Choosing Weapons For THE KILLERS
Abstract (summary)
In an
interview, front of house engineer James Gebhard discusses working with the
Killers, including: (1) the gear used for the band's 2009 tour; (2) working
with the DiGiCo SD7; (3)
his favorite plug-ins; (4) the challenges of mixing Killers shows; and (5) the
spontaneity of the group. Monitor engineer Clarke LePlante discusses his role
in working with the Killers.
Full text
There
were excited words on the local street when The Killers' Toronto date was
imminent - no surprise, considering the immense popularity of the band and its
most recent release Day & Age, featuring the hits "Human" and
"Spaceman." While the current tour is hopping through the land down
under as of press time, PS caught up with the North American leg at the Air
Canada Centre (ACC) for a show that didn't disappoint - fans and live audio
types alike.
There are
certain key elements to the band's sound that have to come through loud and
clear. Certainly, the vocal stylings of frontman Brandon Flowers almost goes
without saying, but the music is layered with dance-y synth orchestrations
(also courtesy of Flowers), clean, punchy drums, plucky and driving eighth-note
bass, and subtly crunchy rhythm guitar interspersed with some crucial,
signature hooks.
The gear
was supplied by Eighth Day Sound based out of Cleveland, and one notable
provision of many was the d&b audiotechnik PA system. This German-based
manufacturer seems a bit under the radar in North America, but has seen
extensive use in Europe and otherwise internationally. FOH engineer James
Gebhard and monitor engineer Clarke LaPlante both gave nods to their DiGiCo
desks, which helped them bring their best mixing feet forward.
JAMES
GEBHARD AT FOH
Gebhard
has been mixing FOH for The Killers since May of 2004, coming over from a gig
with The Strokes. After he and the crew from Eighth Day Sound had worked their
magic on and above the arena floor, we spoke over a much-needed coffee as the
venue went dark.
PS: How
did the choice of the d&b audiotechnik system come about?
JG:
Eighth Day has quite an inventory, including L-Acoustic dV-DOSC and others, but
the J-Series from d&b audiotechnik is pretty fantastic. I was talking to a
friend, Bruce Johnston, who is Oasis' FOH guy, and he's just started using it
with Oasis. He was very enthusiastic: 'Oh my God, where has this PA been
hiding?' I used it last year on a bunch of Killers shows as well, and I was
wowed as well, so that's why I wanted it out on this one.
PS: What
do you like about it?
JG: Everything.
It's fantastic. It's got so much energy; the frequency response is really
great. When you look at the logistical side of things (I used to do production
for the band as well), you look at how heavy the boxes are and how many of them
you need. It's a lot more of a compact system compared to some of our previous
choices, and it just takes up so much less space on the truck while doing the
same job. When you get a system that does the job, weighs less, and takes up
less space, it makes sense all around.
The
d&b system is all self-contained, d&b speakers come specifically with
d&b D12 amps, which are digital amps. They have pre-loaded crossover
points, and you can pre-load it to use any of the d&b speakers - it's just
a crossover.
PS: How
long have you been working with the DiGiCo SD7?
JG: Three
weeks!
PS: Like
it?
JG:
Amazing! A few glitches on it still, but they are far outweighed by how amazing
it is. I'm a big fan of the D5 - I've been touring with the D5 for about five
or six years. I love it. I think it's one of the best digital boards out there,
and compared to analog boards, it's fantastic. Yes, there is still this whole
digital vs. analog debate, but every board has its own characteristics, whether
it's analog or digital, and I just find that with the digital stuff, they've
just nailed it. DiGiCo's digital boards stand alongside Midas' analog consoles
as far as I'm concerned.
I went
and played on the SD7 in
the summer when I was at home; I had a bit of time off, and the DiGiCo people
invited me down. I took a bunch of recordings I had with me, and they had set
it up so I could play back through a PA. I played the three multi-tracks from
recorded shows, played with the desk, and just said 'Wow!'
PS: What
else do you have at FOH, in terms of outboard, etc?
JG: On
the left-hand side, there's a multi-track recording machine. Next to that is
the computer that's just for running SmaartLive so we can get all our time
alignments. On my side (right), the big red box is my Mac recording machine. I
record and also do some effects on the Mac as well.
PS: What
are your favourite plug-ins?
JG: I run
everything through Logic, so I use all the Logic native plug-ins. I have a
couple of effects units as well. The effects on the SD7 will get finalized on the next software update
because it's not yet completely finished. Some of the effects on there weren't
quite what I needed, so I was running some of them in my outboard - but that's
all changed to Logic. Unfortunately, my computer wasn't ready in rehearsal, so
I couldn't do everything I wanted to in the rehearsal phase.
PS: What
are the challenges of mixing a Killers show?
JG: How
many inputs there are! There are just under 80 channels coming from the stage,
depending on which song or album the band is doing: songs from Hot Fuss usually
have about 24 channels, stuff from Sam's Town can be up to 50, and tunes from
the new album can be up to 70 channels all at once. It's about having to jump
from song to song and not letting the old songs sound very empty compared to
the new songs. You have to keep them full, even though what is actually going
on is a lot simpler. That can be quite complicated in a way - how the mix
evolves from song to song - you have to be very careful.
PS: What
kind of feedback do you get from the band?
JG: We
multi-track record every song at every show, so if the bandmembers want to come
and listen to what's going on, I just fire up that show, play it back, and just
mix the recordings of the live show. They then say yea or nay. Like today -
(drummer) Ronny Vannucci came out to listen to some drum stuff, and I had been
messing around with "This Is Your Life," and I just wanted to see
what his thoughts were. He said, 'Wow! Brilliant. Perfect.'
PS: Do
you try to gauge authence reaction?
JG: You
can't do that (laughs). It's great when the crowd goes wild, but it all depends
on how drunk they are by the end of the night, as far as I'm concerned.
PS: How
spontaneous is the band?
JG:
Within the structure of the songs, not so much. With how they will change the
set and what they want to play, definitely, which can be hard. Like last night
in Detroit, we had the set list, the digital board with all my snapshots all
lined up, and each song's all set and ready to go. The band switched set lists
around all of a sudden, with no warning! You're on the wrong snapshot, and
suddenly you either just go with it or fire off another snapshot off. It keeps
you on your toes.
PS: Did
the SD7's functionality
help?
JG: It's
fast anyway. It's pretty much the same as what the D5 was, in terms of how all
the snapshots work. It's a bit more involved if you want it to be, but it's
pretty much the same - just one touch and it's gone.
GETTING
THE GROOVES TO THE VICTIMS
Heading
over to the stage, one notices a backline draped with nets of LEDs - a side
note, but a very cool visual effect nonetheless - and a large variety of mies
from a cross-section of reputable manufacturers. Gebhard had told me they were
"the best buys for the best job, really," and the mixture of mie
specs shows some choosiness. There are Audio-Technica mies for the drums, with
a Shure 8eta57 on the snare and a couple of Earthworks overheads. The guitar
amps are picked up by Shure KSM32s, and there are Electro-Voice RE20s on the
bass enclosures. Vocals come through Shure Beta 58As.
There are
numerous Radial Engineering DIs present, and I'm told the band's guitar tech has
a friend who makes custom valve DIs that caused some excitement up front.
CLARKE
LAPLANTE AT MONITOR MORLD
I find
monitor engineer Clarke LaPlante at his position stage left, a veteran from
Plattsburg, NY who was recruited for The Killers by Gebhard four years ago.
It's been a fun ride, and he wears a couple hats on this gig.
PS: Does
the band use IEMs?
CL:
(Vocalist) Brandon Flowers and (bassist) Mark Stoermer are still strictly on
wedges and side-fills. Everybody else is using Ultimate Ears UE 7s, and we're
using the Sennheiser G2s to transmit.
PS: Do
you have a wireless tech?
CL: No, I
handle it, and one of the guys that is out with us from Eighth Day, Chris, was
doing RF with Madonna last year, so if I run into trouble, I pick his brain a
little bit. It usually works out pretty well. I've kept on top of that stuff,
and I get the scanner out every morning to juggle frequencies, etc.
PS: Are
there any frequency issues in the ACC tonight?
CL: It's
not too bad today - I mean, Toronto is a tough town, and I don't have a lot of
information on it, but I am able to find places where I can sneak in. I'm
actually getting more trouble from the LED wall, but that's been an ongoing
issue.
PS: What
does everyone want in his mix, and how picky does everybody get?
CL:
Nothing is too out of the ordinary. The guitar player does like a lot of drums,
sometimes more drums than guitar, but that goes back to when he was on wedges -
he always liked hearing the drums. Everything else is pretty standard. Brandon
likes a lot of vocal and his keyboards, and some of the other stuff that is
going on. Mark takes a ton of bass and drums. Each musician wants to hear
himself, pretty much, with a little bit of everybody else.
PS: Do
you really have to watch for cues?
CL: As
things have progressed. I didn't really start using snapshots until this tour.
I started a little bit over the summer. It's to the point now where I have a
snapshot for each song. Some songs you have a couple of them: if there's an
intro, or something changes on a downbeat. There are some things that I handle
manually. There are a couple of snapshots that I use for cues. Usually, the
band is pretty good about keeping to the set list. The guys did throw us the
other night - they dropped one in the middle of the set. I caught it in time,
but otherwise you'd have to ask James (laughing).
PS:
What's special about the D5 for you?
CL: At
this point, it is consistency. I was using one for most of the last tour, and
I'm really comfortable with it and I know what it can do. Right now, I'm kind
of stretching its capabilities. The next step for me is probably going to be an
SD7. 1 just wanted to let
them get the initial bugs worked out because we have so many inputs, and I have
so many mixes going on. James has had a couple of minor glitches out front with
his, and I just didn't want to take any chances.
PS: How
many inputs are there?
CL:
Seventy-seven off the stage. I'm running seven in-ear mixes and 10 conventional
mixes - 11 with a drum sub. It's a lot.
PS: How
does that affect your workflow?
CL: It
takes a good bit of planning and preproduction. The guys at Eighth Day are
really good with their prep. They showed up to rehearsal, and everything was
pretty much dialed in. Day to day, I come in, have breakfast, look at the RF,
and do my cleaning chores. Once the monitor desk goes up, I start working on
the room and seeing what things are going to be an issue that day. You should
really listen as things are being built in the room because you can hear some of
the acoustic characteristics as the work is going on.
PS: Do
you have any favourite plug-ins or effects that you rely on?
CL: What
I'm doing is pretty basic effect-wise: just a little bit of reverb in the
wedges for the vocals and some room things for the in-ears, just to put some
things like the violin or acoustic guitar in spaces.
PS: Have
you heard from the bandmembers why they went with the '58 for the vocal mics
and haven't gone wireless?
CL:
That's pretty much Brandon's choice. He's used a Beta58 as long as I've worked
for the band. James and I have both tried to get them on something else, but
he's just very comfortable with that mie, and he knows how to work it. I've
trained him a little bit over the last few years with regards to that because he
does like to cup it and get that snarly, in-your-face sound out of it. As for
everybody else, we've stuck with it for consistency.
PS: How
is the volume on stage?
CL: Oh,
it's loud (laughing). It's really loud.
PS: Does
that present any issues for you?
CL: At
this point, I know what to expect and what things should sound like. James and
I work pretty well together. As a result of it being loud on stage, James has
to compensate for that up front. It's a pretty loud show all over.
PS: I
guess I'll find out tonight.
CL: Yes,
you certainly will.
EULOGY
And find
out I did. What seemed like a veiled threat from LaPlante turned out to be a
great listening experience. It's a polished show, and the audio crew's
no-muss-no-fuss attitude gave the authence what it wanted - The Killers
listenable, danceable, and fun. As far as I know, we all got out alive.
Indexing (details)
Narrow
subject
Concert
Tours, Live
Sound Engineers, Audio
equipment, Live
Sound Engineering, Rock
Bands, Indie
Rock
Broad
subject
People
Company
Title
Choosing
Weapons For THE KILLERS
Author
Publication
title
Volume
Issue
Pages
30-33
Publication
year
2009
Publication
date
Apr 2009
Year
2009
Publisher
Norris-Whitney
Communications Inc
Place of
publication
St.
Catharines, Ont.
Country
of publication
Canada
Journal
subject
ISSN
1186-1797
Source
type
Magazines
Language
of publication
English
Document
type
Interview
Document
feature
Photographs
ProQuest
document ID
756573121
Document
URL
http://search.proquest.com/docview/756573121?accountid=144516
Last
updated
2012-09-17
Database
International Index to Music Periodicals Full
Text
No comments:
Post a Comment