hile I wouldn’t classify myself as a fully-fledged REM them – what I want to hear out of them and of course how they REM Live aficionado, like just about everyone else on the planet, want to be presented. It definitely takes a few shows to get that WI own 1992’s Automatic For The People. The new album, under your belt. I like to think that we came out pretty strong, Around The Sun, however, had passed me by. But when I got an but as the tour’s gone on it’s progressed and developed and Ol’ Blue Eyes and his band of middle-aged men are eleventh-hour call dispatching me to the Sydney Entertainment matured quite a bit. at it again, to much acclaim. Mark O’Connor gets the Centre to attend the first of REM’s recent Sydney concerts, it MO’C: Was there much direction from the band in terms of what was no unwelcome thing. they wanted from you, or was it more about intuitively feeling lowdown from two REM engineering ‘debutantes’. Further proof of my lack of credentials lies in the fact I’ve your way? never caught REM in concert before. So nothing could prepare BE: It was more intuitive. We definitely had some conversations me for the experience. I stood transfixed for the evening while at the beginning – I went in for a week’s worth of rehearsals in Michael Stipe, besuited and resplendent in his by now iconic Athens [Georgia], sat in with them, watched instrumentation, band of blue paint across the eyes, propelled his distinctive voice watched the members change around, and got a feel for what out into the packed arena, both songs and performance serving they were going to be doing on stage. Also, a mobile recording as a reminder of how REM have risen from indie favourite to truck was brought in for me to record one of those rehearsals become one of the world’s biggest bands. (which became an Apple iTunes exclusive presentation of some Sometimes you get more than you bargained for – a hidden of the material) – which was a nice opportunity to put what I was extra or two. doing under the microscope. And I was asking them quite a few The unexpected bonus on this occasion took the form of different questions about how true to the record they wanted to support band Bright Eyes, who literally stopped me in my tracks sound. with songs reminiscent of a young Bob Dylan and delivered MO’C: What was the response? with a voice of such passion and intensity that I recalled The BE: I think there are certain key effects, certain things that are Waterboys’ Mike Scott belting out The Whole Of The Moon. very important in the record, and those things are obvious. For When their set was finished I wandered back to the FOH desk example, when you think about the song Drive, the slap-back to find out the band’s name, and there struck up a conversation delay on the vocal you hear in the verses… that kind of thing is with mix engineer Jacob Feinberg-Pyne. I learned then what important to them. And definitely knowing what the dominant everyone at the band’s sellout headline gig at the Metro the instruments are throughout the arrangements. But I personally following evening already knew – that Bright Eyes are well and tried to make them a little bigger, a little more rockin’ live than truly on an upward trajectory, and their front man a rising star. perhaps what their more recent records have been. There’s a Essentially the vehicle for prolific 24-year-old singer/songwriter, different timbre to the more recent records – I’m not saying it’s Conor Oberst, Bright Eyes had been handpicked for the tour by a bad thing by any means, it’s what the records are – but live I REM, having recently shared the stage with them (and Bruce prefer to open it up and make it thump a little more. Springsteen) on last year’s Vote For Change tour in the US. MO’C: You mentioned earlier Michael being a ‘different kind of My conversation with Jacob was eventually interrupted as singer’. Can you tell us about your approach to his vocal? REM took to the stage with a denser, fuller sound than that of BE: Well, we changed quite a few things – when I say ‘we’ I their support act. I resolved, however, to track him down later mean, myself and George Squires, our monitor engineer. This [see box item for more]. is George’s first tour with the band as well, so we sat down and talked about everything from mics and mic placement to… just FOH Engineer – Brett Eliason all the technology that goes into it, because we have to share REM FOH engineer Brett Eliason’s last visit to Australia was all the stuff that’s up on stage. So he definitely had a hand in with Pearl Jam in 2003. Brett’s been the Pearl Jam ‘sound some of the decisions as well. For example, we talked to Michael guy’ since the band’s inception. While he was understandably about changing microphone types. He was a Shure Beta 58 user reluctant to draw comparisons between the two bands, – always has been. I didn’t really care for the sound of that mic I enquired how mixing each of them presented different on his vocal. We still use a wireless version of it and it works just challenges, drawing upon different areas of expertise. fine, but for the wired vocal that goes on throughout the show we Brett Eliason: Certainly there are differences. I mean this switched to an Audix OM7. It’s a very clear mic that has a nice is a different band to mix than Pearl Jam. With Pearl Jam it’s warm low end and great gain-before-feedback characteristics – generally more rock-oriented, more in-your-face. I think there’s you can really crank up his foldback; it gives me something extra more variety with REM – they play a slew of styles that range for front of house; and retains good stability. The other thing I from pop to more in-your-face riffy rock kind of stuff. And do with vocals is I have a preamp on stage and I run the main Michael’s definitely a different kind of singer. There are different vocal – both his wireless and his wired mic – to that preamp, tonalities on stage – with REM you have six musicians that are and then line drive that signal out to front of house. Doing that playing very arranged, very different parts that take a little while decreases the amount of signal degradation that I get over long to get your head around, to figure out what you want to do with cable lines. It doesn’t get as mid-rangey, and it also lowers the it and where it all needs to go. noise floor – things can get kind of buzzy when you’re running Mark O’Connor: So there was some ‘learning the ropes’ in a mic signal hundred of metres, so it really cleans up that path. early stages of the tour then? The other thing I use is an Empirical Labs Distressor on his BE: Yeah, definitely. This is the first tour I’ve done with REM vocal, and on the other vocals as well. It’s a compressor that can and I’m definitely getting my feet wet, figuring out how to shape be used in several different ways. I find that it really helps with Michael’s transient information. He’s got a lovely voice, parts of the world where we’ve played – or are yet to but everybody’s got their characteristics and he can play – that aren’t quite so geared up. Also when you get quite bright in the top end, so the Distressor helps show up with everything basically preset, all you’ve got control that a little bit – helps control his dynamic and to do is just wrestle the PA into place and you’re ready really keep it solid. to go. MO’C: You’re using the Midas XL4 console. What led EAW 760 Line Array you to that choice? MO’C: What was behind your decision to go for the BE: Firstly, it has a tremendous number of routing EAW PA? capabilities. Also, it’s a big console – this is a 56-input BE: Several years ago I was planning a change in PA frame and every input is full. The EQ is very useful for Pearl Jam and tried an EAW 760 line array for a – it’s smooth, yet active. The preamps sound wonderful couple of arena shows. I was quite blown away by – they’re warm and punchy. It’s just a really lovely- it – its presence, its coverage, and its punch. It’s not sounding console that tours well. I’ve used Midas’ perfect – none of them are – but for the way I approach Heritage series, which is a nice board, but I had some things, the way I mix, I find it a very, very friendly PA problems with the computer section and eventually to use. There are great aspects to many of the other went back to the XL4. line arrays but, thus far, this one’s still my favourite. MO’C: Can you take us through some of your outboard MO’C: Norwest has supplied the PA system here but gear? you’ve brought in everything else? BE: I’ve got a lot of stuff – quite a few Distressors, BE: That’s correct. We’re very self-contained – which we talked about, a couple of Manley Vari-Mu everything from our power distribution, our multicores, tube compressors, a Summit DCL200 stereo tube mic stands… everything between stage and FOH. This compressor, some BSS404 compressors, a couple of maintains a level of consistency that’s comforting. your typical dbx 160s, an Alan Smart compressor and We could pick up just about everything I’m using out a solitary gate. I don’t really gate drums, but I use one here in Australia – Norwest and other companies have for snare bottom and also the Leslie bottom because it everything available. But there are places in different tends to be a rumbly beast. As far as delays go, I’ve got

AT|44 Bright Eyes Front of House Engineer – Jacob Feinberg-Pyne The first gig Jacob Feinberg-Pyne did with Conor Oberst was at the Housing Works Bookstore in NYC where he had put together a one-time band (“he tends to do that a lot”) which included Norah FOH Engineer, Brett Eliason, with more Distressors than you’re ever likely to see in the one Jones on keyboards(!) and her songwriter sidekick Jesse Harris on guitar. A band with a seemingly place again (it’s his compressor of choice for all vocals). ever-changing line up, tonight’s seven-piece incarnation of Bright Eyes included trumpet and pedal steel. I asked Jacob about his perspective from behind the front of house desk for a rising star on tour with one of the world’s megabands. a TC2290, a Roland SDE3000, and on the multi-effect front: an Eventide H3000, a TC MO’C: When I walked into the Entertainment Centre and heard your band I was struck not only by Electronic M2000, and an old Lexicon PCM60. the music but also by how fantastic the sound was. You don’t usually expect the support band to MO’C: To what extent do you apply those effects, reverbs and delays to the vocal? sound as good as the main act! It sounded like they’ve actually given you time to sound check! BE: I do play with it, though subtly. There are a few songs that have very obvious delays Jacob Feinberg-Pyne: They have. Sometimes in productions like this we wouldn’t get a soundcheck everyday. When we were opening for Bruce Springsteen and REM on the Vote For that are a big part of the song – of the melody or the rhythm of the vocal – but for the Change tour in the US last year we got a good 45-minute soundcheck before the first gig, but for most part it’s subtler than that. Although I make quite a few changes, it’s just to help the other four shows there wasn’t time. Thankfully, for all these REM shows, they were kind enough the vocal fit the room as well as what it needs to fit into the song. And when rooms are to make time for us every day to soundcheck. really boomy I just back it off – if you’ve already got a ton of reverb you don’t need more. MO’C: I understand your production for the tour is separate to REM’s, which they’ve brought with them from the US. MO’C: How have you found the venues out here? JFP: Yes, in addition to supplying the PA for the tour, Norwest has also supplied our production BE: I always find Australian venues to be very nice. Sydney Entertainment Centre is gear – I basically submitted a list of suggestions of things that I’d be happy to use. They supplied decent; the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne is a beautiful sounding facility; Adelaide us with a Midas H1000 FOH console and the various outboard gear, as well as a monitor console Entertainment Centre is great. I’ve done the Burswood Dome in Perth before and it’s not and monitors as per our spec. They gave us some nice tube compressors, including a Summit as nice a room but compared to some of the arenas in The States and whatnot, I’d rather DCL200, which I like. I always carry an outboard rack of my own with me, which contains Conor’s vocal chain. do the venues here any day. MO’C: What does that consist of? JFP: A Manley Tube preamp into a BSS DPR901-2 dynamic EQ, and that goes into a Distressor. I Monitor Engineer – George Squires always use that for his vocal chain and then take that into whatever console we’re using so at least While monitor engineer George Squires has previously toured with the Red Hot Chili his vocal is consistent no matter where I go. I also insert a dbx 263 de-esser. Peppers, The Offspring, and Fugazi to name a few, this is his first time out with the boys MO’C: What’s the greatest challenge when you’re the FOH engineer of a support band to REM? from Athens, Georgia. “Every band is a new challenge. It’s about getting on the same JFP: To an extent the REM crowd isn’t exactly the target crowd for Bright Eyes, so I go into a show wavelength with them, understanding what they’re going for and trying to achieve it.” like that thinking, “What is going to capture this audience?”. It’s not gonna be the lead guitar lines MO’C: George, can you run through what you’ve got on stage. and it’s not gonna be a periphery. It’s gonna be Conor’s vocal – just the captive nature of him, his lyrics, and the feeling of the band. With REM you have all these different elements, everything George Squires: We’re using Microwedges – a very compact, co-axial, good-looking, equally important to a certain degree. But with Bright Eyes, it’s a great band supporting Conor loud, high-fidelity wedge designed by Ratsound (LA production company providing Oberst. the monitor gear), which helps me get the sounds I need. I’m also using a Sennheiser Actually the hardest thing was that we’ve been alternating the REM arena shows with smaller [evolution] G2 in-ear system, which sounds great and has loads of frequency choices. headlining gigs of our own in each capital city [all sold out shows] which is an entirely different mindset – from volume to presence to detail. That’s where it really shines, where you can get the The guys have Futuresonic moulds in their ears – they’re a single transducer, ported full detail and just get immersed in the band. But you can’t always have that immersion in an arena earpiece that provides lots of volume and low end with a very natural sound. They are – there’s an elusive distance that you have to deal with, especially with the mixing position always also very durable, and I love dependability! being in the back of the venue, and you always want that intimacy and ‘in your face’ quality, but MO’C: What are the pros and cons of using an IEM/wedge combination? you have to settle for just a clarity. That’s really the hardest part technically, especially in my position where I’m not tuning a PA or involved in any PA selection. I’m just creating a mix as the support, GS: As far as in-ear and/or wedges go, it really is just a preference thing. Some of the so there are limited things I can do. Saying that, sometimes it helps when you’re not overwhelmed guys like to feel the sound on stage as well as hearing it, and having the wedges does by options. make for more energy on stage. Though, quite frankly, it also makes for more work. MO’C: Despite that tyranny of distance in an arena show, a song like Landlocked Blues sounded Sometimes musicians try to compete with the in-ears, which can make the stage very very intimate. Were you doing anything special to achieve Conor’s guitar sound? volatile and increases the chance of feedback. Plus the added volume just bleeds into all JFP: That was just line in. He’s got a new under-bridge pickup on it, it’s a ’70s Martin guitar that the mics, which makes it harder for both myself and Brett at FOH. he beats the hell out of and it’s amazing that it actually sounds alright – if you looked up close at it you’d feel bad for it. But one purchase that I got him to make for this entire tour was an Avalon U5 In terms of each guy’s setup: Michael uses in-ears and wedges. He will sometimes DI for his acoustic and he just goes line in to that with one of their EQ presets. I then generally use take an ear out, sometimes have them both in, and sometimes he’ll take them both out a Distressor on it for compression. And I was using a Shure Beta 58 for Conor. and just use the wedges. Mike Mills uses one earpiece and wedges. Peter Buck uses wedges. Both Scott McCaughey (guitar and occasional keys) and Ken Stringfellow (keyboard player, plays guitar and bass as well) only use wedges, and drummer William Rieflin uses a combination of wedges and in-ears. So they’re all a bit different. MO’C: How would you go about describing each player’s monitor mix? GS: It changes from song to song, and depends a lot on what instruments they happen to be playing. Michael likes mainly vocals with some drums, electronics, loops and shakers in the in-ears. He also has drums and vocals in the wedges. Mike Mills likes a full mix with his vocals on top in both the in-ears and wedges. Peter has drums, loops, mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo, with Michael’s vocal in Monitor Engineer, George Squire: “I use the Yamaha PM5D… It allows me to store all my mixes and settings for every song, which is fantastic.” wedges only. I could go on, but I’d have to break it down song by song. Norwest Productions’ PA Spec REM is a band that changes instruments and stage Speakers positions constantly, which is why I use the Yamaha 32 X EAW KF760 (long/medium throw boxes) PM5D as a monitor console. It allows me to store all 12 X EAW KF761 (short or “nearfield” boxes) my mixes and settings for every song, which is fantastic 24 X EAW SB1000 (subwoofers) – I can recall anything at the touch of a button. It also 8 X EAW JF260 for around the front lip of the stage has all the compressors, gates, equalisers and effects on Amps board. Initially getting my head around the PM5D was a Lab.gruppen FP6400s challenge, but it’s been well worth the effort – this has been System control my first tour with a digital console, but not my last! 6 x XTA DP226 Digital Processors