Tech

Mixing Taylor Swift’s “Red” Tour

Taylor Swift’s Red tour was full swing. The country-pop queen worked her way across the U.S., headlining 58 shows in 45 cities in 29 states and three provinces. Three DiGiCo SD7 systems and a d&b audiotechnik PA, provided by Eighth Day Sound Systems, delivered sizzling sound on the tour.

Published

7 years ago

July 25, 2017

Contributor

Photo: Shutterstock

The trio of SD7s were in place at FOH and two in monitor world — one for the band and one for artist monitors.All the consoles were shared among three DiGiCo SD-Racks (running at 96 kHz) through a fiber loop with FOH designated to control the analog head amp levels. FOH has one dedicated rack to handle outboard I/Os and delay P.A. feeds, and the two monitor boards were configured to accommodate 112 input channels and enough outputs for 24 stereo inear mixes. “I’d like to think the ease of sharing all of the DiGiCo stage racks contributed to this going very well,” says FOH engineer David Payne.

THE FRONT OF HOUSE SETUP

For Payne, who has worked with Taylor over the last four-and-a-half years, SD7 was a natural choice for the Red tour for a host of reasons: layout, sound quality and effects processing capabilities, as well as its integration with the Waves SoundGrid bundle. Not to mention its capacity to handle high input count, which is nearly 96-channels for Taylor and the seven-member band comprised of keyboards, drums, two guitarists, fiddle, bass and a utility string player; along with four background singers and 14 dancers. Payne also employed a pair of AES output cards at the stage racks to drive their Dolby Lake processors. “With a high channel count, it really helps to have the full set of faders, screens, and metering at your disposal. The SD7 also has the full multiband compression and dynamic EQ on every channel of the console. And the console’s sonic quality is great, very warm and clean when you need it, or engage some tube saturation and make it a little dirty. It is super easy to set up for any user’s exact needs, whether it’s 1-to-1 or re-arranged in any way you can imagine.”

GOING OUTBOARD

“I also use a couple of outboard pieces at FOH for channel processing,” Payne notes, “as well as playback channels, and signal routing for opening acts. We have chosen to use the CON send/receive function for routing of stage talkbacks and other playback lines between FOH and monitor world. I’ve been curious to try externally

keyed gates and this year we made use of that function on the console… Very cool! I have always been a fan of the multiband compressor on the console and the dynamic EQ is an excellent low-latency option for grabbing hold of a trouble frequency when necessary on a source.”

Outboard gear at FOH is kept to a relative minimum, with the exception of a Neve Portico channel on Taylor’s lead vocal, as well as some Waves plug-ins for texture and problem-solving through redundant SoundGrid servers. A few of his favorites include the Waves Mercury and SoundGrid Bundle (C6, H EQ, H-Delay, RVerb, to name a few); the API 2500 and Puig-Tech EQP-1A (on drum bus processing); NLS and SSL G Master Bus Compressor (on the stereo bus); NLS and CLA3A (on guitars); API 560, CLA76 and MaxxBass (on bass); NLS,

C6 and CLA2A (for vocals); and TrueVerb, H-Delay, RVerb and Doubler as effects.

At the stage rack side, Payne is feeding a stereo mix to video and in return, he gets a stereo feed for the show’s pre-roll footage. Additionally, he sends a stereo board mix to the tour’s Pro Tools engineer (Chris “CJ” Boggs) every night for archival purposes.

Boggs is using a 112-channel Pro Tools recording rig that utilizes an RME MADI bridge for coaxial-to-optical MADI conversion. That feeds into two Solid State Logic XLogic Delta Link devices that communicate with the HDX cards in a Mac Pro tower.

Payne can use this for virtual soundchecking, as well as acting as a backup for the multi-track record rig that the tour carries. Via MADI insert patching, Payne is also using the Pro Tools computer for some vocal effects, namely the BitCrushing effect used on the song “Trouble.”

MONITOR WORLD

Over in monitor world, Jordan Kolenc handles mixes for Taylor, with Scott Wasilk working with the band. This wasn’t Kolenc’s first outing with DiGiCo; he’s been using them for over five years, the first of which was in 2008 with Juanes’ La Vida… Es Un Ratico (Life… is a Moment) world tour. Like Payne, he also fell in love with the SD Series’ versatility and the multiband dynamics processing available on every channel.

“This is so important when you are working with high channel counts, like we have on this tour,” Kolenc comments. “Our stage is clear of any speaker sources, which means everyone is on in-ear mixes. We are using 24 Shure PSM-1000s to handle all stereo wireless mixes and our drummer and MD/keyboard player are both using a wired stereo mix via Albatross Audio’s PH9B headphone amp.” Just in case, the tour also carries eight d&b Audiotechnik M4 wedges for support acts and any guests that may perform during Taylor’s set.

“Everyone has a discrete stereo ear mix except for the dancers, who all share one ear mix,” Kolenc continues. “Scott, our band monitor engineer, deals with the musicians, techs, dancers, and Pro Tools operator mixes. I deal with Taylor, four background vocalists, opening act Ed Sheeran (who also performs one song during Taylor’s set) and any guest mixes that may come our way. The workload is split up nicely between the two consoles so that everyone onstage can receive the attention they need during sound checks and performances. We are up to about 96 input channels from the stage (the majority of which are RF mics and instruments) and an additional 12 audience mics strategically placed around the arena for Pro Tools recordings. Taylor has four separate mics that appear at different points in the set which we are running into an AES input card at 96K with the analog outputs of each RF mic receiver being run into alt inputs as back-ups.”

Kolenc set up a few macros to deal with toggling effects, alternate inputs for Taylor’s mics and talkback routing. “Scott and I both deploy some unconventional matrix routing for our cue mixes so that all eight of the talkback mics from stage/tech worlds and the three engineer talkbacks are always bused to our ears throughout the performance while cueing other mixes on the console.”

Onboard, Kolenc’s using the SD7s multiband compressor on quite a few inputs instead of massive EQ cuts to control problem frequencies. As far as outboard gear is concerned, he’s using a Summit TLA-100, a TC Electronic 2290 and Empirical Labs’ Lil Freq dialed in to insert on Taylor’s vocal in the event of a Waves server failure. He’s also got eight channels of SPL’s Transient Designer 9842 (on select drum inputs via two rackmount units), plus a few Waves SoundGrid plug-ins for miscellaneous processing.

“I like the basics best: Renaissance Axx, H-EQ for its analyzer tool and precision, and the C6 is great for focusing on trouble frequencies and dynamics smoothing on almost any input source,” Kolenc explains. “The two selectable bands are a nice added feature/update from the C4. Specifically, I’m using H-EQ, Renaissance Axe, and L2 on guitars; an SSL G-Master Buss Compressor and H-EQ on drum channels; an API 560 EQ, C6 and CL-3A on bass; an API 550A EQ, Renaissance Channel and Renaissance Axx on strings; a CL-2A, C6, SSL channel EQ and Renaissance DeEsser on vocals; a PS22 and C6 on keys; and an H-Delay, Doubler and RVerb for effects.

“DiGiCo’s interface is a breeze to navigate and having the ability to customize the control surface by reordering banks, channels, and screens quickly is of great benefit,” he sums. 96k, Waves and rack sharing are three features that don’t exist simultaneously on any other competitor’s flagship systems. I’m a fan of anything with an intuitive, easy to dial interface that produces quick usable results.”

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Business

Beyoncé’s New Album, RENAISSANCE

Beyoncé’s first solo album in six years will have fans heading to the dance floor, according to critics.

Published

2 years ago

July 30, 2022

Contributor

Renaissance has been described as having “fierce club energy”, “a joyous soundtrack to a hot girl summer” and being an “endless party”.

The Telegraph predicted it “will be filling dance floors for years to come”.

Writer James Hall says it is “a tribute to two forms of music: late-1980s and early-1990s house, and disco.

“It is peppered with sounds that anyone watching reruns of Top of the Pops from that era on BBC Four will be instantly familiar with,” he wrote.

Thanking fans for not listening to a leaked version, Beyoncé wrote online: “I appreciate you for calling out anyone that was trying to sneak into the club early.

“It means the world to me. Thank you for your unwavering support. Thank you for being patient.”

The Guardian gave the track list of 16 songs four out of five stars, describing it as “unapologetically escapist” where the singer “unleashes everything from disco bangers to global house hedonism”.

Tara Joshi wrote: “Beyoncé was never going to make a corny ‘live, laugh, love’ record, and her rebirth finds her in the role of siren luring us to the dancefloor.

“It’s a celebration of living abundantly and outside the realms of others’ expectations, and acts as a reminder of how rare it is to witness this hyper-disciplined artist simply having fun on her own terms. “

However, Joshi believes the release “falls short of being Beyoncé’s best full-length”.

Pitchfork’s Dylan Green claims it’s “the most unabashedly fun new Beyoncé record since 2006’s B-Day”.

He describes Beyoncé as “one of the only living musicians who can stop the world with new music” who has put out an album with a “staggering amount of talent in one place” – referring to collaborations with Grace Jones, Skrillex and Drake.

“Her chants of ‘the category is…’ and other language used within ball culture and queer communities also stand out in the music,” he wrote.

“Dance music of all stripes was built by queer artists, and that history hovers through.”

Renaissance is the first instalment of a three-album project recorded during the pandemic.

“Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world,” Beyoncé wrote on Instagram.

“It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving”.

Rolling Stone’s critic Mosi Reeves notes “every song is an uptempo track that has the potential to joyously redefine dance floors, living rooms, and car singalongs in 2022 and beyond”.

He says it is the first record from Beyoncé in nearly 20 years “to completely omit” ballads from the track listing – referencing some of her previous hits such as Halo and Irreplaceable.

“This is an album about letting go and having a good time,” writes Will Hodgkinson in The Times, saying the superstar “appears to have discovered the sweaty, messy world of club culture” for the first time.

“Beyoncé, whose singing is as dynamic as it has ever been, has replaced overthinking with disco grooving,” he said.

“It doesn’t seem like a bad way of dealing with the age of anxiety.”

Business

Shania Twain Opens Up About ‘Scary’ Lyme Disease Symptoms: ‘I Thought I‘d Lose My Voice Forever’

Twain opened up about her Lyme disease diagnosis in the new Netflix documentary Not Just a Girl.
Twain revealed she had “scary” symptoms and would often lose her balance and feel dizzy while performing on stage.
The country-pop singer says Lyme disease impacted her voice and she later underwent open-throat surgery.

Published

2 years ago

July 29, 2022

Contributor

Most people recognize country singer Shania Twain’s music immediately (we dare you not to sing along to Man! I Feel Like a Woman!). But, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the musician. The 56-year-old was forced to take a break from the spotlight to recover from a mysterious illness. In a new Netflix documentary, Not Just a Girl, the queen of country pop opens up about her battle with Lyme disease, and how she thought it would end her singing career.

While touring in 2003 to promote her new music, Twain’s life was turned upside down by a tick bite she got while horseback riding.

“The tick was infected with Lyme disease, and I did get Lyme disease,” the star says in the documentary. “My symptoms were quite scary because before I was diagnosed, I was on stage very dizzy. I was losing my balance, I was afraid I was gonna fall off the stage…I was having these very, very, very millisecond blackouts, but regularly, every minute or every 30 seconds.”

The Canadian singer also feared that the illness would impact her voice, especially after she started to lose control over her vocals. “My voice was never the same again,” she says. “I thought I’d lose my voice forever. I thought that was it, [and] I would never, ever sing again.”

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Twain previously opened up about her Lyme disease diagnosis, which led her to undergo open-throat surgery and take a break from the spotlight. The Grammy winner revealed to Extra the surgeries were “very intense” and “very different from a vocal cord operation.” She eventually returned to the stage in 2017.

“I remember thinking and people saying, ‘Where’s Shania Twain? Where did she go?’” The You’re Still the One singer said in an interview with Sunday with Willie Geist, per People. “It was devastating. I was very sad about it to the point where I just—I felt I had no other choice but to accept it—and that I would never sing again.”

She revealed in an interview with ITV’s Loose Women that doctors originally didn’t know what was causing her symptoms. “It took years to get to the bottom of what was affecting my voice, and I would say probably a good seven years before a doctor was able to find out that it was nerve damage to my vocal cords directly caused by Lyme disease, and I was just out horseback riding in the forest when I got bit by a tick, a Lyme tick.”

The singer spent time healing her throat and recovering through therapy but said she “was morning the expression of my voice.” She added, “It would have killed me not to be able to ever sing again. I wasn’t going to let my life be over. But I would have been very sad and I have mourned that forever.”

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease (a disease transmitted to humans from anthropods) in the United States. It is transmitted through a bite from an infected black-legged tick. If left untreated, symptoms can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The most common symptoms of Lyme disease that pop up within three to 30 days of a bite typically include:

Fever
Chills
Headache
Fatigue
Muscle and joint aches
Swollen lymph nodes
Erythema migrans rash (bullseye rash)

You can also experience these symptoms months after infection, according to the CDC:

Severe headaches and neck stiffness
Rashes on other areas of the body
Facial palsy
Arthritis with severe joint pain and swelling
Intermittent pain in tendons, muscles, joints, and bones
Heart palpitations or irregular heartbeat (called Lyme carditis)
Episodes of dizziness or shortness of breath
Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord
Nerve pain
Shooting pains, numbness, or tingling in the hands or feet

Lyme disease is most commonly diagnosed from symptoms or known exposure to ticks. It is often treated successfully with antibiotics, according to the CDC.

We’re so glad to hear Twain’s powerful vocals again, and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the singer.

Business

Chris Brown’s 12th Studio Album “Breezy”

A chart-topping force, Brown has made more Billboard Hot 100 entries since the start of his career than any contemporary male singer alive to date, and with his new album BREEZY, will continue to break records.

Published

2 years ago

July 1, 2022

Contributor

ONE OF THEM ONES TOUR WITH LIL BABY KICKS OFF JULY 15^TH

[New York, NY – June 24, 2022] Global superstar Chris Brown drops his highly anticipated 12^th studio album BREEZY via RCA Records – click here to listen. The 24-track project is star-studded, enlisting features from major artists such as H.E.R., Jack Harlow, Bryson Tiller and more. Additionally, Brown released the visual today for “C.A.B. (Catch A Body)” featuring Fivio Foreign – click here to watch. This week Chris also dropped his “WE (Warm Embrace)” video starring himself alongside hitmaker Normani – click here to watch.You can hear the new record live on his One Of Them Ones Tour this summer with Lil Baby, kicking off July 15th – click here to purchase tickets.

Listen to BREEZY: https://chrisbrown.lnk.to/BREEZY

Watch “C.A.B. (Catch A Body)” featuring Fivio Foreign: https://chrisbrown.lnk.to/CAB

Watch “WE (Warm Embrace)”: https://chrisbrown.lnk.to/warmembrace/youtube

Previously, Chris Brown released his well-received full-length mixtape Slime & B with Young Thug, which featured the hit single “Go Crazy,” and the release of the remix featuring Young Thug, Future, Lil Durk and Latto. Throughout his career, Brown has continued to break records – even his own – and received a plethora of accolades. The original version of “Go Crazy” topped his single “No Guidance” as the longest running #1 song on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart at 28 weeks and counting. In the past two years alone, he’s garnered nominations and wins from multiple award shows. “Go Crazy” won three Soul Train Awards in 2020 for Song of the Year, Best Collaboration and Best Dance Performance and garnered seven more nominations in 2021. He was also nominated for seven Billboard Music Awards, including Top R&B Artist, Top R&B Album and Top R&B Song (“Go Crazy”), four BET Awards including Video of the Year (“Go Crazy”) and Best Male R&B/Pop Artist, two BET Hip-Hop Awards for Best Hip-Hop Video (“Go Crazy”) and Best Duo or Group, two MTV Video Music Awards for Best R&B Song (for two songs – “Go Crazy” and “Come Through” with H.E.R.) and one 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration – Contemporary (“Go Crazy (Remix)” with Young Thug, Lil Durk, Future and Latto).

Buy/Stream BREEZY:
https://chrisbrown.lnk.to/BREEZY

Watch “C.A.B. (Catch A Body)” featuring Fivio Foreign:
https://chrisbrown.lnk.to/CAB

Watch “WE (Warm Embrace)”:
https://chrisbrown.lnk.to/warmembrace/youtube

Watch “Iffy”:
https://smarturl.it/xiffy/YouTube

BREEZY Tracklist:
01 Till The Wheels Fall Off feat. Lil Durk & Capella Grey
02 C.A.B. (Catch A Body) feat. Fivio Foreign
03 Pitch Black
04 Possessive feat. Lil Wayne & BLEU
05 Addicted feat. Lil Baby
06 Call Me Every Day feat. WizKid
07 Closure feat. H.E.R.
08 Need You Right Here feat. Bryson Tiller
09 Sex Memories feat. Ella Mai
10 Hmhmm feat. EST GEE
11 Psychic feat. Jack Harlow
12 Show It feat. BLXT
13 Sleep At Night
14 Passing Time
15 WE (Warm Embrace)
16 Forbidden
17 Bad Then A Beach feat. Tory Lanez
18 Survive The Night
19 Dream
20 Slide
21 Harder
22 On Some New Shit
23 Luckiest Man
24 Iffy

Keep Up With Chris Brown:
Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Website

About Chris Brown:

Chris Brown, a consummate entertainer who has shifted the climate of R&B culture since his eponymous 2005 debut, has sold in excess of 40 million albums worldwide and has surpassed over 10 billion audio streams across digital outlets to date. Brown has won more than 125 awards including a Grammy Award for his album F.A.M.E. in 2011 and has amassed over 13.7 billion YouTube views – including over 40 music videos that each have more than 100 million views earning him the title of male artist with the most Vevo certified videos ever and ‘Diamond’ status from the streaming platform.

A chart-topping force, Brown has made more Billboard Hot 100 entries since the start of his career than any contemporary male singer alive to date, spending 160 consecutive weeks charting on the Hot 100. Albums from recent years include 2017’s Heartbreak on a Full Moon, which spent more than a year on the Billboard Hot 200 and 2019’s INDIGO, which marked his third U.S. No. 1 album, has been streamed over 5.7 billion times and contained the hit song “No Guidance” featuring Drake. His 2020 album, Slime & B, is a collaboration with Young Thug that has accrued over 1.8 billion streams worldwide since its release and includes the hypnotizing smash hit “Go Crazy,” which has been his biggest radio hit since 2008. Now, with the release of his new album BREEZY out now via RCA Records, Chris is ready to have a breezy summer and play the new project live while on his One of Them Ones tour with Lil Baby.

An accomplished entrepreneur and business owner, Brown’s tenacity behind his venture into fashion with his Black Pyramid brand has transformed his business from a digital fashion giant to acquiring a worldwide distribution deal and being carried in major retailers globally. In addition, Brown’s commitment to philanthropy is as important to him as his professional pursuits – including his dedication to the Symphonic Love Foundation, a charitable organization that he founded which supports and creates arts programs for youth. Brown has also donated his time and resources to various non-for-profit organizations including St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Best Buddies, Hurricane Harvey victims, and Colin Kaepernick’s “10 for 10” million-dollar pledge.