Professional Sound - June 2019 | Page 31

packaged by a different vendor last year allowed me to weigh up multiple pros and cons – small things like the height of the doghouse or the position of the drive rack. It all allowed me to put pen to paper on the design of my dream FOH package. Before we knew it… POOF! Just like that, the meta- phorical genie granted our wishes. Now, stood at rehearsals in Redditch, England, all the gear we could possibly want at our disposal and an ever-growing list of destinations around the globe to con- quer, it was game on. Gear Snob STAGE SET-UP FOR SHAWN MENDES: THE TOUR FEATURING CLAIR PA SYSTEM It’s interesting to look back at what touring was for me in the beginning. In particular, I realize that what I thought were good gear decisions actually sucked. If I was to start a club/theatre tour tomorrow with a low budget and no time, I would prioritize a means to multitrack record with some reliable reference moni- tors. I would never have been left guessing about where my mix sat in relation to the 30-year-old Turbosound system shooting down my hopes and dreams via a bullet horn. (Disclaimer: I actually fucking love some old-school Turbs.) After that, a Lake. I see a lot of tours at this entry- to mid-level that would rather take out a Waves and/or Universal Audio setup over anything else. If you think for one second that you can rely on consistent PA throughout a club run, you are in trouble; moreover, if you think that your emulated SSL channel strip is going to make showing up late for soundcheck after your bus broke down outside of Thunder Bay any better, you have lost your mind. “It’s All Happening” has been the hardest pill to swallow thus far in my career. Fast forward to March 2019 and here I sit, beer in hand, sun on my back, having swapped a muddy field in Swansea for a bohemian corner of Barcelona. Perspective The U.K. phase of production rehearsals lasted for two weeks. In that time, we utilized the pur- pose-built facilities at Fly by Nite Rehearsal Studios to start crafting the musical side of the show. For TOM WOOD AT HIS AVID S6L those 14 days, we quite literally ate, slept, rehearsed, and repeated, is everything. I can confidently speak for the all within the same building. band, crew, and Shawn when I say that we Between weeks one and two, we have been longing to be back in a headline transitioned from a setup that consisted of touring environment like this since 2017’s FOH in an isolated room with a small PA and Illuminate world tour ended. reference monitors into a small arena-sized Each instance of the same console room with our full touring PA system. PROFESSIONAL SOUND 31