Mix From Where You’d Rather Be
Chris Braun takes Corona Australia’s ‘From where you’d rather be’ tagline to heart, and mixes via tablet on the beer brand’s Portugal. The Man whistle-stop tour.
1 June 2015
Feature: Chris Braun
Main Photo: Maclay Heriot
Warning: I’d like to premise this story by reinforcing the importance of a professional team when trying to execute a tour this complex. It should not be taken lightly. This tour was prefaced by months of meticulous planning by tour producers, production managers, brand reps, band management, and the band themselves. It took professional crew, being paid proper wages, working with a professional touring package and an amazing, understanding artist and client to complete the task at hand… Don’t try this alone.
Doing the numbers on this tour didn’t leave a lot in the remainder column: 17 show days, 26 shows, 1 band, 4 crew, 3 vehicles, 4 states and a whole lotta sweat!
The challenge: String multiple shows into single days, in venues typically not set up for live performances, to a tight schedule, with a fair bit of gear (even though the package was stripped back).
The project was a promotional tour by Corona Extra Australia, produced by Monster Children. The premise was to fly in Alaskan band, Portugal. The Man, to play a number of shows around the country in venues and locations that matched Corona Australia’s ‘from where you’d rather be’ ideal.
The tour rolled down the road less travelled to some amazing places. Picture amazing water views nestled between sandstone buildings, manicured gardens, picture-perfect lawns and generous long tables ready for punters to assume an afternoon beer pose — ideal places to catch a truly talented band that rarely makes it to the country. Now put that ideal spot at the end of a long staircase going down a hill, around bends. Oh, and make sure the ground isn’t flat. Then you get the full picture of what the crew faced on most days. Often, the more unique the venue or view, the more difficult the load-in.
The client’s brief for the production was simple, yet required a unique solution. The rig needed to be set up quickly, deliver a high impact show, packed down, loaded out, moved to the next venue… sometimes twice in a day. In Sydney we even had to rinse and repeat the routine three times in one day! I immediately called the boys at Monitor City and we put together a production package that comprised of:
TIME TRIALS
Of all the brief’s challenges, the biggest issue we had was achieving the best result in the time allocated. Generally speaking, we had one hour, to an hour and a half, between arriving at a venue to the show going up. In that time, we needed to liaise with the venue, bump in and set up all the staging, PA, control, lighting and backline. Usually while swimming through a growing crowd who’d arrived early to secure a primo position. It meant there were no soundchecks and little time to do the normal pre-show checks before the band hit the ‘Go’ button.
All aspects of the production package had to be light, effective and most of all, reliable. One of the early decisions I made was to limit all control to a side-of-stage operating position. There was no time to lay multicores, and in many venues, taking up that much space just wasn’t realistic. Both audio and lighting consoles were set up side-of-stage with the notion they’d be wirelessly operated out front from tablets. I’d never relied on tablets to mix before, but I’ve gotta say, it worked an absolute treat! Mixing full shows on the Midas iPad app was a breeze.
FOH
(East coast: Monitor City)
(West coast: CCA)
4 x Nexo PS15R2
2 x Nexo PS8
2 x Nexo RS18 subs
6 x K&M speaker stands
Monitors
6 x Sennheiser G3 IEM
Control
(Supplied by BLOC Audio)
1 x Midas Pro1 console
1 x Wireless iPad mixing package
1 x Klark Technik DN9650 recording interface
1 x Mic and DI package
Lighting (Supplied by SWS)
12 x Pixeline Micro W LEDs
1 x ChamSys control system (supplied by Wot Productions)
1 x Wireless tablet system
Backline (supplied by Deluxe)
1 x DW Collectors Series drum kit
1 x SWR Redhead bass combo
2 x Fender Deluxe Reverb guitar amplifiers
4 x Keyboard stands
WALK UP GIG
Prior to the tour starting, we had a single-day production rehearsal. Full credit to the band. Stepping of a sleepless flight from LA, they walked into a room full of crew they didn’t know, backline they’d never used, and absolutely owned it.
The goals for the day were to establish a template for IEM and FOH mixes, get them comfortable on stage, and address any possible backline issues. With the potential for the band to arrive at venues 10 minutes before going on stage, they needed to be able to confidently put their ears in, pick up a guitar and know that everything was going to work as planned.
As good as the Midas Mixtender app is, it’s still quite limited in what you have access to. You can control all your mixes, EQ, graphics, POP groups and VCAs. You can’t wirelessly edit dynamics, change scenes or even tap in your tempo for the delay unit. The only thing I genuinely missed having access to for this tour was the tap tempo for my delay unit, but we solved that the old fashioned way. I had the system tech tap in a 4/4 tempo at the start of each track, allowing me to remain out front looking like a nerd at a gig on my iPad.
LIGHT WORK
The band and crew linked in together very quickly, which showed in each gig. Our lighting tech, Josh Evans, actually had access to a complete mirror system of the lighting console on his tablet. However, he ended up spending nearly every show rocking out side of stage with the band and got pulled into being the fifth member of the band, dropping cues with Jason the drummer.
Mixing wirelessly had some disadvantages, but it also came with a couple of clear advantages; set up time was the real winner. Having to only hook up the console and broadcast network — a standard Apple Airport Express gave me venue-wide coverage — kept the messing around to a minimum. I could also change IEM mixes from the tablet and, with the aid of my own cue pack, solo individual sources and mixes to my in-ear monitors and make level and EQ adjustments without having to leave the bar… I mean the mix position.
One of my main concerns going into the tour and relying on the iPad for most of my mixing was redundancy. What would happen if the network failed or I wandered out of range? The good news is, nothing. You can lose reception, have drop outs, and the consoles won’t react to losing communication with the iPad. The biggest issue was being in the crowd, finger on a fader, and someone walking past, bumping into you, inadvertently pushing your arm and potentially cranking a channel. Not ideal.
THE CORE ISSUE
Without the possibility of wireless tablet mixing, the schedule would have been drastically different. Given the bump out happened while the venues were still full of people, allowing for multicores to be run and packed up in each venue would have easily added an hour to each stop. Pulling a multicore out through ‘jolly’ patrons would have been a nightmare.
All in all, the tour was a huge success and after six weeks straight mixing on an iPad, I’m happy to say I’d do it again, but will always take a console over a screen.
RESPONSES