Rihanna
Abstract (summary)
The
author recounts Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth tour performance in Mountain View,
California, in mid-July 2010. Front-of-house engineer for the show, Tony Blanc
and monitor engineer Vish Wadi, both new to Rihanna's tour, talk about the gear
and their approach to mixing the audio for the performance.
Full Text
Despite
sagging ticket sales - a malady that is festering across the majority of this
summer's tours - Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth tour showed no signs of slowing
down when Mix caught the act at Mountain View, Calif's Shoreline Amphitheater
in mid-July. "We've never done a tour to this capacity," Rihanna said
during an interview with AOL. "The production is unbelievable and the
costumes - we just took it to a whole new level. Visually and sonically, it's
going to be a big step up from the last time. We just keep growing, and this
time it is a massive production that I cannot wait for."
True to
that statement, the 22-yearold hip-hop songstress enthralled the mostly female
crowd with a solid set list that belies her youth - accentuated with numerous
costume changes, select songs performed at a more "intimate" Stage B
and an incredible stage set. Sonically, from "Umbrella" - which
blasted her onto the scene, thanks in part to the collaboration with Jay-Z - to
her most recent, "Love the Way You Lie" from Rated R, a tune with
Eminem that's burning up the radio airwaves, Rihanna and backing band/
vocalists sated the crowd's hunger to get the most out of their ticket.
And this
starts at ground zero, with front-of-house engineer Tony Blanc and monitor
engineer Vish Wadi - engineers new to Rihanna's tour, but longtime engineers in
their own right.
Blanc is
mixing on a DiGiCo SD7,
which he calls "the best board of its type on the market. I do have a rack
of outboard gear, which is mainly a personal taste in compressors. Once the
Waves package [SoundGrid/ MultiRack] becomes available for this desk, I may be
tempted to leave my old AMS and Crane Song units at home." Using 70
inputs, Blanc mixes the show in such a way that when concertgoers look at the
stage, they can see what they hear. "My style, the only one I know, is to
make it the best possible," Blanc says. "I can't stand it when the
bass drum is all that you hear at a show."
To create
this smooth and consistent mix, Blanc uses sidechain EQ and multiband compression
on Rihanna's vocal so it sits nicely in the mix. "We tried various caps
for her and found the new Sennheiser large-condenser capsule 965 works great
for her vocal style and range," Blanc says. Background vocalists Ashleigh
Haney and Kimberly lnce sing through wireless SMSSAs. Any guests sing through
an SM87C. In addition, the engineer has created snapshots, although the EQ and
dynamics stay the same from soundcheck on through the final song. "Each
day is saved as a city," Blanc explains, "and I roll through the show
from the Start page."
Blanc is
also recording the show, using Nuendo running through an RME ExpressCard. The SD7 allows him to do a MADI patch
so that he can group the 70 inputs in the 56 MADI lines available. Also in his
personal outboard rack are TC Electronic D2s; Klark Teknik DN6000 spectrum
analyzer; AMS RMX16 reverb; Crane Song Trakker, ST8 and HEDD 192; DPR 901
frequency-band comp; a Wendel drum unit; Waves MaxxBass; SPL Transient Designer
4; and dbx 12OX subharmonic enhancer.
The Clair
Global-supplied rig is a standard i5/i3 package for arenas. According to Blanc,
depending on the building, there are eight to 14 i5s per side and four to 12
i3s per side.
Drum mies
include AKG D12s and Shure SM91s on kick; SM57s on snare; 46Os on hat, ride and
overheads; and Beyer Opus 88s on racks and floor. "There is no rocket
science to microphones; it's about the placement," Blanc says. "The
drum tech [Chris Ächzet] is ridiculously good, so it sounds huge -
period." Bass (Eric Smith) and keyboards (Kevin Hastings and Hanna
Vasanth) are DI; guitars (Nuno Bettencourt and Adam Ross) take Sennheiser 421s
and Shure 57s.
Over at
monitor world, engineer Vish Wadi is also manning a DiGiCo SD7, using onboard effects such
as reverbs on drums, background vocalists and acoustic guitars. He's also using
a TC Electronic M 5000 reverb unit on Rihanna's vocal. Asked about his mixing
style, Wadi says simply: "I do not believe there is a style in mixing
monitors. You give a mix of what the artist or the band needs." Enough
said.
Like
Blanc, Wadi has most of his presets dialed in before the band hits the stage,
but is making small changes due to room acoustics - the tour is hitting mostly
amphitheaters - and any tweaks Rihanna needs, which she denotes to Wadi via
hand signals.
The band
and Rihanna are on in-ears (Ultimate Ears' UE7s for the band; UElIs for
Rihanna); sidefills are Clair R4s. "Stage volume has not been an
issue," Wadi says, adding that he has run into some frequency problems but
can easily find a new frequency. "I like working with Rihanna. She's a
very professional artist."
Blanc
echoes Wadïs description of Rihanna: "The whole project is a blast to be
involved with. All is good. I'm looking forward to hopefully many tours to
come."
Sidebar
Rihanna
performing one of her hits during the Shoreline Amphitheater (Mountain View,
Calif.) show.
Sidebar
Monitor
tech Dustin Deluna (left) and monitor engineer Vish UJadi at the DiGiCo SD?.
"I do not believe there is a style in mixing monitors. Vou give a mix of
uuhat the artist or band needs."
Front-of-house
engineer Tony Blanc at the DiGiCo SD7.
"My mixing style, the only one I know, is to make it the best
possible."
Sidebar
Clair
Global systems tech Paul Jump
AuthorAffiliation
Sarah
Benzulf is Mix's managing editor.
Word
count: 937
Indexing (details)
Location
Narrow
subject
Concerts, Sound
Engineers, Mixing
(Recording), Rhythm
and Blues Musicians, Tours, Mixers
(Audio Equipment)
Broad
subject
People
Title
Rihanna
Author
Publication
title
Volume
Issue
Pages
51-53
Publication
year
2010
Publication
date
Sep 2010
Year
2010
Publisher
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
Essay
Document
feature
Photographs
ProQuest
document ID
857287820
Document
URL
http://search.proquest.com/docview/857287820?accountid=144516
Last
updated
2012-08-23
Database
International
Index to Music Periodicals Full Text
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