sounds phenomenal and they upped the preamp game , EQs are smooth , and it ’ s just so intuitive .”
Both McLellan and Rowland say the real game-changer in the S6L , which was particularly helpful for Caesar ’ s Danforth shows , is its Pro Tools integration . For one , each night ’ s show was recorded by both Rowland and McLellan for use in a future documentary , and the Pro Tools integration made this exceedingly easy . The recording was also very helpful during rehearsals .
VER Toronto System Tech Jon Halliwell
“ With the S6L , we figured it ’ s not a whole whack load of additional gear to record ; the cards are already in there , it ’ s just done via Cat-5 into a MacBook , and it reads the E6L engine and just uses input gains at the stage rack – done . So we ’ ve been
Mike Rowland with an Avid Venue S6L in monitor world recording every night and basically , within the console software , you have two options : the E6L is either listening to the stage rack or it ’ s listening to the Pro Tools return , and it ’ s down to independent channels , which is fantastic ,” says Rowland . “ In rehearsals , there was one day where the [ backup singers ] were introduced and they wanted to run through stuff while the band weren ’ t there . But I recorded a full set in preproduction , so they came in early one morning , we got them all hooked up with their in-ears and mics , and I started the show on playback and ran the entire show through virtual soundcheck , but I used their four channels and turned them back to the stage rack . So all my 60-odd inputs were running the show but their four vocals were live . So we ran the show as we would and they were able to tweak and adjust and it was brilliant . It is really beneficial and the best part of the monitor set-up by far .”
During the five days of preproduction and rehearsals at the Sony Sound Stage in Toronto , Rowland and McLellan sorted out their microphone options , and Rowland describes the end result as “ a dream mic selection .”
To start with the most important source , Caesar ’ s voice , they opted to stick with the Sennheiser e935 the artist had used on the preceding tour . Rowland originally wanted to do a shootout to test the e935 against some vocal mics he enjoyed using over the summer while touring with rock band AFI – Telefunken , Neumann , and Audix models – though ultimately , the e935 was working very well with Caesar ’ s voice and technique , and they figured it was best to keep him comfortable considering all the other changes happening around him for these Danforth shows .
A regular tenor voice who sometimes goes into a smooth falsetto , McLellan says the e935 caters very well to Caesar ’ s voice . “ He has amazing mic technique . He makes out with the mic and he doesn ’ t pull away during the high notes like a lot of singers do when they ’ re not sure of their pitch . He just eats the microphone and it ’ s fantastic for front of house and monitors ,” says the engineer . “ The only issue I have with [ the e935 ] is it seems to be a honing missile for cymbals . Matt Burnett is a phenomenal drummer and he smashes the shit out of his kit , which is amazing . I love mixing good drummers and he ’ s one of the best I ’ ve ever mixed . Unfortunately , his cymbals do love finding Danny ’ s vocal mic , but it ’ s just something we ’ ve taken into compromise for smaller stages where he ’ s right behind Danny and I just kind of have to fight with it .”
In terms of EQ and effects on Caesar ’ s voice , McLellan says he does very little . “ Depending on the room , I ’ ll high pass up to 125 or 150 [ Hz ] depending on this voice , but Danny seems to have these low-mids that peak out no matter how much I high-pass him . So a 24dB high pass is a little aggressive past 150 , so I ’ ll just put a low shelf on a wider cue so it ’ s not just a complete drop off , but more just a slope that gets rid of the 200 to 250 low-mids that kind of swim around your face a little bit ,” he shares . “ Other than that , not much ; I ’ ll get rid of 3.15 [ kHz ] in almost any room just because I hate it and that helps with the cymbals and snare drum that seem to find their way to the microphone .”
Regarding mic selection , an interesting first for McLellan was miking the Leslie speaker the organ player used on the shows ’ final three songs – “ Freudian ,” “ Blessed ,” and “ Get You ” – which also come with the introduction of the 12-person choir .
“ I ’ d never miked up a Leslie before so I actually had to refer to Mike on that , like , ‘ What do we use ?’ says McLellan . “ It ’ s just two [ Shure ] SM57s on the top and an SM7B on the bottom for low-end . I high passed the two up top and I low-passed the bottom one and no compression . Steve [ Henry ] is an amazing organ player and he ’ s playing a Hammond B3 into a Leslie . You don ’ t have to do anything to it ; it ’ s just gorgeous by itself .”
“ That is actually the only thing in this entire set up where I gained it up and put high and low-pass filters where needed and
32 PROFESSIONAL SOUND