Travelogue: Kickin’ It With Berlin
A working mixer’s tale of phasing in a new kick microphone
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When I heard that Berlin was booked for a stint of shows that included
two with Heart, I decided that it was a good opportunity to test
the Audio-Technica (A-T) AE2500 kick drum microphone, which contains
two elements, one dynamic and one condenser. Because I tour manage
and mix monitors for Berlin, I checked in with front-of-house (FOH)
mixer Richard Hawkins and made sure he was fine with me bringing
the mic. As other mixers have mentioned to me, the two elements do not actually sound that different. There is, of course, a more airy quality to the condenser half, and it’s easy to bring out the “click” of the drum with either side. |
Berlin’s drummer, Chris Olivas, uses wired in-ear monitors, fed from his
own mini-mixer that has Tascam DA-38 outputs split, including a click
track, and his own ambient mic that we get a boom stand for from the local
provider at each stop.
With smaller drumfills, we’re often driving the low-end amplifier pretty
hard, because Chris also needs a lot of the recorded bass track in addition
to tons of kick. That day, the Sound On Stage setup had plenty of horsepower,
with two cabinets on rolling cases, each as big as a large refrigerator.
As I was standing back admiring my work with the new mic, Richard appeared
and dropped an additional Shure SM-91 into the kick drum. I was kind of
startled, but I assumed it was just what he was used to, and he wanted
to get a quick sound.
LEADING OFF
Our first show with Heart was the inaugural concert in a new venue, the
White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington, about half an hour southwest
of SeaTac airport. I was happy a month earlier when I learned that Pro
Media-Ultra Sound would be our supplier there. It was fun to greet “Dr.
Don” Pearson at the FOH position, who I had last seen at a Meyer Sound
MILO line array demo in the Bay Area. Former Grateful Dead monitor mixer
Mike Brady was crucial in helping me get the band’s mixes together in
the limited time we had for our check.
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Berlin’s lead singer, Terri Nunn, is in really good shape, both vocally and physically. We always talk to security early in the day, because Terri likes to climb the main loudspeakers to sing and dance atop them during the show if they’re stacked on the floor or the stage. This always gets a roar of excitement from the crowd, but can complicate Richard’s job, though, dealing with her wireless mic’s proximity to the speakers. |
I run ear mixes for Terri and backup singer Linda Dalziel, who has toured
with acts like Cyndi Lauper and Tears for Fears, as well as performing
her own material, opening shows for Chicago and Dan Fogelberg this summer.
We use Future Sonics EM-3 in-ear monitors with Sennheiser Evolution transmitters.
I leave some of Terri’s vocal in the center wedges to keep its presence
on the stage, but Linda has us strike her wedge after the check, and we
keep it in the wings on a cable, to only be brought out if there is a
problem with her in-ear system.
BARELY ANY EQ
The second show with Heart was in Boise, Idaho, with a rig supplied by
Ed Pratt of Salt Lake City’s Pratt Sound. Richard came up on stage after
the soundcheck and remarked that this was the first chance he had the
time to really listen to and work with the possibilities of the AE2500.
He was actually quite impressed and thought it was a good mic, and in
fact said he had barely used any EQ on it.
I took guitarist Dallan Baumgarten and Chris to a little bar in Boise,
the Blues Bouquet, and we stayed until after closing time, when the staff
locked the doors and we proceeded to thoroughly celebrate our successful
shows with Heart. I’ve done gigs at the Blues Bouquet twice in past years,
with a band called Pele Juju, on the way to shows at Bruce Willis’ clubs
in ski resort towns further up into the Idaho mountains.
As we’ve all seen, many touring people have gone to combining condenser
and dynamic mics, such as a beyerdynamic M88 or a Shure Beta 52 with a
Shure SM91. It’s my impression that in terms of audio, the AE2500 is very
competitive with those kinds of setups. The only point that left me a
little puzzled was why A-T decided to go with a five-pin jack in the mic
rather than two standard XLR outputs.
If anything happens to the special cable, you’re up a creek, because it
gets much more complicated than simply being able to ask the local provider
for a couple more XLR’s. Because the cable is so important and the mic
really cannot be used without it, a good idea might be to provide a carrying
bag that has compartments to carry both, rather than the traditional mic
bag that the AE2500 arrives in.
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Luckily at almost every tour stop, the sound company patch guys always put the mic and cable aside for me, together, when they were striking the stage. Sometimes the tour manager duties really distract me, thinking about the reporter I promised an interview to, or making sure there is security for the signing at the merchandise table, or getting a runner to take Terri back to the hotel. Did I place the set list exactly where the guitarist likes it to be, where he can see it when he is working his wah-wah? |
We used the AE2500 successfully at three more shows on the East Coast.
It’s always a pleasure to return to the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.,
for two reasons. First, that is the area I am from, so I get to see family
and friends, and secondly because the venue is one of the most together
in the whole world, and I really mean that. Richard had the pleasure of
rocking out on the very satisfactory subwoofers there, and the AE2500
was up to the task.
WHEN IT RAINS...
From there, the next morning, we went to The Downtown Club on Long Island.
During our drive north, it was pouring down rain the whole way. The Downtown
has only one console, so we split the vocal channels, and I stood on the
right side of the board during the show, watching for requests from the
band. The rain continued the next day as we drove to Six Flags Great Adventure
in New Jersey.
The system there was provided by SPL Sound, Inc., of Vineland, New Jersey.
The tech with me at the monitor position was Frank Bruno, and he presented
me with a trouble-free day, and a Ramsa SX-1. Also on the bill was Missing
Persons, and I overheard Dale Bozzio ask Frank if he had any Audix vocal
mics, which he didn’t. I piped up and said I had one, an OM-2 that I use
to record at home and also sometimes serves as my talkback mic at gigs.
“You’re a lifesaver!” Dale said, and told me to not even bother with peeling
off the white gaff tape with my initials on it. Animotion played, then
Missing Persons, and Berlin followed with a very strong closing set. The
fans braving the rain got a really good show, and we drove off to our
hotel near Baltimore/Washington Airport for a few hours sleep before our
flight the next morning.
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After the show, Frank saw me photographing what I thought was an amazing use of simple hardware store shackles, like a janitor would use to carry a key ring on. They served as stress relief, to take the weight off the snake ends terminating at the split. “What, have you got a thing for shackles?” he asked. |
I said no, I just thought the way that SPL used them was one of the most
brilliant things I had ever seen. Particularly in comparison to the half-assed
looping of steel wire over whatever Anvil latch is nearest that we’ve
all experienced so many times.
ONE MORE TIME
The mighty AE2500 would put in one more unexpected appearance before I
sent it back to A-T. I went to the San Diego County Fair, to mix New Found
Glory. When I looked in the Sound Image mic box, I found a dynamic mic
I really like and put it in the kick drum. I’d not even brought my tool
bag in from the car, just my CD’s.
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The drum tech said he couldn’t seem to get any click in the drumfill, so I hiked out to my vehicle and got the AE2500, swapped it in, and we proceeded to complete the soundcheck. My FOH systems tech was John Kerns, known for his time mixing Springsteen, and more recently, No Doubt. John told me that he has been using the AE2500 on guitar cabinets, that it sounds great and cannot be overloaded. Many people use multiple mics on guitar cabinets (as in fact I was that day each NFG guitarist uses four Mesa Boogie 4 by 12-inch-loaded cabinets, with two mics per player). This can induce phase differences due to the physical separation between the mic positions. With the AE2500, this problem is eliminated, since the two elements are physically right next to each other, but you still get the advantage of having two tones to play around with. |
Well, you learn something every day. Historically, I’m pretty much a one-kick-drum-mic kind of guy, although I’ve used two many times when they were available. For those who enjoy a pair, the A-T AE2500 is a one-piece solution that, it turns out, even has other uses. Leave it to the guys in the field to mess around with a new product and figure out applications that probably never occurred to the designer at the factory.
Chris Kathman is a working mixer and a regular contributor to Live Sound and ProSoundWeb.com. He is a much published author of a wide range of articles and can be reached at chris@prosoundweb.com
October 2003 Live Sound International