ON THE ROAD: Motörhead
Opposite: Motörhead Lead Singer Lemmy along with his fellow band members, blasted the crowd with a wall of sound. Below: Visually, Motörhead’s shows have remained similar throughout their career, based heavily around static flashing light fixtures; Audiolease has become familar with the audio equipment needed, having supplied the band’s kit for the past 33 years.
productions such as the Düsseldorf show TPi attended, they were planned into the performance when the band played in Sweden. “Fire is incorporated occasionally, but not at this venue. We have pyro in Sweden because drummer Mikkey Dee is from Gothenberg, Stockholm, so we wanted to do something extra there,” added Rocha.
PUTTING TOGETHER THE A-TEAM “The secret to a successful tour is an enthusiastic crew,” highlighted Rocha. With members of the team such as reliable Stage Manager, Roger Desouza, on hand to make certain the construction of the show is on track, Rocha is able to focus on other areas of the tour. The team does not carry riggers because this is usually done by one of the hardworking lighting technicians and local riggers, working two up and one down. Said Rocha: “We pick who we like to
work with and tend to stick with suppliers. Motörhead was pretty much one of the first clients for Transam 35 years ago and they still supply our trucks. It’s the same with Audiolease - we’ve been with them since the company started. Sugar and Spice have been fantastic too - the food is great and they are not like some other catering companies who offer little portions. We are on the road and very hungry so we need proper food. “In my opinion, Coach Service has the best
busses out there. They are modern looking, comfortable to travel in and offer the separate bedrooms for band members that we need. We don’t require too much lighting kit, but GLS has been great at supplying it for the past six years and have a wonderful crew too. I can’t forget Absolute Audio Visual Solutions either - our
storage company. Alex Parne was our drum tech before he launched the company.” Safety is important to Rocha, who requires
a professional security team that knows how to handle the crowd. Local security crew and in-house barriers are used at each venue, with the number of people needed depends on the length of the stage. At the Mitsubishi Electric Halle eight security staff stood along the front of the stage.
THE SIGNATURE MOTÖRHEAD SOUND “Make sure it’s loud is the main request the band have in terms of the sound,” explained FOH Engineer Martin ‘Arnie’ Annables, who has been a part of Motörhead’s production crew since he joined the band as PA Systems Tech seven years ago. “With the amount of volume coming off stage, it can be difficult to stay within the db limits of some venues,” he added. Joked Production Manager Rocha: “Audio
is a challenge because as the years go by, the band members get more deaf so it can reach 130db on the stage. With Motörhead, you can’t make too many changes - their sound is their sound.” To guarantee the audience enjoy the mind-
blowing aural experience every Motörhead fan expects, Annables, who also acts as Systems Technician alongside Pat Fisher, needed to choose the correct configuration of equipment from Audiolease, who has been providing the band with kit for over three decades. Audiolease Owner Steve Sunderland has found working with Motörhead both a pleasure and a valuable learning experience. “Known as the loudest band on the planet, they have really pushed the boundaries throughout their career,” he commented.
The PA system the company supplied mainly
comprised d&b audiotechnik products. A total of 24 d&b J8 and four J12 loudspeakers were flown in equal amounts either side of the stage. To produce the sound the band desired, a further eight d&b Q1 line arrays and 18 J-Subs were ground stacked. “We chose to go with d&b because I believe
it’s one of the best sounding systems for this band. I used them last year on this tour and on lots of festivals and they performed extremely well,” said Annables, whose audio expertise has been put to use on The Prodigy, Art Garfunkel and The Wombats tours and a selection of American punk bands. Choice of microphone was just as imperative
as the PA system in producing the signature Motörhead sound. A mixture of Sennheiser and Shure models were used for the drum kit, with a pair of Sennheiser e 901 condenser microphones on the kick drums, another pair of e 901’s on the floor toms and three Sennheiser e 604’s for the rack toms. Three models of microphone were selected
to pick up the noise of the snare drum - a Shure Beta 56A was placed on top, a Shure Beta 57A supercardioid dynamic mic on the bottom and a Sennheiser e 604 inside the drum. A pair of Shure KSM27’s and a trio of Shure SM98’s were chosen as overhead microphones and SM81’s were used for the hi-hat and ride. “We have lots of different makes and models
of mics on the tour, some I inherited from the previous Sound Engineer when I moved into the role in 2010 and some I’ve changed due to personal preference. The Sennheiser e 604’s are particularly robust and suit the show really well,” explained Annables. “The vocal mic we are using is a slightly altered Electro-Voice PL80,
TPi JANUARY 2012 • 59
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