WWW.LSIONLINE.COM • APRIL 2020 61O ON TOUR
be precise with the area we need to keep an eye on whilst keeping
things sweet for the audience. The walk back to the stage through
the crowd is tricky because we can’t easily see what was happening
with his mic or IEMs, but everything went great.”
It’s an accepted truth that the Hydro has some major acoustic
‘areas of concern’ in the low-end. These are well-known to
Mcilravey as it’s a room he’s designed many systems for over the
years. “They’ve fixed a lot of the HF quirks since it first opened back
in 2013, but the low-end is still really hard to get right,” he says.
“Then again, any vast dome-shaped building will give you those
problems. The main thing for us is to keep the sub energy and the
low-mid tight and controlled. This is what sets the top systems
apart from others on the market. It’s easy to have controlled pattern
control for the MF and HF, but dealing with the LF, it’s a lot more
difficult. The d&b KSL system and the new SL-SUBs we’re using on
this tour make it so much easier to get clean and tight results in
rooms like this one. The subs are a much-improved design even
when compared to the previous generation J-Series sub, and we
use just 20 of them for this show: they are extremely powerful if you
need them to be, whilst the LF rear cancellation of both the subs
and the tops is the best available of any system currently touring.
We are also lucky in that Andy’s mix gives us a tight and very
well-defined low-end to deal with right from the get-go, which
makes our job a little easier!”
FOH SOUND
Andy Bush has been touring as a FOH sound engineer for well
over a decade, most commonly with fellow Scots, Frightened
Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, and We Were Promised Jetpacks.
“I officially began my career by studying for a diploma in sound
engineering,” he opens. “Whilst I was doing that, I began mixing
bands at local venues. I’d been playing and recording my own
material since I was 16 and had started recording friends and
local bands with my home studio equipment. I still love
recording and like to fit in a couple of studio recordings each
year if touring allows.
“The developments in the live field over the last two decades
have seen the studio and live disciplines draw closer together -
the software and processing are now very similar. I’m using the
UAD platform on this tour, for example, and I also use that and
Waves in the studio. PA systems are getting better and better,
more accurate, responsive and directional. When set up
correctly, as Ryan does, a studio-quality mix is achievable. That’s
my aim every night.”
On working with Capaldi, Bush says: “I’ve been with Lewis for
nearly two years. Tour manager Scott [Smyth] initially sent me
dates for some summer festivals, then a headline tour followed,
and I’ve been at FOH ever since.” Of the system, he adds: “This
is the first Lewis tour where we’ve carried our own PA. I had
experienced d&b’s KSL system at Barrowlands last year while
mixing The Twilight Sad, and was very happy to have it for this
run. FE Live have supplied me with control packages and
microphones for the last six or seven years, so I was eager to
maintain that relationship and have access to their KSL. I’d also
heard the system at Glastonbury last year when I mixed Lewis
on The Other Stage and thought it was an incredible system.”
“Lewis’ dynamic and tonal ranges are huge,” Bush says of mixing
the performer. “The biggest challenge for me is to keep the vocal
sound as balanced and uniform as possible, whether he is talking
quietly to the audience (sibilant), or singing low (boomier), or
when he’s letting rip (throatier and more aggressive).”
He continues: “For vocal processing, I have a Rupert Neve 5045 as
an analogue insert on Lewis’ channel; then, after some basic EQ,
I send it to the UAD-2 LiveRack for the De-esser, Distressor,
Brainworx Refinement, and occasionally some additional EQ from
Oxford. On the vocal group, I have a Rupert Neve Portico Channel
strip and another instance of 5045, then I use the on-board Dyn8
dynamic EQ and multi-band compression to finish it off before it
heads out into the world. These processes are all to keep the vocal
sitting in a tonal sweet-spot and to minimise room bleed.”“We originally chose the Allen & Heath platform for the dLive
C1500 - the smallest board in the dLive range - as it meant we
could fit our desks into the check-in luggage when flying
between festivals, then load into FOH during the day. Two desks
and a shared stage rack did the job very well. It was a natural
progression to move up to the S5000 - it would’ve been silly to
change after all the work we’d done. The desk has been very
good, with nice software to use. I use the Allen & Heath Prime
pre-amp cards, which are very transparent and high resolution.“Since last March, we’ve been using DPA microphones on most
of the drums and on Lewis’ vocal. They sound great, especially
in the HF, and are sonically more similar to high-end studio
condenser mics than traditional dynamic live mics. From
time-to-time, I have experimented with various other vocal mics
to try to further isolate Lewis’s voice from the crowd. When we
played the Forest National arena in Brussels a few weeks ago,
the crowd’s reaction alone measured 108dBA at FOH!“But, I always return to DPA. Currently, I am using the new 2028.
The band sources are very good and to an extent look after
themselves: the playing is great and the patch changes for keys,
guitars and tracks largely dictate the aesthetic of each song. I
find I don’t have to do too many fader rides or many snapshots.”
Yet the performance has far more dynamic than the recording,
to which Bush agrees: “Yes, it’s a very vibrant interpretation of
the recording. The band has worked really hard to keep it fresh.”CONCLUSION
This show has multiple elements to commend it. Lights, video,
sound and set, all are of a piece and deftly enhance Capaldi’s
engaging performance. It’s a good value gig and will only
become more so as he writes and records more material:
something he is already engaged with. I