ON THE ROAD: Dolly Parton Below: To ensure the O2 arena was filled with sound, a large Meyer Sound rig was used, with the Galileo loudspeaker management system controlling the PA.
side is pretty straightforward, but the small headsets Parton uses can make it tricky to get the intelligibility needed so that everybody - all the way up to the furthest seat - can hear her speak.”
Technica AT4040 were selected as electric guitar mics. For direct boxes, the crew opted for four Radial Engineering JDIs for the keyboards, two Radial Engineering J48’s, four L.R. Baggs Para DIs for the acoustic guitar, fiddle, banjo
“You have to know the environment and your equipment and the (wireless frequency coordination) package we use now is flawless; I’ve not had a radio interference failure yet.”
Choosing the correct microphones and PA
system was fundamental in making sure all audio was as clear as possible. For Parton and the other backing singers, four Countryman Isomax W5 Cardioid were the headsets of choice. Hardwired vocal microphones used on tour included an AEA R44C Studio mic, a Shure KSM9 with OptoGate optical IR noise gate and two Shure Beta 58 drum mics. Over on the kick drum, an Audio-Technica AE2500 mic was placed, with five Audio-Technica AT4021’s on overheads for the ride cymbal, hi hat and snare bottom. A total of four Sennheiser e604 mics were positioned to pick up the toms and snare top.
Elsewhere on the production, a Royer R121,
Shure SM57, Cascade Microphones Fat Head Live with Lundahl transformer and an Audio-
40 • TPi OCTOBER 2011
and mandolin, two Fishman Aura DIs on acoustic guitars and a Manley Labs VoxBox for the bass guitars and upright bass. Utility microphones for the show were two Neumann TLM193’s, two AKG C414 XLII‘s and two Audio- Technica AT4050’s. Fechner and Glass also specified the Midas
PRO 6 console at FOH and Midas PRO 9 with Midas DL431 mic-splitters for monitors, selecting the desks for their compactness and sonic quality. In May, prior to rehearsals, they visited Thunder Audio in Detroit to programme and label the desks, and gather stage wiring. Glass, who has previously mixed monitors
for acts such as Joe Diffie and Sarah Evans, produced 10 stereo in-ear monitor mixes and a stereo left and right alternating down the frontline of wedges for Parton; alongside two
sub mixes for the drummer and bass player. “I chose the PRO 9 console to mix because the sound is incredible. It fits all the specifications I need to mix this many outputs and produce this number of monitor mixes for the large band supporting Dolly,” he said. When mixing FOH, Fechner uses mute groups
frequently, but prefers not to work with scenes for the Better Day tour: “I’m a little old school and I don’t think scenes would be relevant for this show. If I was working on a Broadway production, I would be more likely to use them. On Dolly’s vocal I run two separate channels, with one specifically EQ’d and treated for the dialogue. When it comes to the music, I’ll switch to a channel that is processed more like a record and has effects and processing on it.” According to Fechner, the Midas PRO 6
POP (population) groups is one of its standout features: “I hadn’t seen them on other desks. It allows you to block things together and fly them over to one side of the console. For this show, I’m using very few outboard features. I have a couple of my own vintage compressors, other than that, it’s all in the desk.” The Better Day production was multi-track recorded using the Alesis HD24 (24-track hard disk recorder); with a total of 72 tracks recorded at every show.
WORKING WIRELESS WONDERS Since clean wireless performance can be a major concern for many live shows, Glass
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