Aerosmith Gets Multidimensional - DiGiCo

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LIVESOUND showcase

Aerosmith Gets Multidimensional By Kelleigh Welch

Since the band’s inception in 1970, Aerosmith has rocked stadiums across the globe, and with the release of its most recent album, Music From Another Dimension!, and accompanying “Global Warming Tour” with Cheap Trick, these Boston boys proved they can still rock. With two U.S. legs on the tour, one spanning 26 dates and the second making stops in 13 cities, including New York City’s Madison Square Garden on November 20, Aerosmith gave fans an exhilarating concert experience, playing hit after hit from the band’s 42 year career. Sticking to his live concert trademark, Aerosmith front-man Steven Tyler once again performed the set with his decorated mic stand, complete with a variety of colorful scarves wrapped tightly around a wireless microphone. Throughout the show, Tyler’s microphones take quite a beating, as he drags the stand across the stage while he performs, leaving the band’s audio team with the task of finding a microphone that can withstand the abuse. While the band has sifted through a number of wireless mics throughout its touring career, Tyler’s monitor engineer John Chadwick, working with Las Vegas-based PRG Audio, has most recently decided to go with Shure’s Axient Handheld with a KSM9 capsule as the mic of choice. “We got through the South America and Japan legs of the tour, and when we decided to do an American leg again, I thought Shure was the safest way to go,” Chadwick ex-

plained. “I’ve used Shure before, so we swapped out the entire wireless system. These don’t take up as much room [spectrum] as older systems, and we can get way more channels, even in difficult cities like New York or L.A.,” Chadwick said. In such locales, with so many competing signals from television and radio, Chadwick said the Axient system provides him with more peace of mind that the signal won’t cut out during the concert. The Axient system scans on two separate channels, so if one channel cuts out from interference, the system automatically has an available backup channel ready to transfer the signal. “We use 55 channels of wireless, and I am absolutely certain we wouldn’t be able to do what we do here in New York without Axient,” Chadwick said. For each performance, Chadwick, along with FOH engineer John Shipp and band monitor engineer Toshio Kumagai, each used a DiGiCo SD7 Mach 3 console. Chadwick monitored the console for only Tyler, while Kumagai monitored the rest of the band on a separate console. “The DiGiCo SD7 is my best friend in the world. I can just lay it out in crazy ways, and I couldn’t do what I do for Steven without what that console has,” Chadwick said. Tyler and Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford both wore Sensaphonics 3D ambient in-ear monitors, also powered through the

Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler’s iconic mic stand, adorned with a multitude of scarves and a Shure Axient wireless microphone, inside Madison Square Garden.

Axient system, while band members Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer and backing musician Russ Irwin used Shure PSM1000 and JH Audio JH11 in-ear monitors. The Axient wireless system was used for the in-ear monitors as well, Chadwick explained, helping the engineers stay in contact with the band, even under the stage. For “Dream On,” Tyler rose up from under the stage with a piano, so the wireless system helped keep everything in order. Not everything changed, however; Chadwick said guitarist Joe Perry preferred to use standard wedge monitors on the stage. “Everyone is on in-ears except Joe Perry. He just doesn’t like them [the ear pieces],” Chadwick said. As a result, LAcoustics 12XT wedges, Arcs and dVSubs, powered by LA48 amplifiers, were set up on stage for Perry. Perry was also rather particular about the microphones and amplifiers he used during performances, and provided his own Royer R-121 and Shure 57 mics with his Neve 1058 and Spectra Sonics preamps. “The preamps are dispatched through all three consoles, so we all benefit from the preamps,” Chadwick noted. Eschewing current trends, Chad-

wick also used a respectable rack of outboard effects for Tyler, the list including the TC System 6000, Manley VoxBox and ELOP and Eventide’s Eclipse. But even with the variety of sonic sculpting available, Chadwick stressed the importance of the band perfecting the source before anything else. “Get as good of a signal from the source as you can,” Chadwick said. “If a guitar amp sounds bad on the stage, there is nothing you can do with the plug-ins to make it sound good. You have to get the source sounding right, and then get a suitable mic in the right place.” Shipp, who also engineered Music From Another Dimension!, tackled front-of-house mix duties on another DiGiCo SD7, using a variety of outboard effects as well, from a Focusrite ISA430 Producer Pack, Eventide Eclipse and SSL G series compressor to the Universal Audio UAD Satellite for plug-ins. Audiences, meanwhile, heard the mix via the tour’s sizable LAcoustics rig, which includes V-dosc, dV-Dosc, SB28 and Kudo boxes, all powered by LA-Rak amplifiers. When mixing Steven Tyler’s monitors, Chadwick said his main goal is to provide the singer with (continued on page 52)

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LIVESOUND showcase Aerosmith

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a sound that he likes, with an emphasis on creating a live experience, versus mixing similar to the band’s studio versions. “From my standpoint, I need to keep Steven happy,” Chadwick said. “There’s definitely a more live feel to it. They don’t try to recreate [the studio sound], so we don’t try to recreate it either.” Of all the songs the band plays, Chadwick said his favorites to mix are “No More, No More” off Aerosmith’s 1975 album, Toys in the Attic, and “Livin on the Edge,” from the band’s 1991 album, Get a Grip. The monitor engineer noted that he got his start in live audio engineering while studying Live Sound during his university days in England. Manning the PA system for the school’s performances in turn introduced him to other engineering

Aerosmith PRG Audio (Las Veags, NV) FOH Engineer: John Shipp

Tyler Monitor Engineer: John Chadwick

Band Monitor Engineer: Toshio Kumagai

Crew Chief: Chuck Wells

Tech: John Chadwick mans a DiGiCo SD7 all night as he tackles monitor mixes solely for Steven Tyler.

jobs. “I started out as the microphone plugger-inner bloke for Judas Priest,” joked Chadwick. More recently, Chadwick began his role with Aerosmith after working as the engineer for Luis Miguel in South America, as the acts share an audio

vendor; when Aerosmith needed an audio crew chief, Chadwick signed on and eventually rose through the ranks to become Tyler’s monitor engineer. Load-in for the Global Warming Tour shows took about nine hours, and the band typically didn’t run a soundcheck before the show. “We don’t really do soundcheck. Joe might come in and try a few guitars, but that’s about it,” said Chadwick. Even without the soundcheck, he added, the band members were good about telling the engineers if something sounded off: “If nothing is said, then all is well. They will let you know if something sounds wrong.” The show’s set list included a few tracks from the band’s new album, mixed in with a slew of Aerosmith’s greatest hits, including “Mama Kin,” “Love in an Elevator,” “Walk This Way” and “Dream On.” While the audio team had an idea of the songs the band expected to perform during each show, Chadwick reported that the band sometimes changed thing up and called audibles for the next song just before playing it, keeping the mixing engineers on their feet. “Sometimes I get the set list 90 minutes before the show, sometimes I get it 10 minutes before,” he said. “And sometimes they just play whatever they want!”

PRG Audio prg.com Shure shure.com DiGiCo digico.biz

Travis White, Ken Wilkinson, Bob Alumbaugh, Matthew Helmick, Brooks Jackson

FOH Console:

DiGiCo SD7 Mach 3

Monitor Console: (2) DiGiCo SD7 Mach 3

House Speakers:

L-Acoustics V-Dosc, dV-Dosc, SB28, Kudo

Monitor Speakers:

L-Acoustics 12XT wedges, Arcs, dVSub

Personal Monitors:

Shure PSM1000; JH Audio JH11; Sensaphonics 3D ambient

House Amplifiers: L-Acoustics LA-Rak

Monitor Amplifiers: L-Acoustics LA48

FOH Equipment/PlugIns:

Focusrite ISA430 Producer Pack; Eventide Eclipse; SSL G series compressor; Universal Audio UAD Satellite; DiGiCo SD7 on-board FX, gates and comps

Monitor Equipment/ Plug-Ins:

TC Electronic System 6000; Manley Voxbox, ELOP; Eventide Eclipse; Yamaha SPX-2000 (3); DiGiCo SD7 on-board gates, comps and FX

Microphones:

Shure Axient handheld with KSM9 capsule, Axient bodypacks, UR bodypacks, KSM44, KSM32, KSM313, Beta52, Beta57, Beta58; Shure SM7B, SM57, SM58; Royer R-121 Live; AKG c 451; Beyerdynamic opus 88; AudioTechnica shotguns

There’s more 5 See fan-shot video of Aerosmith revisiting “Dream On” and “Train Kept A-Rollin’” in Cleveland on the recent tour, at prosoundnetwork.com/jan2012.

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