Familiar Territory, New System Elements
The current Def Leppard tour sees deployment of
recent sound advances
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With ten albums and 26 years together under their belts, Def Leppard has a lot of ground to cover when they hit the stage. This is a band that's already conquered a ton of territory, and they're currently adding to that with the international "X" concert tour. Of course, over the span of that time and distance, the group -- singer Joe Elliot, guitarists Phil Collen and Viv Campbell, bassist Rick Savage, and drummer Rick Allen -- hasn't exactly been driving to the arenas and flying the PA themselves. For "X," also the name of the band's 2002 recording release, Def Leppard has hit the highway with Sound Image, and the way the personnel and sound components have come together serves as a good example of how to function as rock 'n' roll road warriors. |
"Def Leppard is an interesting blend: they're trying to duplicate the
sound of the record, but they also want to sound spontaneous," says front-of-house
(FOH) Mixer Brad Madix, a veteran of multiple journeys with the Brit five-piece,
who departed the tour shortly after this interview and was capably replaced
by Ronan McHugh. "So we went after guitar sounds that they got on record,
as well as a sort of overarching drum and vocal sound that they're really
well known for. Beyond that, we don't try to pin it down too much, and
we just left room for them to play.
"We only took a very brief time for rehearsals, but these guys pretty
much record their own stuff, so they came out of that with their sounds
pretty well known," he continues. "I have to admit I don't hate when that
happens. It's good to have musicians that have their sound worked out.
You can spend a lot of time doing that one thing -- you should spend a
lot of time doing that one thing -- but in this case, it was mostly done
for me already."
FLYING SUBS
The tour’s system engineer, Ted Bible, specified a loudspeaker configuration
that usually includes 12 JBL VerTec VT4889 full-range array modules per
side, flanked by arrays of an additional eight VT4889’s per side, turned
approximately 55 degrees offstage.
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The approach results in a 170-degree wrap. “I fly them about 60 feet apart,” he adds. “In terms of height, the top point of the array is 55 feet, and the bottom point is about 30 to 32 feet.” This tour marked one of the first opportunities for Madix to work with a JBL VerTec line array loudspeaker system, and he reports positive results. “Once I found the range on it and we pulled it together, the VerTec worked very well. The pattern control is very tight, and it tended to sound the same from room to room: I always felt like I was hearing it right out of the box,” he explains. |
The sound team also elected to fly the subwoofers, seeking to more evenly spread low-frequency energy throughout the listening area. Generally, eight arrayable VerTec VT4880 dual-18-inch-loaded subwoofers are positioned forward of the main arrays. To this point, Madix has liked the line of attack.
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“It’s the first time I’ve done this, and it’s proven the way to
go,” he says. “Five years ago, you needed a lot of subs to accomplish
the same thing, and now we’ve got it to the point where you can
do it and it works with half as many as we used to have on the floor.”
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Because of the light weight, he continues, the system can be rolled into
a theater house where, for example, fly points might not be able to exceed
2,000 pounds. Yet 10 boxes can still be lined up and flown with motor
while still not exceeding the weight limit.
Bible also likes the low-end energy produced by the main system, finding
it “very warm, clean, full and powerful. It doesn’t sound like you’re
pushing it too much because it’s got a lot of punch without getting sloppy
sounding. Also, it’s a very easy system to tune. Once you’re got the presets
and everything set, you can do the time and tune in about 25 minutes.”
SKY’S THE LIMIT
On the opposite end of things, a DiGiCo D5 Live console serves as the
centerpiece of front-of-house, flanked by insert effects and compression
that includes Manley ELOPs and a Smart Research C2 compressor for the
final program mix. “The C2 really lets a lot of the life of the mix come
through, but still manages to bring a lot of little details forward,”
says Madix. “That really helps, because you can step on it to bring those
little details out, but it doesn’t sound like you stepped on it too much.”
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The D5 Live has proven to be a great addition, contributing its
own onboard gates, comp/limiters and effects that have seen steady
use. Weight is again a positive factor at 350 pounds, and both Madix
and Bible point at the advantages supplied by the fiber optic snake
providing ample routing to the stage. |
We also have the ability to reconfigure the board very quickly on the fly, which is unique to this console. The other nice thing about it is that down the road, since it’s software-based, the sky’s the limit (for system upgrades), and they’re very interested in hearing back from the people using it.”
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Getting closer to the stage, the monitor console is a Midas Heritage
3000. A proprietary Sound Image wedge speaker helps out; along with
QSC amplifiers for use onstage, Klark-Teknik DN3600 equalization,
and a selection of Audio-Technica and Shure wireless microphone
and in-ear monitoring systems. |
We use these in sidefills both upstage and downstage to sound more ‘live.’
Rick Allen has some electronic drums, and getting that feel on stage is
tougher with electronic drums, so we put drum sounds in with them as well.”
ABOUT THE BIZ
Back at the Sound Image main office in Escondido, California, the Def
Leppard tour is part of a healthy big picture that the company has been
enjoying, thanks in part to a widespread (and busy) client base.
“In the touring market, a lot of companies have the issue that it’s very
seasonal,” notes Jim Douglas, director of touring operations for the company,
“but we have the good fortune to also have our company in Nashville and
we have a very strong marketplace there as well. We’re also very fortunate
that a lot of the artists we work with like to tour 12 months as year,
as opposed to people who tour for three months in the summer and that’s
it.”
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Sound Image also helps itself with a diverse business approach, with divisions for contracting, datacom, and corporate audio, as well as touring. “A lot of the guys here got involved with live sound in the 1970’s,
and as time went on, they want to get off the road,” Douglas says.
“We have the opportunity to take their expertise into the contracting
division, which gives us a nice cycling system of bringing other
personnel into touring. |
“When we’re out there doing concert tours, people are very impressed with our packaging and how it’s handled, and then they want to get into some fixed installations based on how we’re presenting ourselves,” he continues. “The special events give us another opportunity to service our clients and represent ourselves to them, so when these artists go out on tour and need an audio touring vendor, they see we can help there too.”
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According to Douglas, a former live sound engineer, the challenges of his job have actually changed little since he got off the tour bus and moved to the center of activity. “Back then, my job was to be a coach, psychologist and engineer in that order,” he laughs. “That’s not any different from running all the engineers out there now. The engineer’s objective is for perfection, and to make the artist and other engineers always raise the bar a little higher.” |
Based in the U.S., David Weiss is a free-lance audio journalist who regularly covers the concert touring industry. See more of his articles on ProSoundWeb
July 2003 Live Sound International