Gettin' Hot In Here
Gemini Sound wraps up a tour that’s low on inputs but high on fidelity
|
|
 |
When was the last time you saw the terms “six inputs” and “major concert tour” used in the same sentence? It’s been a while? Or perhaps never in your lifetime? Well, here goes: The major concert tour by urban artist Nelly & the St. Lunatics had six inputs from the stage to house and monitor sound reinforcement systems. |
But six inputs does not necessarily a simple show make. In fact, less
can actually demand much more, depending upon a number of factors - first
and foremost - the program quality of said inputs. No matter the technological
wonders of the sound reinforcement system and the expertise of the sound
crew, quality can only be as good as the weakest link in the chain.
Gemini Sound of Dallas supplied house and monitor systems and veteran
technical support for the recently concluded “Nellyville” tour of U.S.
arenas. In the midst of a stop at massive Conseco Fieldhouse in downtown
Indianapolis, the Gemini team as well as front-of-house (FOH) mixer Dimitrius
Blanton were gracious in taking Live Sound on an extended first-hand look
at, and discussion of, the technology assembled and the challenges presented
by this tour.
“Whatever you want to call it - urban music, hip-hop, rap - this is a
dominant music style that’s only growing in terms of mainstream popularity,”
points out Chris Sharp, FOH tech for the tour. “So as a sound company,
the charge is to understand this unique art form in order to present it
as effectively as possible, in service to both the artists and especially
the concert audience.”
|
|
|
Like the majority of hip-hop acts, Nelly isn’t backed by a full
band. Other than his vocal, as well as the vocals of the three St.
Lunatics, remaining input comes from a combination of digitally
stored and triggered tracks and two turntables feeding an onstage
DJ mixer. The tracks are largely of the “homemade” variety, put
together by the artists in home studio environments. |
“What they’re trying to do is ‘fake out’ the recording studio system
to make the tracks sound louder, fuller and more ‘in your face.’ But apply
that to tracks that are going to be played through a full-scale concert
rig, and it’s a whole different ballgame. Tracks pushed to the max in
the studio will tend to drive a PA so much farther than it’s designed
to go.”
This difficulty was first exposed in tour rehearsals, but there simply
wasn’t enough of a time window for the necessary remastering process.
In addition, the artists weren’t necessarily all too keen to compromise
on what they see as an essential facet of their sound. With a more traditional
band approach, there’s often a collaborative process where dialog leads
to further understanding and mutual progress toward common goals. Besides,
instrument mics can be moved around to help deliver the desired result,
and multiple inputs can be tailored while certain “problem” inputs can
be de-emphasized in the mix without compromising final overall output.
|
|
|
“While the artists weren’t necessarily interested in wholesale changes of what they were trying to present, they’ve been listening to us as we’ve gone along and have adapted to the point where we’ve got a pretty good situation,” Litt says. “I’m a home studio geek myself, so I have a pretty good idea of what they’re trying to achieve, and this helps me communicate with them - on their terms rather than in strictly live audio terms - about what they can do to help us all win. If you just babble on and on about turn it up, turn it down, we’re going into red, and etc., they’ll tune you out pretty quickly. You’ve got to engage them in a dialog on their own terms.” |
Tracks are stored on two 360 Systems Instant Replay hard drive systems,
triggered by the onstage DJ. Initially, these were routed directly (via
an isolated split) to house and monitor desks. As the tour progressed,
however, a new 360 Systems multitrack unit synching off the Instant Reply
units was inserted, helping to break down the masters into individual
tracks that can then be mixed/tailored to a better degree by Blanton at
his Midas Heritage 3000 FOH console.
The other primary difficultly is the microphone techniques common to hip-hop
performance. The pervasive style is for vocalists to cup the mic around
the head/element, creating a situation where the vocal is captured through
a hole about the size of a dime. Again, this is the prevailing rap style
and preference of its artists, so options for changing it are pretty much
non-existent.
|
|
|
“I don’t care what type of mic you’re using. Here we’re using Shure
SM58 elements on Shure UHF wireless systems, selected by the artist,
but it goes for any dynamic microphone - if you obscure the majority
of the element, it’s going to dramatically change the signature,”
notes Sharp. “It’s plain difficult to properly equalize a cupped
mic, so you compensate by turning it up and then adding compression
to attempt to get some sort of consistency. Keep the mic as hot
as possible and let the compression do its thing.” |
“With rap, the vocal is where it all starts, not like a band where the focus is more on the whole. It’s the rap, the word, and everything else follows behind that. If you can’t hear the words, can’t understand the impact of the words, then its just noise,” he continues. “You can’t try to hide things as with a more full production. If one of our channels is bad, then the whole thing goes downhill and it’s most definitely apparent.”
|
|
|
Every input is treated with a heavy dose of dbx 160A compression, both at house and monitors. Parametric equalization at both locations is done with Klark Teknik DN3600 digital signal processors, linked to DN3601 slave units providing extra channels. From there, vocal signals are further treated with HHB Radius 3 stereo tube compressors, and then it’s on to the “racks and stacks.” (A sparse complement of effects devices were also on hand, including TC Electronic 2290, Yamaha SPX990 and Lexicon 960L.) |
Litt notes that another difference of this particular style is its tendency
toward emphasis of frequencies at the extreme ends of the spectrum, countered
with less in the middle. He defines the overall signature as “compressed
with throw,” which can be excruciating on any PA system.
“You try to get a happy medium from the two extremes,” he adds. “It shouldn’t
sound too compressed, but that’s a fine line. The level and dynamics need
to be there, with a signature of compression. But you don’t necessarily
want a lot of space and breathing. So you work on the compression scheme
at the two ends, with the goal that the entire frequency spectrum isn’t
impacted too much. Otherwise the whole thing wants to compress if you’re
too hot on the lows and highs."
|
|
|
While compression is a staple at FOH and monitors, the system’s
loudspeaker processors - in this case, EAW MX8750 digital units
residing in the racks with Crown MA-5002VZ power amplifiers - play
an equal role. At the outset, factory recommended processor settings
were deployed, with tailoring to accurately reproduce the hip-hop
sound quickly becoming a primary focus. EAW engineering personnel
also met up with the tour at several locations to study the approach
and provide recommendations regarding the processing set and how
it impacted the KF760 Series line arrays used as mains and for stage
fill. |
Another piece of the learning puzzle is keeping up with the steady stream of new technologies hitting the market. Some of this is experimenting with things like new DSP and line arrays. Litt notes that he spends more time than ever before reading product manuals. Great new tools may exist, yet it’s all a pointless exercise if the crew doesn’t know how to maximize the potential.
|
|
|
“We’ve pretty quickly gone from the days where you’d tweak a couple of knobs and it’s set, to a situation where multiple factors and programs have to be studied and understood,” he says. “You never know when an engineer is going to ask you about a specific piece of gear he’s familiar with, and you’d better be ready with an answer. And if you invest in systems and technology, it’s a waste if you can’t maximize the potential. We used to spend off days relaxing and maybe having a beer, and now we sit around in our hotel rooms quizzing each other on gear, previous shows and approaches.” Gemini Sound invested in the Crown-driven EAW KF760 line array rig about a year ago, and it’s been busy with a variety of regional and national acts, as well as some corporate work. For the Nellyville tour, array structure typically standardized on main stereo arrays made up of 13 KF760 (80 degrees by 3 degrees coverage) loudspeakers over three or four KF761 (100 degrees by 12 degrees). |
Smaller arrays splayed out to the sides of the mains, generally made up
of four KF761s. Specific array structure, trim heights and flying angles
at each venue were determined with EAW Wizard predictive software.
The control afforded by many of the line array systems now available has
been a big plus, Sharp notes. Keeping sound out of areas where it shouldn’t
be (skyboxes, large wall expanses, etc.) helps foster a cleaner signature,
while sound can also be pinpointed to regions in the sides and rear of
the listening area to a greater degree.
|
|
|
“It’s kind of like lighting. Where you want coverage, you aim the system and, other than a bit of wash, it covers just that region. Almost laser accuracy,” Litt adds. “Another benefit is with stage thrust situations, like we have on this tour. The performers, even with relatively ‘hot’ mics, can wander out on the thrust without us having to worry about the PA getting into their mics and creating feedback. You still pay a little extra attention to the subwoofers generating omnidirectional energy, but it’s a major improvement.” |
Stacks of EAW SB1000 18-inch-loaded subwoofers supplied sub-low-frequency energy. These were positioned on the floor, as opposed to the stage deck, to lessen the bleed potential. It also helped clean up time-alignment issues between the stage monitoring cabinets and stage fill arrays.
|
|
|
The tour marked Blanton’s first time out with a line array system,
and he admits to skepticism the first time he took a look at the
rig. Specifically, he was concerned about getting the needed coverage
throughout an arena-sized space from the much smaller footprint,
concerns that went away following his first serious evaluation.
While noting he didn’t get the chance to wander each venue and evaluate
coverage as much as he would have liked, Blanton expressed satisfaction
with this introduction. |
The compact array footprint has also allowed the entire arena-sized PA to be transported in one truck, a nice savings for the client. Litt notes that the entire system can be rolled out, flown and cabled up within 90 minutes, ready for soundcheck. And, at times on the tour, it’s been struck and packed back in the truck within an hour. The arrays travel in groups of four loudspeakers on rolling carts, so they’re simply rolled into position, attached, the array is hiked up, and the process is then repeated until the full array is hoisted to its final trim height.
|
|
|
On stage, the approach is one of line arrays (more KF761s, generally five per array) working with EAW SM84 wedges lining the front and stacked EAW 15-inch-loaded subs. Compact Meyer UM-100P loudspeakers are concealed in the set for areas outside the coverage of the two main monitoring elements. Litt notes that a side benefit of the wide output pattern of the
arrays was coverage to the front/center audience section, making
additional front-fill loudspeakers unnecessary, thus providing some
simplicity and keeping the stage cleaner. Time alignment applied
to these arrays put them in sync with output from the main arrays.
|
“We provided a system made up of proven technologies and kept it as simple as possible, thereby establishing a good starting point,” Litt concludes. “Other than the challenges we’ve outlined, there were no surprises. So what we did was start with proven entities, kept an open mind as changes were needed, and then used our ears to help us optimize the rest.”
Dan Garcia is an independent audio veteran and part-time journalist who frequently contributes to Live Sound.
April 2003 Live Sound International