Entec Sound supplied audio
for The Who's two warm up dates
prior to their hugely successful
appearance at the Isle of Wight
festival 2004.
The gigs - at the National
Indoor Arena in Birmingham and
Cardiff International Arena,
were both completely sold out.
|
 |
 |
|
|
Entec's association with The Who dates
back to 1969, when Who monitor guru
Bob Pridden gave Dick Hayes, now Head
of Sound at Entec, his first professional
gig with the band.
|
|
|
The Who's reputation as one
of the loudest bands in the
universe is legendary! Audio
technology has moved on considerably
since the 1960s, but their live
show still sound every bit as
raw, rocking and sonically energetic
as they ever did - now mixed
at FOH by Paul Ramsay.
The Entec system for the warm
ups consisted of 30 d&b C4 top
cabinets, 34 subs, 6 d&b C7s,
eight B2 subs and 2 d&b Max's,
all run off a Midas XL4 at front-of
house and XTA 224 and Klark
Teknik DN360s for system processing
and EQ.
Paul Ramsay has mixed the Who
since the start of the year,
adopting a loud-but-comfortable
philosophy. "It's very much
a rock 'n' roll show" he declares
The band have also changed their
own perceptions of loudness
in the 21st century, still wanting
oodles of pure dB power as well
as getting the vocals up above
the mix and clear for all to
hear.
|
|
|
Ramsay's
mix is totally manual with no automation.
"Most of the time they don't rehearse,
so I like to mix on the fly - it adds
that extra sense of frission and improvisation
to the show!" he declares. He says that
because he essentially gets good sources
off the stage, it's actually quite easy
to mix, even with the XL4 packed to
capacity with 50 inputs, a busy show
and multiple recordings in the background.
|
The substantial recording element
of all live Who shows includes
a multi-track record for the
archives, and a two track recording
for selling over the internet.
Other recording formats also
include DAT, CDR and mini disk
- the latter being for Ramsay's
own reference. Ramsay used an
XL88 Matrix Mixer to route all
the different recording inputs.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Effects wise it's relatively
straightforward. He uses staples
like an Eventide H3000 on Roger's
voice, a Lexicon PCM 91 for
reverb and a TC D2 digital delay,
also on his vocal, and it's
compressed with an Avalon VT
737.
He uses a whole channel strip
of the VT737 for band parametric
EQ and compression. He uses
a TC M2000 stereo effects processor
on the drums - one side on the
snare and the other on the toms,
and 8 channels of gates on the
kit.
|
|
Entec supplied Avalon AD2044
stereo valve compressors which
are used for Daltry and Townsend's
acoustic guitars. There's also
6 channels of dbx 160s.
Entec also supplied a full
selection of mics - Daltry and
Townshend both use Shure SM58s
- Daltry's heavily custom gaffer-taped
to withstand his trademark cord-whirling
mic-acrobatics!
The FOH was looked after by
Entec's Richie Gibson, while
Simon Higgs assisted Bob Pridden
on monitors.
|
|
 |
|
| The monitor
system featured 12 Entec APW wedges, four
stacks of d&b C7 for side and rear fills,
plus three d&b E3s and an E12 sub for
the keyboard set up. Drummer Zak had 4
separate Thumper/shaker devices attached
to his drum seat plus a C7 sub to ensure
true seismic effects in the region. The
others all used a mix of wedges and IEMs. |
|
|
|
|
The monitor system features
a high spec of effects & inserts.
A pair of Rev 7's & one Rev
5, a PCM60 & PCM70 make up
the reverbs. Six channels
of dbx RM160, a dbx 166XL
and a pair of TLA100's for
the acoustic guitars completes
the compressor department,
and Drawmer gates over the
drums take care of the processing.
The Who's ongoing touring
schedule includes Japan, Australia,
Hawaii and then back to the
US later in the summer.
|
|
