding.
A
Pre-Owned Rig
Both Ward
and Morales came onto the tour later on the run (the arena dates are an
offshoot of the previous theater gigs) and adopted their respective setups from
the previous FOH and monitor crew. Ward is mixing on an Avid VENUE Profile, a board he consulted on with
the company. (For more on that collaboration, see the sidebar, "VENUE
Input.") Prior to setting foot on the tour, Ward was emailing desk files
with the previous engineer to adapt the setup to his way of mixing, though those changes were
limited. "You can't redo the console without redoing a lot of other
things," Ward explains. "All of my effects would have changed, and I
would have had to sit down for two days and really go through it, but I don't
have that time" as he started on the second show of the tour.
Morales
is mixing on a DiGiCo SD7,
a first for him. He's using the board's 80 inputs, with band effects and
authence mies (four 414s and two shotgun mies strategically placed around the
lip of the main and B stages) taking up the majority of that number; he works
with wireless tech Bill Flugan to ensure that all wireless signals are up and
running. The band is on Sensaphonics inears, while Gaga wears JH Audio; all mixes are straightforward.
However, when Gaga takes to an instrument, Morales brings that instrument up in
her ears enough for her to hear it, but at the same time, "I have to make
sure it does not overpower everything else in her mix," he says. "Her voice is her main
instrument, and I have to make sure that she can always hear herself, the
instrument that she is playing and the rest of the band onstage with her."
For
effects, he's going the onboard route, and using Waves MultiRack (taken MADI
through the desk) on vocals. He also uses a TC Electronic System 6000 for
Gaga's vocals and drums. "We have Gaga's mie inputs going through UA 2-610
preamps, just to warm it up a little," Morales says.
Ward is
also using all onboard plug-ins (Waves, McDSP, Sony Oxford); because the board
is Pro Tools-based, he is able to mix
the show in a similar fashion as to how they did tracks in the studio. Granted,
Ward was not present during those recording dates, but he takes a similar
approach to his live mix.
"Nowadays, you have to plan the mix
like you're doing an album. For example, the vocal chain, where you're using
compressors and various dynamic compressors within the chain, EQ, et cetera.
[With a digital console,] a lot of stuff that you couldn't compress because you
didn't have enough compressors, you can now compress; it's all about control.
With live, you can't
overcompress stuff like you do in the studio, but you can control everything.
You can control the dynamics to where you want it to be, but you do have to get
to that studio technique so the quality shines through. I'm working with a
sequencer that's pumping, a full band that's pumping, string instruments,
violin and the harp [which is featured on "Telephone," as it's the
lead instrument]. I've got to be able to let [the harp] shine through.
Balancing the drums with the sequenced drums and everything else - it's all
about control."
Amplifying
A and B Stages
The
Eighth Day Sound-supplied d&b P.A. comprises four flown J8 sidefills
("light, but efficient," Ward says), and on the B stage are four M4
wedges. Both the sidefills and wedges run digitally through Dolby Lake
processing. When the dancers perform on the B stage, that's where the M4 wedges
really kick in, says Morales.
The
12-piece band - which includes background vocals, guitarists, harpist, bassist,
drums, etc. - sees a plethora of mie options. Drums take Audio-Technica AE2500
on kick, AT 5100 on bottom snare, and AT 3000s on top snare and the three toms,
as well as Neumann KM184s on hihat and ride. All other instruments are taken
DI. For guitars, Ward places AT4050 on the amps and then adds DI. "I have
to put a slight, maybe 0.4 millisecond, delay between the DI and the mie
because they don't match up time-wise," Ward says. "Harp is Dl'd.
It's got contact pickups on every string that sums."
Gaga uses
a Shure Beta 54 headset and switches to a Sennheiser SKM 5200 with 5235 capsule
for a couple of songs. The three background vocalists use Sennheiser SKM 5200
with 5235 capsules for the entire show.
"I'm
not fond of the Shure headset myself," Ward says. "It was one of the
things I have to work with and I've tried other mies. It's got this midrange in
it that really kills me, but I've learned to work with it. But everybody loves
the sound of it. It's one of the better-fitting mies, that's the thing.
Proportion-wise, it's a fantastic mie. It fits real well, the capsules are
unobtrusive. This is a small capsule and it's just a good size, but the
midrange on it just wears me out; it's so excessive. I'm using the C4 to hit
that midrange when she talks. You set the bandwidth by ducking it and EQ in the
chain. It's more the C4 dynamically that's controlling how much of the midrange
and low end come out."
And it is
that low profile that really helps both Ward and Morales during their mix as there are some costume
headpieces that cover her entire face. Despite how close the cloth is to Gaga's
mie, Ward is able to send out a clean sound and Morales doesn't have to change
the mix going to her
in-ears. Morales adds that there is a Shure Beta 54 for one of the dancers who
speaks during one of the songs.
"You
have to translate each song to what's happening onstage," Ward says.
"The dynamics in her vocal when she plays the piano is she can go to a
whisper to talking to singing out. So that vocal when she's talking quietly,
you've got to enhance that to come over the music and be clear. It changes all
the time. It's more dramatic than a song that's pumping all the way through
because it's from one end of the scale with quiet piano, voice - not screaming
but talking so everybody can hear her - to a voice where there's a full band,
so you enhance [the instruments] so they cut through and the vocal has to cut
through, as well."
Word
count: 1734
Location
Narrow
subject
Broad
subject
People
Company
Title
Live: Lady Gaga
Author
Publication
title
Volume
Issue
Pages
43-45
Publication
year
2011
Publication
date
May 2011
Year
2011
Penton
Media, Inc
Place of
publication
Berkeley,
Calif.
Country
of publication
United
States
Journal
subject
ISSN
0164-9957
Source
type
Magazines
Language
of publication
English
Document
type
Feature
Document
feature
Photographs
ProQuest
document ID
878608431
Document
URL
http://search.proquest.com/docview/878608431?accountid=144516
Last
updated
2012-09-17
Database
International
Index to Music Periodicals Full Text
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