FEATURE U2 LIVE World tours and rock ‘n’ roll juggernauts don’t come any bigger than U2’s Vertigo tour. Nor do the profiles of its four main protagonists. Managing the audio on a tour of this magnitude takes experience, expertise and a lot of composure. Enter two of the world’s best: Joe O’Herlihy and Dave Skaff. AT caught up with them both on the Melbourne leg of the tour to find out how anyone steers such a beast around the world without incident.

Text: Christopher Holder

AT 28 U2’s Vertigo tour is a total juggernaut. It’s from analogue quite easy – you can step up to been underway, off and on, for over two it and get to grips with it very quickly. years, filling stadiums around the world. I CH: Was the change to digital a real life- had the pleasure of eating my way through changer? a variety of dead farm animals with U2’s monitor engineer, Dave Skaff, at a Richmond JO’H: Undeniably, it gives you access to an steakhouse just prior to the Melbourne dates. incredibly good starting point for each song. Dave’s been with the band since 1985… and I know all the other consoles are only a push the tales he could tell. They were ‘off the of a button away from exactly the same thing, record’ stories, of course, but mostly the gist of but when you make that initial transition what he had to say was: yes, U2 are a bunch from analogue to digital, all the things we of regular, easy to get along with, guys, but used to dream about in the ’70s and ’80s are you can be only so ‘regular’ when you’re part now possible. Take, for example, the Zoo TV of an enormous machine that is a U2 tour, tour back in the early ’90s… we had four and you can be only so regular when there’s guys mixing that, banging on all the bells and so many extraordinary demands on your time. whistles we needed after the Achtung Baby To give you an inkling, it’s the type of machine album came out. We were one of the first to that not only has a duplicate PA in Auckland be using Midas XL4s for that tour and fader waiting for the New Zealand leg of the tour, automation was only just happening. But now but also has yet another duplicate PA cooling snapshot automation has changed everything. its heels in Japan for when the machine turns I’ve got 90-odd songs programmed into the like an aircraft carrier towards the far east. D5; I can call any of those up immediately And the front of house PA alone consists of and have a solid basis to start mixing. And nearly 160 Clair S4s. It’s all just mind boggling. U2 is notorious for its spontaneity. Bono will turn around to The Edge and say ‘I Will And just by way of another indication of the Follow’, and it doesn’t matter where he is in size and complexity of the machine, on the the set list, that’s what they’ll play next. And day of the first show at Docklands Stadium (I in a split second I can call that song’s snapshot won’t call it the Telstra Dome, because next and start mixing. Some people might accuse year it’ll probably be the Dodo Dome or the digital of making things more programmed Supercheap Superdome) no one was expecting and predictable but personally I think digital a soundcheck. Or at least they weren’t until technology assists with that spontaneity, it 4:30am, when a ‘day sheet’ was slipped under doesn’t hinder it. everyone’s door with news to the contrary. Even the tour’s audio director Joe O’Herlihy, who’s CH: U2 embodies ‘stadium rock’, but stadiums been mixing U2’s front of house sound for 28 aren’t built for hi-fi audio reproduction. How years, didn’t know about it, and had to wait much time do you spend fighting the acoustics for the nod like everyone else. It’s not because of these places? Joe doesn’t have an opinion about whether JO’H: A stadium will kill you if you fight it. to soundcheck or not, but who knows… You need to find the building’s niche where Bono might have a date with Kofi Annan, or the system will sit coherently with substantial Nelson Mandela, or, erm… Peter Costello. intelligibility. That may not be the loudest The variables are enormous, and regardless of possible mix that you would want but at the whom you are or how big a cog you are in the same time you have to trade away some blood, U2 machine, you’re still just along for the ride. guts and thunder for intelligibility, quality of VERTIGO – NEW HEIGHTS audio and sonic value. Making that judgement Joe O’Herlihy is concert-touring royalty. He’s is down to years and years of experience, and more than a bit Irish and his career kicked makes coming into a new [for U2] venue like off with a couple of world tours with Rory this, not so scary – I feel good about the show Gallagher in the early ’70s. He then met a here tonight. band of four young blokes called U2 in 1978 CH: In the end you don’t want to lose that and he’s been their audio lynchpin ever since, sense of danger that differentiates an enormous circling the globe more times than Skylab. show from a club gig do you? In really broad terms, the Vertigo tour is JO’H: If you went into a stadium where you significant – on a technical level – for two could set up and then just walk away from the reasons: it’s U2’s first tour with digital console and have a cup of tea… well, there’d consoles, and also because it’s probably the be no need for people like myself, and my only large-scale stadium tour that doesn’t use systems engineer, Joe Ravitch. We take pride line array. As I mentioned, there’s more than a in getting the best out of challenging acoustic touch of blarney about Joe, and no sooner had environments. And if there wasn’t an edge or we shaken hands he, unprompted, was telling a fear factor about it, you wouldn’t get that me the whole story behind the move to digital. adrenalin push when you’re making something JO’H: Back in July/August of 2004, when like this work. preparations for this tour started, we decided CH: Increasingly, people go to concerts to move to digital. At that point the D5 was expecting a ‘produced’ CD sound. Is that about the only console that had been bounced something U2 continues to resist? around in trucks and had done its thing. It’s a JO’H: These days you can produce a pristine very good console and it made the transition

AT 29 U2 Spectacular – The LED CD sound, but for U2 it’s never been about are the foundation upon which I build the pixel screen was bigger than you’re average telly. Some that. It’s about the adrenalin that’s associated mix. The layering and colouring that happens 160 Clair S4s speaker cabs with the performance – it’s edgy and there’s a after that will depend on The Edge’s domain, and 24 S4 subs provided commensurate support. fear factor there. There’s a dynamic there that his guitars and the keyboard parts that he’s you will only get with a live performance. arranged. The Edge’s guitar world comprises CH: Current line array rigs have been at the eight different guitar amps. We’ve got two forefront of providing CD sound. Many will Vox AC30s on stage and another one under be surprised to see you using old-school Clair the stage miked up in a box. Then there are S4s here. four vintage Fender amps on stage along with a fifth in a box. At any one time the guitar JO’H: Yes, people will say that’s old sound might be comprised of a signal routed technology. But it’s all about going into the through any combination of those amps. The character of the stadium… it’s all about Edge will structure it himself on stage, routing moving air… it’s about having all that extra his guitar through, say, Vox 1, Fender 2, Vox wood and cardboard hanging in the air. The 2 then the Fender in a box. Or it could be band produces a sound on stage and they have Fender 1, 2, then 3… the elements change from an expectation of how that sound translates to sound to sound. For example, he might have people in the audience, and when it comes to a solid, grungy, crunchy guitar sound coming stadium shows the S4 allows me to replicate out of the Vox, which might be followed by a what comes off stage in the way the band trailing echo coming out of a Fender. I’ll get perceives it. It’s rock ’n’ roll, and that’s what that combination with those individual amp you see there [pointing at two acres of S4] sounds coming up their own channels on the – rock ’n’ roll! desk, where I’ll need to make decisions on the exact blend that will suit the space. What ANATOMY OF A MIX might be right for one particular place might CH: Can you run us through some inputs Joe? be really shrill and abrasive in another, so I’ll JO’H: Larry has 20-odd channels for his make adjustments accordingly. So apart from drums [see the drum caption for details on the The Edge’s VCA I’ll be looking at a group of drum mics], while Adam’s sound is comprised faders right next to the VCA section, constantly of a DI, a bass mic sound, a bass effects sound, checking on guitar levels, seeing that I’m and a Bass POD sound. The blend of all those getting a full-value signal. gives you the body of the bass sound, which I CH: Last, but not least, there’s Bono’s vocal. combine with the drums – Larry and Adam

AT 30 JO’H: That’s right, there’s Bono’s vocal on top “they’ve earned it”. And – I suppose it should of all that and his effects – reverb, slap echo, come as no surprise these days – there’s not a multiple repeats. And backing vocals – The single outboard graphic EQ to be seen. There Edge does a substantial amount of that. We’ve are a few racks of ‘special sauce’ mic pre’s, but got three Bono vocal channels, so if Bono Dave does not use a single graphic, that’s all drops a mic he’s immediately got another. We done within Venue via an EQ plug-in from use Shure wireless with a Beta 58 headstock. Serato. CH: And no problems getting a decent level CH: Dave, you’ve been mixing monitors for out of Bono, I’d imagine. He’s got a classic U2 for a long, long time. Your job must have stadium rock voice. changed beyond all recognition since the late ’80s, what with the introduction of in-ear JO’H: There’s real power and energy in his monitors and now digital consoles. voice and his mic technique is magnificent. He’s learnt from a very early age that you’ve DS: Sure. I remember that at one point we had got to put in the effort. Having chased him 75 boxes on stage – we carted an entire truck around the major scaffolding structures of full of monitors… it was over the top. Now the the world from stage to stage and festival to focus is more on control and precision mixing, FOH Engineer, Joe festival over the last 28 years, I can tell you and less about speakers filling the stage. O’Herlihy,in the position he quite categorically that he’s good at delivering. knows best – standing 100 CH: So, back ‘in the days’, mixing monitors feet away from 100-odd for a big stage was bit of a knack or an art, thousand Watts of sound. MONITORS – DEEP UNDERCOVER Dave Skaff’s shtick is that he’s been working rather than a precise science of balance with U2 for over 20 years and he’s not once engineering? seen or heard the show. It’s not entirely true: DS: In the old days you did stage sound. The he worked front of house for one of the tours, most successful guys were the best at creating but it’s a nice line to confound people who an environment that was conducive to good don’t understand what a monitor engineer does performances – where musicians could not and where he does it. The Vertigo monitoring only hear themselves but feel inspired. For position is particularly tucked away. If, like me, example, we used to have a giant side-fill of you’re over six foot, then life would be painful low-end for Adam, while on The Edge’s side – I found myself ducking and concussing there was nowhere near that. Then the drum myself much of the time. There’s no direct kit had a lot of support behind it, which led line-of-sight link with the stage, it’s all via a out to a big field to the centre of the stage for closed circuit TV. Bono. So there was loads of guitar coming Shoe-horned into the space are Dave’s two out one side, loads of bass on the other and we Digidesign Venue consoles (one’s a backup created these pockets of sound – if you wanted and mostly used to track live recordings to hear a different blend then you walked over they’ve been doing to ProTools), while two to where you would get it. deputies monitor mix for Bono and The Edge CH: And now with in-ear monitoring I guess (Robbie Adams and Niall Slevin respectively, it’s about creating individual environments on a Digico D5 each). Yes, that’s right, a total within each head. of three monitor engineers. As Dave says,

“ Having chased him around the major scaffolding structures of the world from stage to stage and festival to festival over the last 28 years, I can tell you quite categorically that [Bono’s] good at delivering.”

AT 31 DS: Right. And each of the guys is so different the stage with low energy; it’s more about “ t h e t h o u g h t of plug - ins in the way they hear things. The main difference providing localised low-end fields – pockets between mixes is obvious: ‘I want me louder of energy for guys to play where they feel in a live e nv iron m e n t… than everybody else’ – but after that it gets into comfortable. it’s like a Ch r is t mas individual preferences. For example, Bono likes CH: Mixing monitors on this sort of scale toy box… W ha t’s n ew? to have his effects quite prominent. The Edge is always strikes me as being about getting lots minutely concerned with the balance of things of ‘one percenters’ just right – a dB here, a dB W ha t’s o u t? W ha t’s – all of his guitar amps, and the keyboard parts there… Are you always keeping an eye out for need to be perfectly balanced in his ears. Adam something that can give you an advantage? o n offer? T h e crea tive likes a very workmanlike mix, with no reverb, aspec t of w ha t you c a n just really fat, and quite mono. Which is very DS: You’re always trying to dig around for that different to Larry’s mix, which is this huge extra thing. And now the thought of plug-ins d o n ow is just a ma zing”” image of his drums from the overheads and in a live environment… it’s like a Christmas really nice fat reverbs on the snare and vocals toy box… What’s new? What’s out? What’s on – it’s a hi-fi band mix, only with the drums up. offer? The creative aspect of what you can do now is just amazing. CH: Do you spend most of the time with your in-ear moulds in then? CH: Which leads us to your use of the Venue console. You were a very early adopter of DS: The whole show. I have a belt that has a Venue – before it had any real time to prove couple of different beltpacks. I take one beltpack its roadworthiness… you must have had from each guy’s mix and I also take a console cue colleagues shaking their heads thinking, ‘I in from a hard wire. I have a little belt switcher. hope you know what you’re doing Dave’? So during the show I have one hand over here mixing on VCAs and the other switching things DS: There’s a long story that goes with the on the belt. switch to Venue… but the short version is that the ATI Paragon I was using was having CH: Anything in the way of conventional problems – I was blowing up power supplies. monitoring? I was aware of the Venue and was attracted DS: Some wedges and some side-fill, all for by what it could do. Anyway, there came a U2 M o n i to r E n g i n e e r, Da ve S ka f f, w i t h h i s Ve n u e low-end support really. And because a sub by point when the Paragon blew up one too many co n s ole a t h i s p o si t io n itself sounds a bit odd we put a full-range box on times, and I said to production that it was time u n d e r t h e s ta ge. top and wind up the amp a little just so you can to make a change. I told them what I wanted hear it and tell there’s something in the sub. If and the reasons why. Production pointed out, the full-range boxes were doing anything more and rightly so, that Venue hadn’t been out than ticking over you’d be making life difficult long enough – it’d been out maybe four or five for yourself. One of the enemies of ‘ears’ is high months at that point. I stood my ground and frequency sound – midrange and above. The told them I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t think friend of in-ears is low-end, which supports it was the right thing to do. I’m sure they what’s going on. I’m not trying to swamp walked away thinking – well, it’s his neck and

J O E O ’ H E R L I H Y ’ S F O H O U T B OA R D G E A R

TC 2290: Manley Vox Box “We use the 2290 for all the “This is his main compressor. delays. All the vocal repeat etc, It’s a very true, non-rigid, non- come from there.” jerky type of compression – transparent and ‘over easy’ almost.” Eventide H3500 Avalon VP-737SP “We use the Harmonizer for some of the drum For The Edge’s backing vocals. treatments.” Summit DCL200 Yamaha SPX1000 “All the guitars go through a “There are some very dynamic Summit compressor. They’re programs in there, like spread across The Edge’s Symphonic Distortion, which eight guitars and then we were used in the making of have a spare.” Achtung Baby. So we use the SPX for songs like Zoo Other FX/Processing: Station and The Fly, where you The rest of processing is done get a heavily flanged, over- from within the D5 – all the processed vocal from Bono, tom reverbs, and the piano and or when the drum sound is acoustic guitar reverbs, we use masked by a massive barrage the onboard gates… All the of industrial noise. I’ve tried gates and compressors sound the latest machines and they very smooth and transparent. replicate the SPX1000 sound We’ve done several A/Bs to a certain extent but there’s with the hardware from dbx, a rawness and a raunchiness Drawmer and the like and and a abrasiveness that you gone back to the onboard can’t find in another gadget.” equivalent.

AT 32 LARRY’S DRUM MIC SETUP Dave Skaff: “Back in the late ’80s we were using a lot of Beyer M88s. I think we had an M88 on everything bar the cymbals! Things have evolved. We’ve gone back to using [Sennheiser] MD421s on the toms, because they’re more accurate and uncoloured. At one point we used clip-on mics like the [Shure] Beta 98s, which I really liked. But the 421 offered the best sonic compromise for what Joe at front of house was after and what I was after at monitors. We use a pair of Audio-Technica AT4050s on the overheads; two mics on the snare top – a Beyer M88 and a SM57, with another SM57 on the bottom; a pair of Shure mics on the kick drum – Beta 52 large diaphragm mic on the skin and an SM91 plate on the inside – and an AKG 460 on the hi-hat. The big diaphragm mic pushes the sub lows while the plate mic works better in the ears. It gives me more separate control over ‘what goes where’ and ‘who gets what’. “Mostly Larry wears headphones for his monitoring. I have some high-end headphone amps from Lab. gruppen – the fP2400Q. They sound great, with amazing imaging… much better than you’re standard off-the- shelf gear sold as headphone amplifiers.”

he can have all the rope he needs! The band, need it straight away, so don’t try. Instead, on the other hand, were like: “this is what we work through your show. Find out what it is pay you to do… it’s your call. We don’t care if that you really need to do. If those eight or 10 it’s a cardboard box, if it makes us sound good keyboard channels are going to bust you every then that’s what we want you to use.” time, then slowly think about how you’re going CH: And how did it go in the early days? Did to use snapshot automation to make life easier you A/B it with a cardboard box?! – but don’t rush it. And finally… 4. DS: Right! It was a tough first couple of days, The console will do whatever you tell it ‘cause we didn’t have rehearsals. But by the to… or not. If you don’t tell it to do something, time we hit the fifth show at Madison Square then it probably hasn’t done it. So while you’re Garden… I got the call from the dressing standing there screaming, ‘why hasn’t it…?!’, room telling me how great it sounded. Then the next thought has got to be, ‘did I tell it to it was like [big exhale]… and it kept getting do what I thought I told it to do?’. better and better. As simple as they are, those rules have been a CH: Talk about a baptism of fire! Any readers big help to me. If things weren’t going to plan reticent to make the change to digital should then I’d mentally refer back to them. probably thank their lucky stars they don’t CH: And now? You’re obviously happy with have the world’s biggest band listening to their the way things have gone with the console? every move. Any tips on keeping your sanity DS: What I’m most impressed with, which during a switch like that? was impossible to fully realise at the beginning, DS: I do actually. I’ve given it some thought was how good it sounds. The depth of the mix and formulated a bunch of ‘rules’ that I’d refer that you get with it is amazing. You can run back to if things weren’t going my way. more and more into the mix and the imaging 1. Familiarise yourself with the console, doesn’t get squashed – separation is still because it’s not laid out like anything you’ve there, the range of tones is still there… And ever worked on. Plus, you can lay things out you’re hitting the console hard. So that’s the differently, so you really have to think about interesting thing to me, the depth of the mix. how you’ve got things arranged. It’s a real musical mixer’s console. The analogy I use is, if you’re a professional guitarist you’ve 2. Make sure you’re changing the thing that probably played lots of great guitars, but one you think you’re changing. For example, make day you might find one that has that certain sure you’re on the right fader bank… Bear in something that allows you to do what you mind, these are all things that I’ve been busted couldn’t do previously. That’s how I’m feeling on… I’m speaking from experience! about this console. 3. If you’ve never used snapshot automation Editor’s note: Subsequent to the scheduled end of before, then don’t use it when you’re getting the tour Dave Skaff took on a paid consultancy started – if you’re not used to it, you don’t position at Digidesign.

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