BACKSTREET BOYS
they could to compensate for him having only one earpiece.” However,
following what the engineer referred to as “baby steps” – such as sending
him to an audiologist – the singer became more comfortable with both
monitors in at the same time.
The IEMs in question were Jerr y Har vey Roxannes in tandem with
Shure PSM1000s. “I’m a big fan of Shure’s Wireless Workbench – one of the
determining factors for using Shure,” commented Schroeder. “Handling the
RF each day is my tech, Valentin James. He’s been crushing it throughout
this one without a single problem.”
Schroeder explained that his tech didn’t just have to deal with the
usual RF demands from IEMs and microphones, but also a fairly elaborate
comms system. “Our PM Dan comes from a theatre background and has
implemented many of those principles into the touring infrastructure
including a complex communication system. We are utilising a Riedel
network and a selection of Clearcom equipment so ever yone can
communicate with one another. This is yet another advantage of the
SSL; it’s built to be able to handle additional communication demands.”
All five band members used the Sennheiser Digital 6000 with 9235
capsules. “We tried a number of different options and this one came out
on top,” commented McCullagh. “They are ver y broad and give great
representation of their voices. We brought in Sennheiser during the
residency and kept them on for the tour.” The FOH Engineer commented
that one of the real selling points for the models was that intermodulation
was not a problem – “A necessity when you have five microphones in such
close proximity to one another.”PLAYBACK
Key to the live setup for the Backstreet Boys was found stage left, behind
two Apple Macs – the brain of the live tour and the ‘band in the box’,
overseen by Playback Engineer, Romain Garnier. “He’s got an intense rig!”
enthused McCullagh. “He’s got a total of 64 channels of MADI coming fromhis workstation. Prior to the residence, in collaboration with our Musical
Director, Keith Harris, we agreed to re-record the instrumentation for all the
tracks.” But rather than a simple re-recording, the audio team took these
multi-track files and played them live so, in the words of the FOH Engineer,
“you are getting a live band each night.”
Standing behind his rig, Garnier walked thought the finer points of the
system. “It’s a huge file coming in at over 100 gigabytes,” he enthused.
Garnier ran a full redundant system with A and B system utilising the
DirectOut EXBOX, which allowed seamless transitions between the two
systems in the event of a drop off from the main computer.
The system used by Garnier was Digital Programmer. “There was a
learning cur ve like most systems, but due to the sheer number of tracks
we are dealing with in each song.”GUESS WHO’S BACK...
Following the success of the O2 Arena dates, the ’90s pop-veterans
continued the DNA World Tour, with their sights set on mainland Europe till
the end of July with band and crew seeing out the rest of summer in the US.
“I’m really lucky as a PM to have such a great crew,” concluded Mercer,
giving his final thoughts on this latest live outing. “Like ever y show, there
are challenges, but thanks to the hard work of ever yone involved, 20 shows
in, we are all really enjoying this outing.”
TPi
Photos: Jess Gilbert & TPi
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