Headliner issue 11

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Thinking. Inside the box.

CONTENTS #11 06 SWIVEL ON THIS

Three months after moving to LA from New York City, our Grammy-winning columnist compares both music scenes.

08 SONIC VISTA INSIGHTS

Headliner descends on the annual International Music Summit in Ibiza to find out what’s hot and what’s not.

10 THE JEREMIAH BROTHERS

We check out an intimate show from this new acoustic duo, who also happen to be two-fifths of Ivor Novello-winning UK pop act, The Feeling.

12 MUSIC IS LIFE

LA-based artist, Joanna Pearl, shares some of her musical dos and don’ts, and looks at the underlying importance of art.

14 SEL: BALTIC HERO

You may not have heard the name unless you live in Lithuania, but SEL has been selling out stadiums for 20 years. We talk to this fascinating performer, and find out more about his tiny country’s incredible music scene.

26 | CLEAN BANDIT

18 THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES

28 KENNY CHESNEY: COUNTRY ROAD

This giant LA Opera production is sounding better than ever thanks to a dedicated audio team, and some super-cool kit.

We head to Pittsburgh to chat to this legendary country artist about his groundbreaking tour, the early Nashville shows, and a truly astounding musical journey.

20 ROCK & ROLL WARDROBE

Our US correspondent, Gary Spencer, talks cropped tops, leggings, and crucifixes, and reminds us why Madonna is indeed one of the fashion icons.

22 THE WHO

These legendary mod rockers descend on London’s Hyde Park for British Summer Time. Daltrey and co. are on blistering form.

24 MIXING IN MANHATTAN

Grammy-winning songwriter and producer, Dave Darlington, talks to us from his New York studio about the recording industry and its dramatic evolution.

26 CLEAN BANDIT

After smashing it once again at Glastonbury, cellist for this classical-electronica quartet, Grace Chatto, talks music composition, influences, and those ‘almost threw up on stage’ moments.

35 ON TOUR WITH...

CLEAN BANDIT

We chat to the guys that make everything tick when Clean Bandit are out on the road.

38 THE SCHEME

This London-based trio may look like a boy band, but don’t be fooled. Great voices and great musicianship means great songs.

Keep an eye out for these guys.

40 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

46 HARMONIC MOTION

While Pendulum remain on hiatus, Perry ap Gwynedd is keeping busy touring with Faithless, and riding his bike up huge mountains, of course.

48 SAMSON FOR PRESIDENT

Entertaining Swedish songwriter, Martin Wahlgren, takes us to his studio in the woods, just outside Stockholm, and plays us some rather nice music.

50 CHICKEN FRIED TO JEKYLL + HYDE

The Zac Brown Band have quite a story behind them, so we thought we’d share it with you, and tell you about their current US tour.

52 SHOW REVIEW

We eat sushi and drink wine with XL Video co-founder, Lee Spencer, as he tells us all about his company’s 15-year journey from small start-up to industry leader.

We head to London’s Royal Albert Hall to check out Eric Clapton’s quite fabulous live show. “It’s all in the hands,” he insists. We concur.

44 THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE

We never quite know what Robert’s going to rant about from his tour bus, but this time we learn how to kit your house in solar panels without spending a penny.

Jem Finer, founder member of The Pogues, gives us an insight into his unique and rather mind boggling creation, Longplayer.

54 GRUMPY OLD ROADIE

28

FROM THE EDITOR “ON LOWER BROADWAY IN THE ‘90S, YOU BETTER BRING THE MUSIC, AS THOSE SONGS WERE ALL THAT MATTERED.” - KENNY CHESNEY Welcome to Issue 11 of Headliner, where we catch up with some serious musical icons located both sides of the pond.

In the UK, we chat to CLEAN BANDIT’S GRACE CHATTO, whose band have just rocked Glastonbury for the third time, and secured a major US tour with Duran Duran and Nile Rodgers. Last year, their mega hit, Rather Be, was second only to Pharrell’s Happy in terms of UK sales – a staggering 1.1 million. And who says people don’t buy singles anymore?

We then head Stateside for KENNY CHESNEY’S BIG REVIVAL TOUR, the biggest grossing tour in the whole of North America. This guy sold one million tickets before he even strummed a chord. Not bad going, we reckon. We look at the enormity of his production from Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, talk about the phenomena that is country music, and find out more about the multi Grammy-winning star, who’s sold more than 30 million records worldwide.

We also chat to the very affable PERRY AP GWYNEDD, guitarist for mega-bands, PENDULUM and FAITHLESS. Perry gives us the lowdown on this summer’s European festival season, and explains how riding bikes up big mountains in Wales can be a very soothing experience.

And in the capital, we report from the Royal Albert Hall to check out old Slowhand, ERIC CLAPTON, then dash into Hyde Park to see THE WHO smash it out the park.

Daltrey, I have to say, was on legendary form.

26

We hope you enjoy the issue, and thank you for choosing Headliner.

22

Paul Watson Editor

C O N TA C T PA U L WAT S O N

ART DIRECTOR

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E I ME A R O ’CO N N O R CONTRIBUTORS

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JO N ATH A N TESSI E R JOA N N A PE A RL GA RY SPE N C E R CO LI N PI GOTT LO U I S H E N RY SA RM IENTO II RO BE RT TH E ROA D IE

HORU

S

// DJ SWIVEL //

SWIVEL ON THIS NYC

VS

out some liquor.

R.I.P Pour Another one has

been lost. A musically gifted resident of the five boroughs, that is. I’ve finally made the plunge, and left my longtime home of New York City for the dusty pastures of Los Angeles. I said I would never do it, and I would live and die the rest of my life in New York, but like nearly all other creatives, I succumbed to the pressure and took off to the left coast.

But why? Well, I had plenty of reasons, and minus the crazy ex-girlfriend, most of my reasons are shared by all of us who work in this business and live(d) in New York.

I’ve talked at length about the creative purge happening in New York, and how it’s slowly but surely taking everyone with it. The city has changed. My friends who are still there tell me all the time.

The fact is, New York City is bleeding the creatives dry. Real estate prices have gone up so much, it’s literally unaffordable to live unless you’re part of the 1%. So forget raising a family, or buying a home in the city; it ain’t happening. That nice private school you’d like your kids to go to, costs $50k per year, and rent? Well, I was paying $3k for a shoebox, one-bedroom with a balcony. An Uber ride is more than triple the price in NYC than in LA; and to top it off, I just paid $19.50 for a watered down vodka soda at a bar on my visit last week. But beyond the tangibles like money, there’s also another way the city has changed, and it’s a little less quantifiable. The vibe has changed. That means something different to everyone,

06 HEADLINER

“NEW YORK CITY IS BLEEDING THE C R E AT I V E S D R Y; T H E R E ’ S AN ARTISTIC COMMUNITY A N D E N E R G Y T H AT H A S B E E N S Y S T E M A T I C A L LY PUSHED TO THE OUTER BOROUGHS.”

LA

but to me, the vibe isn’t the same as when I moved there back in 2005. There’s an artistic community and energy that has been systematically pushed to the outer boroughs due to financial reasons.

Now that I’ve had a few months to spend out here, I thought I would provide a comparison between these two cities to help the next generation make those key decisions when they graduate school, or decide to pursue music as a career.

According to Trulia.com, the average cost per square foot to purchase in NY is $1,480, compared to $509 in LA. Then there’s the weather: NYC is so humid in the summer, and brutally cold in the winter, whereas LA is pretty amazing all year round. New York wins on transportation, of course: every corner of the city is linked, whereas LA is so vast, and although there is a little known subway system, routes are limited.

Now let’s look at the creative community. In NYC, it’s dwindling.

There are less studios, less songwriters, less producers and artists, however, most record labels are centrally located here.

LA? More of everything, though the level of talent is lower, only because the barrier of entry in LA is much lower than in NYC. In terms of work life, NYC has a central time zone, and it’s easy to work remotely with LA or London, whereas in LA, it can be way more difficult doing business with Europeans purely due to the time difference. I now often find myself up at 1am making a call to London. That never happened in New York. In terms of the

social scene, NYC wins hands down; it’s a melting pot, with such variety, whereas LA is not only so spread out, it’s a 2am tow.

I’ve recently heard rumblings of initiatives in both Washington and New York City to get public funding for creatives. And in Canada, there have been grants and public assistance for the music industry for a long time; through organisations like MuchFACT, and the Ontario Music Fund, people like myself have been able to take advantage of music video funding, artist development funding, and even funding for press kits and websites. A few years ago, I was able to shoot three music videos, and was given a grant of roughly $25,000 for each, none of which is needed to pay back. This is all in an effort to promote Canadian content, Canadian artists, and keep Canadian culture alive. It’s an amazing system and if you ask any Canadian artists, they’re all extremely grateful for it. Video directors make entire careers out of shooting videos under the MuchFACT umbrella. A system like that in New York would be a life saver for the creative community there, though I won’t hold my breath on it ever happening.

W H AT D O YO U T H I N K? Message me @djswivel on Twitter with the hashtag #swivelonthis to let me know your opinion!

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IBIZA: WHERE THE MUSIC B(L)OOMS HEADLINER DESCENDS ON IBIZA TO CHECK OUT THIS YEAR’S SONIC VISTA MEET-UP, AND THE ISLAND'S ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL MUSIC SUMMIT. W O R D S | L O U I S H E N R Y S A R M I E N T O I I & J O N AT H A N T E S S I E R

“A P R O D U C E R H A S TO B E A B A BYS I T T E R , A M OT I VATO R , A N D A P SYC H I AT R I S T.” QUINCY JONES, IMS ENGAGE, LOS ANGELES.

08 HEADLINER

F

or those of you not familiar with Sonic Vista Studios, it is an international recording, mixing, and mastering studio, whose clients have included Lady Gaga, 50 Cent, David Guetta, Akon, The Ting Tings, MTV UK, and many more.

Every year, in order to give everyone a pre-conference warm-up before the big gathering at the International Music Summit (IMS), the Sonic Vista team hosts a networking meet-up at the villa. It’s an amazing occasion for businesses and musicians to have a friendly chat about their joint industry as well as develop ideas and mutual projects for the future.

This year was the second annual meet-up where the team had the pleasure to welcome Drew Ginsburg, co-founder and VP of the revolutionary social network TSU, together with representatives from SFX Entertainment, Samsung, Gibson, Cerwin Vega, and KRK Systems.

Live performances were held at the pool by local Ibiza artists Céline Dewy, Amber Ray, Margit Viirma, New Game, and Kiss of Panda, along with international up and coming Scottish country singer-songwriter, Sean C Kennedy. Everyone who attended left satisfied, intellectually nourished, and most importantly, mentally prepared for the upcoming event: The International Music Summit Ibiza.

/ / S O N I C V I STA I N S I G H TS / /

IMS 2015

Founded in Ibiza in 2007, the International Music Summit (IMS) is a thought leadership platform dedicated to educating, inspiring, and motivating people in the world of electronic music. It consists of the most comprehensive and compelling live seminars and debates amongst the leaders of the international music community, featuring keynote speeches, interviews, technology presentations, master classes, and a condensed business report about the industry. The event has been the source of major industry deals, press launches, and promotional opportunities for brands like Corona and Pioneer, to name a few.

Described by the media as “the TED of music conferences”, IMS is now present in three continents: IMS Engage Chapter in Los Angeles (North America); IMS Ibiza (Europe); and IMS Asia-Pacific in Singapore (Asia).

This year’s speakers at IMS Ibiza came from all over the electronic music spectrum, and included Ultra Records CEO Patrick Moxey, Soundcloud CEO Alexander Ljung, Defected Records Founder Simon Dunmore, and the illustrious producer Trevor Horn (The Buggles, Yes, Art of Noise, Seal, Billy Idol, and Cher). It was a compelling conference that gave everyone an insight about the future of the music industry.

As for the highlights, Patrick Moxey from Ultra Records expressed his sentiments about the current state of the electronic music industry. He took us on a journey into the past, and explained how it was hard at the time to get this kind of music played on American radio, pointing out that much of this hardship was due to unjustified “snobbism” from radio pluggers that preferred spinning “cookiecutter pop music”. He also pointed out that Soundcloud was a great discovery platform for fans, but still hasn’t shown any signs of willingness to distribute revenue to content creators.

SoundCloud CEO, Alexander Ljung, came up with a response to this statement during his keynote speech, while explaining his company’s evolution process from first being “a platform for creators”, then evolving into a place where you can “build an audience”, until finally stating that SoundCloud is now focusing on monetisation and revenue distribution. For a company that has 12 hours of audio uploaded every minute, it will be intriguing to see how their re-distribution model will pan out for artists’ revenue.

There was also a stimulating talk about marketing to millennials, a captivating panel about labels and nightclubs that included Simon Dunmore, and an entrancing retrospective talk by legendary producer, Trevor Horn, plus a charismatic presentation

by SFX Entertainment COO, Greg Consiglio.

09 HEADLINER

At the conference, Gibson Guitars had their rock and roll tour van parked in front of the Hard Rock Hotel, where they were exhibiting their latest products as well as offering live entertainment by Scottish singer-songwriter, Sean C Kennedy. The guitar company was also one of the main sponsors for the amazing Back2Live show at the Hard Rock stage, an event focused on showing attendees the strength of hybrid performances by mixing electronic tools with live instruments. A cultivating night.

IMS also organised an epic series of concerts on top of Dalt Vila’s castle. A mesmerising experience that gave our ears the pleasure to savour the music of Rudimental, MK, ZHU, Thalab, Luciano, Damian Lazarus & The Ancient Moons, Solomun, and Sven Väth. A breathtaking spectacle.

The world of business conferences is the new school of contemporary knowledge. It is a great way to keep the players updated on how the music game is played. IMS is growing fast, and is starting to be one of the largest music summits in the world. Now with it’s global reach from East to West, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see IMS broadening its horizon to the wider music industry. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see an IMS panel with Tim McGraw and David Guetta? Only time will tell. www.sonicvistastudios.com

i THE IMS BUSINESS REPORT REVEALED THE FOLLOWING The electronic music industry revealed a 12% growth.

EDM is a $6.9 billion industry.

27 of the 100 most sold tracks were EDM. EDM is the 4th most popular streamed genre in the US and Canada.

Streaming is the most growing format in the world.

Since 2008, Beatport catalogue has grown enormously, and is now 10 times bigger.

Calvin Harris is the richest DJ in the world ($66 million in 2014).

Brands linked to EDM are: Nike, Corona, Samsung, Burn, and Adidas.

The DJ Software market is worth $360 million dollars.

Pioneer DJ was bought buy KKR private equity house for $500 million.

SFX Entertainment has the power to reach six million fans.

EDM entered the mainstream: Ultimate DJ, a Simon Cowell TV show; We Are Your Friends, a fictional Movie about DJ-ing featuring Zac Efron; and the first major biographical book about a DJ, Calvin Harris: The $100 Million DJ.

/ T H E

J E R E M I A H

B R O T H E R S /

PHOTOGRAPHS | CRAIG WOODJETTS

10 HEADLINER

// THE JEREMIAH BROTHERS //

It’s been some time since Ciaran and Kevin Jeremiah played pub gigs. By trade, these two acclaimed musicians are members of Ivor Novello-winning pop-rock quintet, The Feeling, and have enjoyed more than a decade of success, both in the UK and internationally, with the band.

Another string to the brothers’ bow, however, is their own songwriting: in a nutshell, they’ve come up with an album of easy on the ear, folk-infused, melodic songs, which sees them go back to their roots in more ways than one. So how difficult is it in today’s industry, 10 years after starting The Feeling, to do it all over again? Headliner settles down for a beer or three at The Six Bells, a 600-year-old rural St. Albans free house, where they will play support (they refused to headline) to several local bands, to find out a little more.

After seeing The Feeling play on many occasions, it’s no secret that the whole band is not only super-tight, but everyone can sing. It must be pretty different though, taking centre stage without lead singer, Dan Gillespie-Sells, wooing the crowd in front of you?

“Yeah, that’s certainly been the main difference,” smiles Kevin, very openly. “Dan is always the focus of attention, and is a great frontman, and when you’re at the back, like we are, you can hide behind volume a bit, and you’re less exposed... Especially in a rock band!”

“But this is a perfect marital process, as we grew up with folky music,” adds Ciaran, though confesses that the idea of gigging as a duo was initially pretty terrifying. “Suddenly, it’s us two up front, playing intricate guitar parts, and it’s more about the vocals.”

Listening to the boys’ opening two numbers, I welcome a fusion of influences: early Paul Simon, some Dylan, Supertramp, Joni, and a little Springsteen, even. It’s damn good stuff, actually.

“It took quite a few gigs to relax into it and find our way, so to speak,” Ciaran continues, “especially as the first ever gig we did was at the Royal Albert Hall.” What?! “Yeah, there was a slot at the opening of a charity show we were doing with The Feeling, and they had no-one to go on first, so they asked us to do it when people were eating. And we did.”

11 HEADLINER

That must have felt insane, surely?

“It did, but it’s also what prompted us to get our own little monitor system, as we didn’t have anyone there to do our sound, as we were a late addition to the line up, so couldn’t hear what we were playing,” Kevin explains.

“It’s all about consistency, so we developed our own portable monitor setup. We need to be the same every night, and unless you have your own sound guy with you, chances are it’ll be boomy as hell. And trying to sing low, soft stuff, which we’re doing, when you have these resonances all over the place is quite horrible.”

Fair point. During The Six Bells show, I spy several splits to a little Line 6 mixer, plus reverbs and EQs, all of which goes into the lads’ in-ear mix.

“At a small venue, I am squashed between guitar amps in The Feeling, but with this setup, we hardly change anything,” Kevin reveals.

“It’s pretty different from playing in The Feeling, actually,” Being brothers, I wonder if writing songs together comes easier or not... or neither of the above?

“It’s always very complementary, our songwriting,” says Ciaran. “Some work on the fact they argue constantly, but we kind of complement each other’s ideas, which is nice.”

With The Feeling, Kevin is normally the one who’s hands-on with the mixing console, engineering the albums. This, unsurprisingly, is the same with The Jeremiah Brothers.

“It’s been fairly simple, as most of it is just guitars and vocals, though Paul [Stewart, drums, The Feeling] played the drums on our record,” Kevin explains. “Our influences combine everything we have ever listened to, but it’s two guitars and two vocals, so it’s inevitably going to sound folky.”

It does, but with a modern twist, certainly; and the single, Because It’s You (which was made available as a free download) actually has a quite poppy feel. So what is the goal, and what would the boys’ consider success now, having toured the world, played all the festivals, had hit singles, Brit nominations, and so on?

“If we can survive by releasing an album and selling a few, being able to carry on and do what we love doing, then that’s the ideal, I guess,” offers Ciaran. Kevin nods, and adds: “What I love about music is writing and performing, and if that can be what we do for a living, great. It’s all very new to us; the last time we did this was 12 years ago with The Feeling, and now we’re doing it again, and starting again! We’ll have to see how it goes!” www.thejeremiahbrothers.com

“THIS IS A P E R F E C T M AT E R I A L PROCESS, AS WE GREW UP WITH FO L KY M U S I C .”

“AT F I R S T, THE IDEA OF GIGGING AS A D U O WA S P R E T T Y TERRIFYING!”

MUSIC IS LIFE WORDS | JOANNA PEARL

E

arly this morning, I reached for the steel handles of the Starbucks double glass entry doors.

They were still cold to the touch, but the bells hanging on them cued what seemed to be a choir of baristas singing in unison a warm, ‘good morning!’ A coffee shop is a playground for the senses; it’s all there, like a factory composing the next viral a capella pitchperfect song. From a swipe of a marker against a paper cup that taps when set on a tile counter, to the pressure of the steam frothing milk and the coffee grinder spinning louder; the swizzle spoons clinking into metal sinks, to the first sleepy slurp of a customer’s drink; It’s really all there, and I was all ears, eyes, nose, hands, and taste buds. But isn’t that what we as songwriters are always supposed to do, feel life and make music? Because music is life.

My name is Joanna Pearl and I am a singer-songwriter.

I live about five minutes to the nearest Starbucks in Temecula, California, a city with a soulful

12 HEADLINER

country vibe, filled with wineries, rows of flourishing old grape vines, and olive trees that sit just above the San Diego county line in Southern California. With a growing population of over 100,000, it still has that friendly small-town feel, and is surrounded by an enriched valley that has

carries. Staying true to the course has blessed me beyond words, and has led me to many things including 100,000 YouTube video views, tens of thousands of Twitter followers, and a strong working relationship with top industry talents, founding successful songwriting camps,

“THE TRUE MAGIC OF MUSIC S U C C E S S L I E S I N T H E C R E AT I O N OF A SONG; IT RESIDES IN THE H U M A N S O U L .” spawned homegrown musical acts like Neon Trees, Jason Mraz, and Tori Kelly, among others. The late, great Andy Fraser called Temecula home since the 1980s, a fact I didn’t learn until this past January, when I met him at the 2015 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, where my life changed forever.

But my musical journey began long before any of this.

I’ve followed my singing passion since fifth grade choir class, when I first felt the weight and freedom of what a song

achieving song placements, gaining board membership of the Temecula Valley Music Awards (where we support indie artists all while saving music in the local schools), and even hosting All Over The Place, a local network TV show, gaining an exclusive production credit on my debut EP, and winning the Los Angeles Music Award (LAMA) for ‘2014 Hot AC Album of the Year’.

Most recently, I’ve stepped into the shoes of president of my own publishing company, NACRE

Publishing LLC, and have been nominated by the board of LAMA for ‘2015 Pop Artist of the Year’. Not bad, but I’m hungry for way more.

Achievements are all just milestones and gauges though.

The true magic of music success lies in the creation of a song; it resides in the human soul.

It’s about highlighting senses, and awakening energy, sharing together in the experience of making music.

So, there it is, the open door. Who knows what’s next?

Platinum album sales? Selling out major arenas around the world? I welcome them all and then some, but I know what’s important: continually connecting with myself, so I can better connect with my fans, and concentrate on the rhythms and rhymes that seemingly get plucked out of thin air like a particle of dust floating in coffee shop visits.

Music is all around us all of the time. Make the most of it.

Follow Joanna on Twitter @joannapearl

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// SEL //

SEL: BALTIC HERO Those of you not residing in and around the tiny country of Lithuania may be saying, 'who on earth is SEL?', upon reading the above headline. However, bear with us. This artist is not only a superstar in his homeland and surrounding countries, but he sold out Troxy in London last year, and has another show coming up in our capital this September, so some of us Brits are getting him, too.

Born Egidijus Dragunas (no, I can't pronounce it either), this charming artist gives us an insight into his magical musical world. And what a world that is.

We're not so familiar with Lithuanian music here in the UK. Could you tell us a bit about the scene? [smiles] Lithuania is very small, but it is a country of very talented and musical people.

We have so many great young artists in Lithuania, but little work has been done to make them visible to the rest of the world, as historically, Lithuania is a very young country, independent from Russia only a little more than 20 years. Before then, musicians could not create freely; there was neither the culture, nor the music freedom, and it was restricted and censored. Then the new phase began, and Lithuania became free and independent. We began to create by ourselves, and of course, we have been learning from Western Europe and the USA markets a lot. The state grew, and the music culture grew as well.

For an artist that's been established

“I NEVER HAD A BUSINESS PLAN ON H O W TO TA K E OV E R T H E M U S I C W O R L D ; E V E RY DAY I J U S T D I D W H AT I L I K E M O S T I N L I F E , M U S I C .”

we do not have competitors in Lithuania. There is no other group that can attract an audience like this, and this is not good for a performer seeking to move forward. This is why, when a few years ago we received the first offers from foreign companies for production and management work, I realised there was no need for any of this. I have a lot of ideas, and I want to implement them; I am very happy that we still receive such offers, as it inspires me as an artist, but today we have concerts in America and Europe, and although not on that scale, they're always successful, and I am very happy about it. I cannot tell you why we are not only still in the market, but actually still growing – it's incredible. I never had a business plan on how to take over the music world; every day I just did what I like most in life, music [smiles].

Tell me about the Troxy show in London. What was the reaction of the UK audience to your music, and how did it differ to that of back home?

We already have a concert planned for this year because of last year's success – that'll be on September 5 – and frankly, I am already excited about it! When we arrived in London, we did not plan to have such a success. We evaluated our possibilities as pretty real, but after the concert, the club manager came to us and said, “we prayed to God that during the event, the balcony on the second floor wouldn't break down!” He said he had seen a lot of concerts, but never something like us, including the reaction of the audience, so that was amazing.

It was one of the biggest and most memorable compliments, and one of the best evaluations of our work. Of course, all this emotion is also closely related with the fact that the audience was really amazing, exceptionally energetic,

and friendly.

for two decades, to still attract

You recently performed your annual

20,000 per show is pretty

show in Klaip da, which I understand

phenomenal, especially in such a

is a Lithuanian seaside resort?

Yes. Concerts in Klaipėda are always very

small territory...

Yes, and the market is also attractive because

14 HEADLINER

summery, and people have a very good attitude.

Despite being in the open air, it holds only 18,000 spectators, and currently, our band needs space, and could easily have filled 30,000.

For me as a performer, it is very important that my home country’s infrastructure of touring places is developed. At the moment, I am working a lot on this issue; I proposed to the Lithuanian politicians to cooperate, and this is relevant not only because our band fans would fit into concerts, but also to attract more foreign musicians, which would also be an additional income to the state, and would generally improve the image of our country.

The greatest strength to me at shows like this is that I work with a very professional team, the best in their fields. The music needs to be perfectly clean, and the sound engineer must meet very high standards. Music is no longer just music; you can create well, and attract maximum audiences only if there is a good synthesis of music, sound, visual, and light.

How important is social media to SEL, and do you use it to interact with your international fanbase?

You know, a month ago we started working with one Lithuanian PR agency, and its specialists said to me, ‘Egidijus, do you know, the post in your Facebook account has been read by a very similar number of people as President Dalia Grybauskaitė’s post?’ I do not give importance to such things, but I realise that now I have the opportunity to influence a very large number of people. And the time has come when I want my influence to create a value. During the first week in September, we will perform in Vilnius, Mountain Park. We are planning to invite the President of Lithuania, and sing together our national anthem. Why is this important? Because I want to show young people that no matter what you do in your life, whether you are making business, or you are some kind of music hooligan like me [laughs], that everything in life starts from the respect to your country. Whether I will be working in America or any other country, the respect to

my country will always be the most valuable.

I want to publicly declare this during my concerts.

I personally supervise my Facebook and Instagram accounts, and I love the speed to access information. If I come up with an idea, or have a strong emotion, or I want to criticise someone [laughs], I can do it in an instant! I like to personally interact with the fans; I wonder how they live, what they think, what they liked in the concert, and they also express our weaknesses. Lithuanians are quite restrained people, but our social media is really active. Each post on Facebook is viewed by 100,000 people, and in Lithuania, this is about one-fifth of the population of our capital city, Vilnius. SEL now has 183,000 Facebook fans, and over 50,000 on Instagram.

What kind of relationship do you and the band have with your sound team?

No Noise is my sound team, and they are great experts in their field. They started out as voiceover artists in small discotheques, and over time they have become excellent professionals.

I saw their potential a long time ago, so I boldly invested a lot of money to make their team stronger, to offer professional tools, which they could also use with me, and create the best products on the music market. Now we have our own private recording studio, which offers excellent working conditions, and I think that my investment to the team has paid off, because I trust them 100 percent, and they trust me.

If you are surrounded by faithful people who will not do you any folly, you learn to love and respect each other.

Nicely said. So what's next for SEL? Well, we are constantly looking for innovation.

Sometimes I feel like an inventor, because I think that we should try something completely different. I do not like templates, and I don't understand the word impossible. Our team spends a lot of time in the recording studio, and this is a wonderful time where a lot of good ideas are born. We are now recording our first English-language music, which will be presented to Europe, and we will wait for an evaluation [smiles].

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// MAKE NO NOISE //

MAKE NO NOISE For five years now, Lithuanian sound company, No Noise, have been responsible for taking care of all things audio for SEL, their country’s most successful artist.

We catch up with company CEO, Kestutis Dulinskas, to find out about the company’s working relationship with the artist, the dos and don’ts in today’s industry, and the recent outdoor SEL show in Klaipeda.

What were the main challenges at Klaipeda, and how did you overcome those?

We had to cover the entire area evenly with equal tonal balance, and we wanted the sound to be designed with the impression that the artist is standing nearby from any listener’s perspective, so it hits you right in the face. One of the priorities of the No Noise team is to work effectively. We have several expressions for new employees and the crew: 'the point and essence of set up is the takedown', and 'the function is bread, and aesthetics, the butter” [smiles].

We like that! Were there any major noise restrictions to deal with?

There were no restrictions, but we always try not to overdo it. In Lithuania, we have an idiom for 'overdo', which basically translates to 'don't bend the stick'. [laughs] We have enough SPL, but people in the audience still have a chance to talk out loud. Our system has almost no distortion, our phase curve is from 400 Hz to 10kHz at a 10-degree range, so we have a very bright and clear sound with a high dynamic range, and that spectacular, punchy attack.

Sounds good to us. In terms of audio technology in particular, in the last couple of years, has anything been particularly ‘game-changing’, in your opinion?

All digital technology has improved significantly over the last couple of years, no question, but actually, the major technology leap was felt with Powersoft amplifiers, notably the X8. No Noise uses eight of these Powersoft X8s, and although it seems like just eight amps, it actually equates to 64 channels of 3kw/4ohm - it's 192 kw in total. That is a truly astounding power to size ratio! We chose to work with Powersoft X8 for several reasons. One is its multifunctionality: one and the same X8 is used for all systems: line array, subwoofer, monitor, and side fill. Then there's the innovation: such impressive possibilities of DSP; a three-phase power supply; the Dante network; a Matrix;

16 HEADLINER

and an especially good dynamic range. Even at high sound pressure, a big sound is very easy on the ear; and in almost all systems, barring the subs, we use the FIR filters.

So overall, our investment in X8 is fully justified. We have less racks, which means less footprint, and a quicker workflow. We also hope to get eight Powersoft M Force subwoofer speakers by next summer; that would be another huge audio leap for us! Our whole system works on a Dante network – that’s consoles, amplifiers, and radio – so it's less cables, and of course the audio signals do not degrade at all through A-D/D-A converters.

One thing I will also say is that we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of nanotechnologies in the audio industry!

With such up-tempo, electronica, bass-heavy music, how important is the quality of PA system and amplifiers used in your live shows?

With SEL, we're looking at audiences from 7,000 to 20,000, and difficult stage design decisions, so the PA should be able to reproduce the entire frequency range in the far distance. HF waveguard (line array) construction is very important, as it must be capable of outputting the sound very evenly, and to great distances.

Certain songs dominate the synthesised low frequencies, so power amplifiers are essential, as they have to be capable of supporting the load for a long time. We are very satisfied with the X8, which perfectly carries out this work, has not only the best sound in the high register, but also keeps superb speaker control at lower frequencies. The X8 is the best amplifier on the market today, and is able to serve all levels of audio equipment, from the smallest frontfill to a 2x18 sub. There have been situations when we put 12 pieces of 2x18 on just one X8... That’s impressive, isn’t it? [smiles]

www.powersoft-audio.com

// MAKE NO NOISE //

“WE CHOSE POWERSOFT X8 FOR SEVERAL REASONS: M U LT I F U N C T I O N A L I T Y, DYNAMIC RANGE, AND O V E R A L L I N N O VAT I O N . ”

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// LA OPERA //

LA OPERA: TALKIN' ‘BOUT A RESOLUTION “WE ARE BASICALLY MOUNTING A LAV MIC ON THE FOREHEAD OF A SOPRANO THAT HAS THE PROJECTION OF A JET ENGINE!”

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The LA Opera's recent West Coast premier of The Ghosts of Versailles was quite the spectacle. It's the first time composer John Corigliano's opera has been fully staged within the US for 20 years, and the huge cast didn't disappoint, delivering a series of spellbinding performances.

Three of those were captured in super hi-res audio by Sound Mirror, one of the world's leading classical recording specialists.

Headliner digs a little deeper...

Every year, the LA Opera puts on a season of American-crafted operas at the LA Pavilion.

Because they can change from one day to the next - literally one production might only be deployed for 24 hours - the key from an audio perspective is to make everything easy to install, very small footprint, and most important of all, to be able to deliver spanking high resolution sound! All boxes were firmly ticked in the case

of The Ghosts of Versailles.

“The idea was to go out and record in the highest resolution possible, as the end product was going to be a surround SACD. From there, we looked at the parameters of the production; it's a very large cast, all live, and lots of moving heads on stage, literally,” smiles Sound Mirror's sound engineer, Mark Donahue, who also has five Grammys to his name. “We ended up using 80 inputs, and opted for a Merging Technologies Pyramix workstation, because it's the only solution out there that allows us to not only record that many tracks in 192kHz, 24-bit, but using the Tango control surfaces, we can also mix and edit everything, which is absolutely gold.”

Sound Mirror have been using Merging for 12 years, and are particularly fond of the company, as they were such an early adopter of hi-res audio.

“Doing 80 or more tracks of 192kHz, most people's eyes twitch at the sheer size of data,”

// LA OPERA //

he continues. “The physical size of recording kit has become so small compared to even what it was 10 years ago; no longer are we packing up trucks, we just roll a palette, and we have everything good to go.”

When working in post production within the classical side of the music business, it's more common to assemble edits across the multitracks, whereas in pop music, 'it's all punching in and separating bits out', Donahue explains. For this project in particular, he needed to be able to make splices across larger numbers of tracks, as well as be able to manipulate them easily.

“For me, Pyramix is still the best editor in existence; it allows us to do editing we can't do in any other format,” he insists. “It's really the only workstation in which you can create the content with for these high resolution masters, or SACDs.” In addition to Pyramix, Donahue is utilising four Merging Technologies Horus units.

“When Horus came out, we saw it as a genius product,” Donahue admits. “We use the Horus' for the recording, along with three computers, and a bunch of Cat-5. If you think about the amount of copper that would have to be involved if we didn't have Merging... well... [smiles] the mind boggles! We're set up out in a trailer in the loading dock, around 350 feet away [from the stage], so again, if you think about 200 channels of multicore, it'd be a massive hassle. Our Merging setup has basically meant we have very litte impact in the infrastructure and the scheduling within the Pavilion. They also do normal archiving recording, so having Horus there allowed us to drop them in place to split the mics they would normally use, and add our stuff on top of the existing production. And the sound quality from the Merging boxes? You literally cannot beat it in any direction.”

In terms of microphones, it's a bit of a mix: zone miking on stage along the footlights with a set of mics to cover the front; shotguns aimed into the set for stuff way back on stage; and mics built into the set for specific pickup, along with a couple of pairs of hanging mics.

“We needed 24 wireless inputs, and we'd only ever use Lectrosonics; we've been fans of the brand way back to the analogue days, but the main thing is, Lectrosonics has always been about the sound quality,” Donahue reveals. “There are a lot of different wireless mics out there, 19 HEADLINER

but Lectrosonics is certainly the most friendly for the kind of music I record. We are basically mounting a lav mic on the forehead of a soprano that has the projection of a jet engine! It's not a talk mic situation; it's an incredibly high dynamic range. With all other wireless mics, the companding we've used has always been a compromise; you had to find the place where you could maximise signal to noise in the transmission link, but not have it wreck the sound of the recording.

But the Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid stuff really did open up another world for us, because you can put mics on people and not realise you're listening to a wireless mic; and to be able to make that work in a hi-res recording is pretty incredible.”

The 24 channels of Digital Hybrid Wireless are paired with DPA 4071 lavalier microphones, positioned at each performer’s wig-line. Donohue also utilises 13 Lectrosonics L Series Large Bandwidth transmitters in combination with 11 Lectrosonics SMQV transmitters, and three six-channel Venue receivers.

“Lectrosonics and DPA are my two absolute go-tos,” Donohue declares, adding that the DPA 4071 is one of his all-time favourites.

“It's such a special mic, the 4071; it's designed for hairline applications, so it has just the right amount of lift, so when you listen to it, it has the perfect vocal quality. It's also an omni, so you get a very clear and natural sounding vocal, which feels nice and present. We're then using the DPA 4011s and 4015s in the pit, and we hung some 4060s in the hall alongside the Neumann hypercardioids. They work great.”

With a second string of shows currently underway in Santa Fe, Donahue has zero complaints so far: “Our goal is always to try to remain invisible to the production in the grand scheme of things, and when you're working with kit like this, it makes it a whole lot easier to do.” www.lectrosonics.com www.dpamicrophones.com www.merging.com

ROCK & ROLL WARDROBE MATERIAL GIRL WORDS | GARY SPENCER

I

n the rock/pop music world, there is no-one over the past 30 years that has shaken up the fashion world or enhanced the female liberation world as Madonna has. Yep, the ‘like a virgin’ character who screamed, ‘I ain’t taking shit off today’ back in her 1985 Live Aid performance of Holiday, to tumbling off stage draped in a cape 30 years on at the Brit Awards, there seems like not a moment’s gone by without hearing or seeing Madonna.

In the ‘80s, she stole the show with bleach blonde hair, fishnet stockings, and crucifixes; and now she’s in her mid 50s, she’s stealing the show as a brunette in fishnet stockings and crucifixes. But it’s what’s happened in the middle that’s the story here.

Through three decades, Madonna has so many times redefined femininity and sexuality through her live and video performances. In 1984, Like A Virgin: a jumble of crucifixes, cropped tops, and a feisty New York attitude; and that Get into the Groove biker jacket, skirtover-leggings combo, and Doc Martens, and again, that feisty New York attitude. The point I am making here is, no matter what Madonna has worn over the years, one of the reasons she has looked so damn good is because she really works the outfit. She has swag and sass in abundance.

What about that 1986 Breton top and Levis in the Papa Don’t Preach video, and 20 HEADLINER

“LIKE A VIRGIN: A JUMBLE OF CRUCIFIXES, CROPPED TOPS, AND A FEISTY N E W YO R K AT T I T U D E ; A N D T H AT G E T I N T O T H E G R O O V E B I K E R J A C K E T, S K I R T- O V E R - L E G G I N G S COMBO...”

the biker jacket and ball gown for a night out with then lover and soon to be first hubby, Sean Penn. Actually, Madonna’s highly individual style was apparent even on her debut on MTV in 1984; check the videos for Lucky Star and Borderline, a punk-black miniskirt rolled down to expose her navel, mesh knit tank tops with her bra peeking through, lace gloves, stilettos, a ‘Boy Toy’ belt, rubber bracelets, and a ‘just messed up’ hair do.

The movie Desperately Seeking Susan only enhanced her status as style icon, and across the globe almost overnight there were Madonna clones everywhere. Some were even fellow vocalists such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Just reel off the designers that have all begged for Madonna to collaborate with

them at one stage or another; of course the most famous is probably Gaultier, because of the famous coned bra, but how about Dolce and Gabbana and Versace, as well as Azzedine Alaïa, Gucci, Givenchy, Alberta Ferretti, and Badgley Mischka. And then, just as you think that Madonna is just a label queen, she goes and turns everything upside down by doing a mainstream ad campaign wearing GAP with Missy Elliot!

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enerally, Madonna’s looks have been provocative and attention seeking, but she literally wears many hats, and in her career, has added titles like actress, author, and philanthropist to her resume, and therefore experimented with less provocative looks like when she went all old Hollywood glamour as Eva Peron.

By the time this article hits newsstands, Madonna will probably be 57, and no-one has transformed herself like Madonna. The Michigan-born pop star has had about as many looks as she has records. Her ability to constantly reinvent herself and her music has helped to secure her status as an icon, and she has influenced a generation of copycats. Yep. Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Miley Cyrus, get in line alongside Britney and Christina.

Open & Closed

The new flagship studio headphones

ATH-R70x PROFESSIONAL OPEN-BACK REFERENCE HEADPHONES ATH-M70x PROFESSIONAL MONITOR HEADPHONES Audio-Technica introduces the new leaders in studio headphones: ATH-M70x and ATH-R70x.

Both models offer extremely accurate audio reproduction along with the comfort, durability and convenient features that are bound to make them studio mainstays. So whether you prefer the sound isolation of the M70x or the spacious sound of the R70x, deciding on your next pair of studio headphones is an open and closed case.

www.audio-technica.com

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WORDS | CICI BEARSKIN PHOTOGRAPHS | JESS GILBERT

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W H O

ifty years on and there is no sign of the The Who's power declining. We've all seen it: bands who should have stopped touring ages ago; rockers who refuse to retire, struggling to muster up a fraction of the thrill that their earlier performances had in spades. Not The Who. Definitely not The Who. For The Who's headline gig at this year's Barclaycard British Summer Time festival, Pete Townshend's windmilling was as furious as it's ever been. Roger Daltrey still belting out their best Mod anthems with force.

“We didn't think we'd last the week,” admits Daltrey, addressing an enraptured crowd at London's Hyde Park. “And here we are, 50 years on.”

The question of whether The Who will ever be back again still lingers suspiciously in the air. It's not the first time they've hinted at finally calling it quits. It might not be the last time. So whether it was the pressure of potentially putting on The Who's last

London show, or protracted concerns over sound quality at Hyde Park, it was imperative that production company Capital Sound have a robust sound system in place.

A N Y WAY, A N Y H O W, ANYWHERE For a third year in a row, Capital Sound relied on Optocore XR6-FX converters to run data throughout the site, increasing its inventory to 14 units for this year's festival. The sitewide topology encompassed 11 delay positions as well as the VIP stand, distributed from front-of-house starting from the Avid Profile desks, and flip-flopping with a DiGiCo SD11. The signal was fed analogue in and out of the loudspeaker management system, with conversion to AES in the Optocore environment.

Senior project manager, Martin Connolly, broke down the main advantages of the Optocore network for me: “Optocore is now a proven science for us,” he states. “We get different power at every position, and one of the many advantages of

// THE WHO //

fibre is that it removes the possibility of earth loop, as glass isn’t an electrical conductor, therefore hums and buzzes on delays are now a thing of the past.”

“For the first time this year, there's a lot more data flowing over the network, as opposed to just loading presets and checking the basic health of the boxes,” adds system tech, Toby Donovan. “What we're finding with Optocore that is really good is the fact that it's low latency, so we can use it as an Ethernet tunnel to get the data around the site as well as audio.”

“It's quite a good safe guard, you know,” says The Who's front-of-house engineer Rob Collins of the Optocore network. “Touch wood, there's only been a couple of times I've had to use the redundant engine, but that's what it's there for. You can actually break one of the cables and it will still run.”

The Optocore network and a DiGiCo SD7 desk are about the only pieces of digital equipment Collins uses when he tours with The Who, and the BST festival show was no different: “I don't use plugins. I use a few old analogue boxes: a couple of TLA 100s and

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DBX 160SLs; and a TCM6000, and that's it.

I like a little rack by the side of me. It doesn't matter what artist I do, it's the same set up.”

M Y G E N E R AT I O N An unapologetic and self-confessed creature of habit, Collins only switched to the SD7 three years ago. Prior to that, his main desk was a DiGiCo D5. Going digital took a lot of convincing, he says, because “it was always down to sound quality.” The latest generation DiGiCo desks passed Collins' sound quality test with flying colours, but he's since grown to love the SD7 for other reasons.

“When you're mixing the band, you can do more than one thing at any one time on the SD7, whereas with lots of other digital desk, you can't. Once you're on that page, that's the only page you're on. For instance, my systems engineer can alter all the delay times and everything else he wants to do – I can still mix,” he explains. “I mix a lot with my fingers on the faders, and I push and pull things all the time. The SD7 is responsive and feels part of me, and that's what I really love about the DiGiCo; it's musical, not

just a computer.”

As for the gig itself, Collins is – for the most part – happy. If he could change one thing, it would be the same thing we all wish we had control over: the weather.

“The wind rather spoiled it, didn’t it?” he smiles. “All of a sudden, you think, 'Oh, The Who!' and then, 'Oh, where's it gone?!'”

Judging by overwhelmingly positive critical reviews, none of the fans noticed.

They also probably didn't notice Collins mixing from the side of the front-of-house shed - something he insisted on. Ever the sonic perfectionist, Collins comments: “What is the point in me listening to it on my own, where there are 65,000 other people listening to it? You should be in the middle of the people, listening to what they are listening to. But that's just me on my soap box. I've got my own fold-away soap box that I carry around with me, you see.”

Maybe next time... There will be a next time, right? www.optocore.com www.digico.biz

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DA R L I N GTO N

/ M I X I N G I N

Harlem-born Grammy-winner, Dave Darlington, is somewhat of an all-rounder when it comes to music. He still prides himself on being a musician first, but it was his love of music that got him into engineering, mixing, and then mastering. “I never wanted to be pigeon holed,” he tells us; and with the kind of eclectic projects he’s got going on right now, we don’t think there’s much danger of that.

Headliner finds out more about the man behind the music.

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M A N H A T T A N /

hen Darlington ‘got started’ in the studio game, it was the 1980s, and Latin freestyle music was rife. He was working with the Latin Rascals and Louie Vega, that whole Latin scene, but didn’t want to be known as ‘that Latin freestyle engineer’, so he began making different musical waves.

“I didn’t really see myself as a mastering engineer, but the album that really turned the corner on that for me was Ambrose Akinmusire, the jazz trumpet player,” Darlington recalls. “We mixed the record together, and I recommended a mastering guy. I really liked the way it turned out, and the mastering guy came back to me and said he also really liked the way I had it sounding, so suggested I assemble the CD myself. I said, ‘I guess I could’, and that ended up being a pretty big record, and changed my mind about whether or not I could master.”

In today’s digital realm, many people don’t have the extra budget to go to a separate mastering engineer, so after mixing a record, Darlington will often offer to do the mastering himself.

“I mean, I’ll always say to my clients that it’s great if you can afford to have a second set of ears, because it is, but at the end of the day, we are putting out records that people like, so

mastering it here is a viable option,” he says.

When it comes to mixing, Darlington works very much in the box, though also has a sizeable collection of analogue toys, which are key in terms of workflow.

“I have a bunch of Neve 1073s, and a bunch of APIs, then an LA2A and 1136, but that’s for recording,” he explains. “Now, if I’m going to cut a drum kit, or a vocal, or a horn section, once I get it in the box, I will try not to over compress or EQ going in. If I want to put in an EQ, I’ll put the Waves Scheps EQ in there - that’s as good a Neve as you’re going to get - and, if you record with the EQ, you’re stuck with it: this way, you can change it if you need to. I also mix with the mastering chain on fairly early, when I am really trying to scope the level of stuff, so I can hear how it’s going to react.”

When it comes to mixing, Darlington’s effects suite is largely Waves based, of which he has a few particular favourites.

“I rely pretty much on Waves reverbs and delays when mixing; I am a big fan of TrueVerb and Renaissance, and they just came out with a new one called H-Reverb, which is really, really powerful, so between those three, that’s my ambient settings,” Darlington reveals. “Then, within the tracks themselves, I love to use the Renaissance EQ, the Renaissance compressor, and the RVox compressor. I pretty much keep

/ / D AV E D A R L I N G T O N / /

them in my bag of tricks, as it’s so easy to use, and they sound so good. There are a million EQs out there that you can choose from, and they all have their pluses and minuses, but Waves seem to have figured out a way to just simplify everything for the users, without sacrificing any sound quality. I think it’s probably down partly to their longevity; as a company, Waves has been in the game since the beginning of digital, and they really have a feel for how things should sound. It’s unbelievable, actually. I don’t know what goes on under the hood in terms of programming, but it’s kind of like driving a sports car, you’re not really sure of how the fuel injections are working, but when you mash the pedal, it goes! That’s what I love about Waves.”

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arlington has been working on some really interesting projects of late, one of which was centred around four lads from Liverpool.

“I worked on this really cool Beatles covers project, where you can play along to all the tracks. So, for example, you can turn off McCartney and play the bass along with She Loves You,” he explains. “Of course, these songs don’t exist in multitrack, so we created that track by track, and I was mixing against the real single, and I couldn’t quite get it. That’s when Waves came out with the REDD [modern vintage console] plugin. The minute I put that in, suddenly, there was the sound, right there!

Just amazing.”

Other projects include Brazilian jazz trio fronted by Manhattan Transfer’s lead singer, Janis Siegel; and a capella group, Straight No Chaser, who are signed to Atlantic Records.

“They’re 10 guys straight out of college that have been very successful in a capella, and they’re working on a new album; they’re recording now in Nashville, and we’re mixing as they go,” Darlington says. “We just finished mixing a superb cover of Ike and Tina Turner’s version of Proud Mary, in a medley with [Otis Redding’s] Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay, and it’s just killer. That is such a great arrangement, and when you hear it in a capella, and they’re doing their own percussion and everything like that, it’s totally phenomenal, to be honest.”

“It’s funny. Everyone thought the Internet would be the demise of music, but for engineers, it opens up a marketplace all around the world.

People in other countries find me through my website, and I can work remotely over the Internet. It’s a ripple effect, in terms of recommendations, also; we quote a price to mix a record, including a revision, which means people feel safer when shipping all their hard work over to someone they don’t know. It’s an amazing way of working, actually.”

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“I’M MIXING STRAIGHT NO CHASER, A PHENOMENAL A CAPELLA GROUP SIGNED T O AT L A N T I C ; 1 0 G U Y S , R I G H T O U T O F COLLEGE, AND THEIR ARRANGEMENTS A R E J U ST K I L L E R.”

Darlington uses four sets of studio monitors: a big club system complete with subwoofer; a pair of Genelec 1031As; an old school pair of Yamaha NS10s; and a little Sony radio: “It’s the Genelecs and the Yamahas that I really rely on. The Yamahas are very difficult to make things sound warm and attractive on, whereas the Genelecs basically sound great on almost everything you put in, so you don’t need to work as hard,” Darlington insists. “With the NS10s, you hear all the mids and transients at exactly the same time, so they always sound a little harsh, whereas with the 1031s, you can attenuate the highs via some knobs on the back if you need to, and they’re bi-amped and powered, so they offer something different.

“I tend to keep my room pretty flat though, and I have a guy who’s treated it really well.

I also have a little Sony radio that I run off an old cassette deck as the amp, and it’s very low quality, but man it tells you a lot about how a pop record translates off of the big speakers! It’s a great reference point.”

I ask Darlington to leave us with some dos and don’ts in terms of working in the music industry. He laughs, and replies: “You have to be a ‘can do’ guy, so basically, say yes, and worry about the rest later! I remember the owner of a new studio once said to me, ‘if

you can learn this software, you can have the job’. It was Performer 1.4 software at the time, so I stayed the whole weekend in that studio to learn it, and I got the job! I find that true of most of the high end engineers I know; they were given the opportunity, and just jumped.

“Secondly, diversify: don’t be a hip hop only engineer. Learn about jazz, classical, pop, singer-songwriter, how to make a crunchy guitar sound. Get your palette as wide as can be. Learn how to record a violin. That’s how I learned to love DPA microphones: I always use DPA 4099s and 4011s, the little omnis, and the DPA guys have really got the acoustic thing down, and they’re fantastic sounding. And on that kind of stuff, you just have to get the mics in the right place, and try never to EQ, as it’s purely about placement.

“Then thirdly, stick to your guns. There will be some lean times and some great times; when times are lean, you think no-one will care, but sooner or later, someone will call, or you’ll bump into someone on the street, and something will happen. Believe it will happen, and it will.” www.davedarlington.com www.waves.com www.genelec.com www.dpamicrophones.com

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// CLEAN BANDIT //

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race Chatto is one fourth of Grammywinning UK pop-electro group, Clean Bandit. Fresh from another stonking set at Glastonbury, the cellist reflects on the band’s beginnings, last year’s mega-hit, Rather Be, and picks out her favourite classical compositions.

ELO obviously were able to do it with Pop/Rock, but Clean Bandit are the only band I can think of that have successfully fused classical music and dance/electronica in a cool way... Was that always the idea, from day one, and what took you down that route?

Oh, I love ELO a lot - and I had the pleasure of meeting some of them recently in an airport! [smiles] Anyway... We started out as a classical string quartet, performing music by Shostakovich, Mozart, and Dvorak, amongst others. Jack then began adding electronic elements to recordings he’d made of the concerts, and then we got various friends to come up with vocal lines over these instrumental ideas and sing with us. That’s how it all evolved, really.

Considering your instruments of choice, your influences as a band must be pretty wide and varied - can you share a few with us?

Sure. Anything as far and wide as Radiohead, Nirvana, John Coltrane, Man Like Me, Drake, and even the Spice Girls!

Collaboration seems to be pretty key to you guys - and it clearly works, when you look at Jess Glynne in particular, and other guest vocalists such as Kandaka Moore and Nikki Cislyn. Is it to add that extra dynamic to the music, and keep things fresh?

Yes, definitely. It definitely gives us a huge and exciting freedom to be able to work with different voices, almost as though they are different instruments, in fact.

Congratulations on the recent Grammy for Best Dance Recording; an amazing achievement, and also a big thumbs up to your production. How involved are you all in the making of the records, and what’s your process in the studio?

We pretty much record and produce everything ourselves. A lot of the album was recorded in my bedroom, and a studio we built in a

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portacabin as part of a community project. Jack has always been into recording, and began producing electronic music when we started the band some seven years ago.

Do you have a preparation routine before shows?

To be honest, we don’t really do much preparation! It’s often a shock when we are suddenly on stage, and often after a long journey. Luke sometimes drums on his knees for a while, but the rest of us tend to just go in cold!

Last year, Rather Be was second only to Pharrell’s Happy in terms of sales in the UK, at over 1.1 million, and was the fastest selling single in nigh on 20 years. What is it about that track do you think that the public were so attracted to?

It’s very hard to say! I think there are a lot of hooks in the song, and there is an element of melancholy that can be heard alongside the happiness in the music. Perhaps this is what draws people in?

Last year, Glastonbury was arguably your biggest live show to date, and you rocked it again this time around. How exactly does it feel to be received like that at such a major festival?

Yeah, we’ve played at Glastonbury for the last three years, and it’s been incredible every time. I enjoyed this year so much: one of our best gigs ever, I think. We were all very relaxed for some reason, and had a great time. It means a lot to be received like that, it’s a huge honour.

What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened on a Clean Bandit stage?

Once, Neil felt ill, and I looked at him, and he was gesturing that he was about to throw up, and asking where he should do it! I think he almost did it into his coat or a cello case, but managed to run off stage just in time! [laughs] And finally, what’s the one musical moment you’ll never forget?

There are loads I’ll never forget, so I’m not sure which to mention...

Maybe when I first heard Schubert’s String Quintet when I was little.

That was a major musical moment, for sure. www.cleanbandit.co.uk

K C C R

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N Y S N E Y : N T R Y D

Kenny Chesney is one of the world’s most successful country music artists. He grew up in Knoxville, TN, and his musical journey began in Nashville’s grass roots

W O R D S | PAU L WATS O N

music clubs. Today, his Big Revival tour is the biggest grossing in the US, and sold a staggering one million tickets before he’d even strummed a chord! Chesney, who boasts no fewer than 30 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs (25 of which reached the top spot), has always remained grounded and humble about his success, and insists that it’s all down to a big team effort, from the fans who supported him during those early Nashville shows, to his meticulous touring and management teams, who help put on the stadium shows he packs out night after night across North America. We chat to Kenny post-show in Pittsburgh, at the fantastic Heinz Field, to find out a little more about his fascinating career.

Kenny, after spending time chatting to your touring team and crew, it genuinely seems like you’re all one big, happy family. Is that how you see it, also; and if so, what makes it that comfortable for you from an artist’s perspective?

We’re a team. It’s that simple. Every one of us is there for the other, and we come together to create this experience every night. It’s about the music, the fans, and what we create. Everybody out here believes in that. And we’ve got a collection of the best people in the world, so everybody out here also inspires everybody else.

Q A

// KENNY CHESNEY //

Good to hear! In the UK, country music has never carried the weight it does in the US, but we are finally seeing a swing, first with Taylor Swift, perhaps more of a pop-country crossover, and then true country artists such as Kacey Musgraves and Lady Antebellum have left a real mark on Britain and Europe. Are you encouraged by this, and what do you think it is that people love about country?

I think any time country music can go to new places, it’s great. To a lot of people, it’s America’s music. But I think people everywhere have feelings, have circumstances that happen, whether falling in love, getting their heart broke, needing to go out and have fun. The beauty of country music, or at least the good stuff, is it’s very real and true to how life is. I’ve got a song called You and Tequila, and every night when I play it, I say, ‘This is for everyone who’s addicted to someone who’s not good for you.’ I don’t think that’s a strictly American reality. If you want your music to reflect life, country is a great place to be.

“ I F YO U WA N T YO U R MUSIC TO REFLECT LIFE, C O U N T R Y I S A G R E AT P L AC E TO B E .”

How has the Nashville scene evolved since you started out playing the little bars, and how much do you owe to those days?

I owe everything I am now to those days. When I was just starting out, playing for tips on Lower Broadway, getting my first publishing deal at Acuff-Rose. I learned what made songs great from some of the best writers and creative people who have ever lived. I got to work with and talk songs with Whitey Shafer, Buddy Cannon, Dean Dillon among so many. They set the bar pretty high, and once you realise the difference, it makes it hard to settle for less than that.

And again, when you were down on Lower Broadway in the ‘90s, it didn’t get much realer. There, you better bring the music, because those songs were all that mattered. It’s hardcore, and that’s a good baptism by fire for the Nashville music business.

You sold over one million tickets before you even set foot on a stage on this tour – an amazing achievement. What are your rules of thumb for delivering the perfect show, every night?

Be present in the moment, and pay attention. Really invest in the people before you, and not just the ones in the front, but the people sitting all the way up at the farthest part of the stadium. I go sit at the very top of every stadium I play the night before; just sit there and take in the distance between that last seat and where I’m going to be standing. I play for everyone, obviously, but the people I’m trying to reach are those kids up there – and to mentally get ready, there’s nothing like knowing how far that is. Beyond that, there are no rules.

Have fun, enjoy the music, love the fans, and hopefully, connect like you’ve never connected before.

How do you like your stage sound, and has the new Nexo PA system for this tour impressed you? Considering you often sing in front of the PA, you must be one of those few artists that actually hears what the audience hears from time to time!

Every year we go out, I try to make the sound as crisp and as loud as possible, which is seemingly impossible. I’m very lucky in that my team combs the globe looking for the best possible options to make that happen, and they’re as relentless about what they do as I am.

When they said they found a PA system in France that could be twice as loud and was smaller, I wasn’t sure I believed them, but respected them enough to listen. Sure enough, they were right! The amount

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of sound these speakers put out is amazing, but it’s also super-clear, which is always the challenge. You want people to make out the lyrics, for them to be able to pick out the instruments. No matter how loud we are, those things can happen.

People say Nashville is one of the only ‘recession proof ’ cities when it comes to recording facilities... Has the way you record your music changed much since you started out, and if so, how?

Not really, though I know for some people, home recording is a big piece of what they do. We are finishing a David Lee Murphy record, and it’s being mixed on a state-of-the-art board in a home. But I still go into the studio like I’ve always done. I like doing it that way – it feels good to have all the players in a room, making music, playing the songs together. For me, there’s nothing like that energy you create.

Finally, what’s your most memorable musical moment, and why? [smiles] There are so many amazing memories [pauses]… Any time you stand on stage and hear people singing your songs back to you, that’s incredible. There’s no feeling like it! And it rocks me every time it happens. Obviously being onstage at Neyland Stadium, where I grew up going to Tennessee Vols’ games, and having the entire place sing Back Where I Come From, right back to me… that was heavy.

A song like that, sung in your hometown, at my very first stadium show ever? 2004 seems like such a long time ago, but it’s one of those things I’ll never forget for so many reasons.

I’ve been blessed to do this as a headliner since 2002. I’ve had the best fans in the world; they love life and music with everything they’ve got. It’s funny how that makes each summer, each show stand out. When we pull into a venue, everyone on my crew starts telling the stories, whether it’s Dallas, where the rain was so intense, and we had to call the show, but I went out and played There’s Something Sexy About the Rain before we called it; those two amazing nights at Red Rocks in Denver; or even playing Tootsies Orchid Lounge on Lower Broadway with the Wailers Band the night before the CMAs...

And we’re right back in those moments. When you love life, you love music, and you love people, that connection is the most powerful thing in the world. If you care, you remember it all. You take nothing for granted. And if you work really hard, you are able to touch those people at the back of the stadium. That’s what makes you remember.

HUGE thanks to Kenny and his team for taking the time out to speak to us in the midst of such a monstrous tour. www.kennychesney.com

Follow Kenny on Twitter: @KennyChesney

/ T A I L G A T I N G A L L T O

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W A Y

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F

W O R D S | P A U L W AT S O N PHOTOS | BRIAN PETERSEN

T H E

or those of you not based in the USA, Kenny Chesney is somewhat of a country music phenomenon. I believe he did one show in the UK, and it’s rumoured that he has been to Canada, but if I was selling over one million tickets before my North American tour even began, I doubt I’d bother with the rest of the world, either. Why would you? The setting for this adventure is the surprisingly lovely city of Pittsburgh, in the heart of Pennsylvania. Like many American cities, a river runs through it, and it’s got two terrific ball stadiums, one of which is Heinz Field (yes, as in the ketchup and the baked beans). But even in Pittsburgh, you don’t get baked beans. It’s soundcheck day, and we’ve just checked into the rather suave Renaissance Hotel, situated pretty much on the river, and we’re a 10 minute stroll from the stadium, we’re told. Great. Now for the bad news: it’s 35 degrees (that’s Celsius, British readers) with 90 percent humidity to boot, and it’s only 10.20am. Jesus. So the stroll feels more like a trek, but we make it. Just.

Heinz Field is quite the grandiose stadium, I have to say, and home to the Steelers and Panthers football teams. The show is a sell-out (obviously), and will bring in around 7-10 million dollars in revenue

for the city, though along with it, a shedload of trash (as in rubbish, not trailer), caused largely by America’s tailgating community, who come in convoys of trucks and boats, armed with gallons of beer, and Kenny Chesney hits pumping out of their stereos.

It has to be seen to be believed!

So this cauldron holds around 60,000 punters, all of whom are going to be up for a party. It’s a hell of an operation, too.

Nashville-based Morris Light and Sound are the tour provider, and our guide is the CEO and President of the company, David Haskell, whose passion for his craft is evident immediately. He is proper Nashville, a music nut, and has known Chesney personally since the artist played his first shows in the city’s little music bars many moons ago. He’s also got more than two decades of front-of-house audio experience under his belt. All boxes checked, then.

“Kenny’s great,” Haskell beams, ushering me into the amazing catering area, away from the 200-strong crew (half of which are permanent, half local), who are busy putting the finishing touches to the huge Nexo loudspeaker rig and delay towers. “We’ve come full circle with him, really - it’s amazing to think how far he’s come from those early days, and seeing him up there makes us all very proud.”

// KENNY CHESNEY //

“I DON’T SEE O T H E R C O M PA N I E S AS COMPETITION, I PREFER TO LOOK AT T H E M A S A L L I E S WITH A COMMON I N T E R E S T. ”

Haskell means it. The guy clearly lives for his business, which has many arms, including a newly formed integration division that caters for major installs such as Mega Churches, which often budget for 5-6 million dollar systems! In addition to audio, Morris is providing all lighting for this tour. In fact, from what I can gather, the only thing they’re not trucking in themselves are the LED screens. Oh, and these ‘trucks’ I talk about are no ordinary trucks, they’re gigantic, and do about five miles to the gallon. FYI, that’s considerably less than a six-litre Bentley Turbo.

MUSIC CITY I ask Haskell about the scene in Nashville, America’s ‘Music City’, and one of my favourite places in the States.

“Oh it’s changing all the time,” comes the response, his eyes widening. “You wouldn’t recognise the skyline, and did you know that music is only number seven on the totem pole in terms of industry in the city? I think we’re the first or second fastest growing city in the US right now, and it’s good for the economy, but also good for the production business. With companies like Bridgestone moving their HQ into town, of course they’re going to be doing events, you know?

So Nashville in general is doing very, very well.”

Wow. Quite a development there, then.

What I do know (I think), is that pretty much every music company worth its salt has a presence there now... MI and pro, right?

“Pretty much, yeah, but you have to remember in Nashville that guys like us [rental houses] don’t go out to tender for business for the most part,” he smiles.

Really? “Oh yeah, you’ve got maybe 10 or 15 rental companies, each with a few artists, all

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of whom are locked into their contracts. It’s the way it works there. But, you know, there’s enough work for everyone, and I don’t see other companies as competition, I prefer to look at them as allies with a common interest. The good news is, everybody is working, so the production industry is very solid.”

Again, I can tell he means it. As we head back to the main arena, I see everything’s basically set up. That was quick.

“Yeah it’s a very easy system to rig, [Nexo’s] STM,” Haskell says, arms folded, observing the stage carefully. I suggest to him that it was a pretty bold move taking a new system on what is basically the biggest tour in the US right now. He tilts his head, and pauses for thought. “It is, but when I heard the system, I knew it was by far the best thing out there. And we tried everything.

Sonically, STM is genuinely mind blowing, as you’ll hear later, and the new M28 box is effectively the cherry on the top.”

I can vouch for that last bit at least, having followed the STM evolution for the last two

years. I’ve been fortunate enough to hear it in several very different environments: James Last (who we sadly lost just a couple of months ago) crooned into it at the RAH in London; Whitesnake and Def Leppard rocked out through it at Hellfest in Nantes; and a hardcore hip hop festival at the Stade de France showed off its incredible lowend capabilities. But this, apparently, is another level... And the first time I will hear it ‘complete’. M28 has been the missing component for some months now, but now it’s finally here. And Morris has invested in a ton of it.

“M28 is a great box,” Haskell states. “It’s the final piece of the STM jigsaw, but it’s also a great standalone box for delays and fills. It’s punchy, it’s warm, and it’s totally ‘relative’ to the other STM boxes.”

IN CONTROL Next stop is front-of-house position, to talk to the very affable Chris Rabold, who rides the faders for Chesney when he’s not out with Lady Gaga. I ask him whether he thinks

// KENNY CHESNEY //

M28 has been worth the wait. He does.

“What I love about M28 is, it’s a genuine extension to the STM system, and it’s voiced very similarly to the M46, so it’s just given us that extra bit at the bottom,” Rabold explains.

“It’s extremely controllable, and it’s always hitting the thrust, which is great, as the artist is in front of the PA the majority of the time. I can manipulate the box if I choose to, but a lot of the time, I really don’t need to. It’s seamless, and it’s smooth.”

I ask Rabold about STM as a whole. “It’s now complete”, he assures me.

“The whole system is right where I want it to be, and Nexo have done exactly what they said they’d do with it,” he says. “We doubled the amount of subs for this tour, but not to add more volume, just to produce an even coverage, to smooth it all out a bit. In Kenny’s band, some guys are really sensitive to excess boom, and although we now have more boxes, we have less resulting low-end effect on stage, as we run them in cardioid mode. The subs and the flown subs have been completely flawless on this tour.”

Because STM is voiced so specifically, Rabold explains, he chooses to respect what the system wants him to do with it. I nod, unconvincingly, pretending I understand. He smiles, and says: “Ok, what I mean is, I have learned how important it is to work with the system the way that it was designed, so I have spent time finding out what it wants me to do to it, and what I want it to do, so it’s been about finding a marriage of the two,” he explains. Okay, with you now, Chris. Do continue. “I think we had, like, six cuts on it last night, and that was cool; it’s really about what makes my mix translate the best, so whatever I am doing here is coming back at me accurately. And it does, without us really doing much at all, actually.”

Rabold’s right hand man at front-of-house position is Morris system tech, John Mills, who recently took over from the highly regarded Mark Bollenberg.

“Mark deserves a serious mention, as he set up a lot of this before I got onboard,” confirms Mills, and begins taking me through his setup.

He describes himself as ‘more the scientist’, and Rabold ‘the magician on the console’. So we’ve covered the low-end, now what about the power at the other end of the audio spectrum?

“Oh, STM has so much high frequency power,” Mills insists, shakily, as a huge thunderclap rings out in unison with him, accompanied by a giant fork lightning bolt that literally lit up the stadium. “Storm’s a ‘comin!” he says. Great. “So, as I was saying, it means I can basically do whatever I want with the system. When we first made the move from 32 HEADLINER

our previous rig to Nexo, we had 16 delay boxes back here, and we now have 12, and I’ve actually turned them down, so the throw of the system is unbelievable. We have done a few shows where we’ve had to throw 500-feet with no delays, and STM does it. Incredibly, it still sounds fairly HiFi in the back, too. Sure, you have your physics of air loss, but it still sounds better than anything at distance, and the vocal still sounds like it’s right in front of you. It’s pretty unreal.”

“WE’VE HAD TO THROW 500-FEET W I T H N O D E L AY S , AND STM DOES I T. I T ’ S P R E T T Y U N R E A L .”

T H E C A L M B E FO R E THE STORM The muggy, sticky air has now lost much of its humidity, and the storm has indeed arrived. As rain like I’ve never seen peppers us like wildfire, Mills and co. remain calm and collected, and proceed to cover their control hub as if they’ve practiced it a million times before, with the same discipline and precision of those hard working ball boys (and girls) at Wimbledon.

Ten minutes pass...

“Okay, where were we?” returns a dripping wet Mills, apparently unaffected by the tsunami-esque downpour. I’m petrified. I ask him about the tuning, and how easy it all is to put together. “Nexo’s NS1 is one of the most accurate systems out there. If you do what NS1 says, it is going to do it. I spend a considerable amount of time in it, because then I have to do way less work with the system itself. And in terms of flying? It’s astronomically faster than most systems out there. I wouldn’t do a stadium by myself, but with any 12-box gig with one motor and myself, I have comfortably flown the whole thing.”

Kenny also relies on in-ear monitoring for his shows, namely a set of JH Audio JH16s.

His crew are also using the 16s, and Kenny’s seven-piece band is also on JH, namely the Roxanne model. I ask monitor engineer, Phil Robinson, why JH is the preference.

“The low end is definitely tighter and faster with the newer armatures,” he explains.

“Also, the clarity is far better with a fuller and rounder sound overall. The fit has improved too, which makes it better for long shows, and sometimes full days.”

It’s also all that bit easier to put together, Robinson adds: “Even the cables have become easier to plug inside a smaller 1/8-inch jacket. This is actually really important, because with the newer ear packs, it’s very packed around the plug, and smaller is better in this case.

“We are also using the Rev 33; that has showed to improve the image of the mix and overall ear fatigue for the show. Kenny has asked for very few changes in his in-ear mix this year; we have a nice Avalon VT737SP on his vocal, which pairs nicely with the JH ears to make every day a great day in monitor world!”

‘Everyone’s so happy here,’ I say to myself, also aware that showtime is approaching. We have an hour or so to glug as much free booze as possible, backstage. Drinking half-litres of rum sounds daunting, but I find it surprisingly easy. I vaguely recall chatting (nonsense, probably) to the very polite owner of the Steelers football team in that bar (a selfie found on my phone the following day confirmed it), and I guess it just shows how relaxed and calm the whole Chesney entourage was. It’s a huge, and meticulously run ship, full of passionate audio fanatics, who love their music, and more to the point, love their jobs.

The show began mid afternoon, and after hearing main support act, Eric Church, deliver a nigh-on perfect half-hour performance, pressure seemed on Kenny to deliver. But deliver, he did. He entered the stadium in style (on a high-wire, no less), and for 90-minutes plus, proceeded to thrill a completely receptive crowd, working his butt off on stage. The system was pumping, the mix was tight, and the audience were jumping.

I grabbed a final word with David Haskell to see what Kenny thought of everything: “Kenny is so hands on with everything he does in his life. He looks at every lighting cue, every video element, every bit of design, and the sound design; and as long as it’s working, he is happy. He has my number, I have his... [pauses] And we only ever meet under good circumstances!” www.nexo.fr www.morrislightandsound.com www.jhaudio.com

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ON TOUR WITH...

CLEAN BANDIT

We catch up with the guys that make everything tick on and off the stage for UK classical-electronica four-piece, Clean Bandit, when they're on the road: sound provider and monitor engineer, Paul Hatt; front-of-house engineer, Jack Eveleigh; and newly-appointed lighting designer, Liam Griffiths.

Paul Hatt became tour provider for Clean Bandit after the band’s musical director, Andy Gangadeen, approached him and asked him to get involved. He also had a previous relationship with production manager, Tec 35 HEADLINER

Beint, as the pair had toured a lot together with Groove Armada in the past. He is also working monitors for Clean Bandit.

“When I joined, the band had been using a different vocal mic to my preference, but the timing was good, as Jack Eveleigh reported the best ever vocal sound on a recent show using DPA's d:facto II,” opens Hatt, explaining that he brought a couple of d:factos with him.

“We started off using one with [lead vocalist] Elisabeth Troy, and gradually added more, so now we are using five in total on all the vocals.”

Hatt first got introduced to d:facto when on tour with Massive Attack a couple of years ago, and he's never looked back.

“Since that tour, I have been speccing d:facto wherever possible,” he says. “It's a wonderful sounding vocal condenser, with a

// ON TOUR WITH CLEAN BANDIT //

" M I X I N G I S A L W AY S A L O T O F F U N A N D V E R Y C R E AT I V E W H E N W O R K I N G W I T H C L E A N B A N D I T, T H A T ’ S F O R S U R E ! " very smooth response, offering a good level of rejection, and it works very well with quiet singers, also.”

Because the drum kit is densely populated with electronic pads and acoustic drums, mic size was an issue. To counteract this, Hatt deployed DPA 4099s on the live snares (top and bottom), and 2011Cs on the hats, ride, and overheads.

“The 4099 is a great all-rounder, and for me, is a go-to solution for many applications,” Hatt admits. “Combining this with the brilliant 2011Cs gave us the quality we were looking for, but also in the most compact package possible; the 2011Cs really are tiny!”

Hatt uses a Soundcraft Vi3000 for monitors, with a compact stage box. The band utilise 12 IEMs, split across two ranges, which covers everyone on stage plus the techs, a guest mix, and a spare system which Hatt sends from the matrix outputs. Depending on stage size, he also uses side-fills to add a little more feel.

“I am continually noticing a large number of compact digital consoles at stage left at the festivals, and behind them, a couple of largely redundant house desks,” Hatt smiles.

“Everyone seems to be touring a console of some description, at least at the monitor end, and it is pretty essential for keeping a consistent IEM mix. We are at the stage now where they all sound good, and we are spoilt for choice regardless of budget; there are so many options out there now, so it’s really just down to personal preference.”

Front-of-house engineer, Jack Eveleigh, started working with Clean Bandit three years ago, just before they were signed. He was tour managing, driving, teching, and mixing the gig at the time which, he confesses, was a bit of a logistical nightmare.

“They were using up to 13 performers for each gig, and the next gig would always be another set of people,” he smiles. “But they had a lot of character, and showed genuine passion for the project. Jack [Patterson, bass and sax player] was also into max/msp, and pushing the boundaries of music technology, so we got on from the start.”

Eveleigh’s console of choice is a DiGiCo SD10, for its sound and ergonomics: “I use all the inbuilt effects from the SD10, and I can 36 HEADLINER

route and setup whatever I want, wherever I want it,” he says. “For the last two European tours, I took out an SD8 and supplemented it with a few analogue channel strips. I want the characteristics of both analogue and digital, so why not use both?

“I sometimes have to deal with whatever console is at each venue, though, so I try and keep it as consistent as possible by carrying a Waves dongle with me and load the Waves API compressor and EQ, and still use the same bussing process. But it certainly sounds different, depending on the console I end up with!”

Eveleigh is a hands-on mixer, constantly jumping around the desk to hit cues and splashes of effects. He also uses a lot of hard tuning and looping on the vocals, along with filtering of the drums and electronics for drops.

“In Nightingale, I’ll loop up certain lyrics and let them repeat and build to create more of a hypnotic effect, then in Dust Clear, one of the main elements is the almost vocoded vocal effects, so that also needs to be recreated live.

“I don’t do snapshots, you see. I find it pulls me out of the creative zone, and I need it to be constantly evolving, so I prefer to create a mix based on each individual show, so I set up reverbs and other effects for each song, and un-mute them as per the set list. This lets me match the sound of the album, but with the free-flowing feeling of a live show. I’ll always have a loop delay set up as well as a swell and tap delay. I hate the sound of sung delays, so if there’s a vocal delay or repeated loop on the track, I’ll recreate that myself.”

Like Hatt, Eveleigh is a big fan of the DPA d:facto II mic: “The d:facto has got a very clear and transparent response, whilst also being directional; it reproduces what goes into it, and that’s why I love it. You don’t stand there asking yourself, ‘why is this vocal not sounding like it does acoustically?’

Eveleigh’s preferred vocal chain is d:facto II into an RF stick, then into an API 7600, mainly for the 225L compressor, which will auto-gain the output to match the input level. Then, it’s into the DiGiCo for surgical EQ and gating.

“The RF stick messes with the phase

correlation of the signal, but it would be a rubbish show if everyone stood still, so it’s a necessary evil, isn’t it?” smiles Eveleigh.

“Elisabeth’s range is an incredible beast, so the dynamics change immensely, therefore keeping it at a locked level is vital. I then send her channel into a vocal group with light compression, and then a hard limiter, set to cut in at the loudest parts when all the vocalists are singing. Mixing is always a lot fun and very creative when working with Clean Bandit, that’s for sure!”

Over the past year or so, Liam Griffiths has been illuminating some particularly cool young artists: first, The Naked & Famous, then Brooke Fraser, and now, of course, it’s Clean Bandit.

“I did a couple of Clean Bandit shows on the festival run, and after that, they wanted me to continue lighting them up, basically,” says Griffiths, as he takes us through the key kit.

“For the headline shows, we’ll be bringing in a floor package which consists of 18 x GLP X4s with some BMFLs and LED Pars for band key lights. I always use GLP fixtures, as they’re so powerful and versatile; and the other lamps complement them nicely. We’ve also got video on this gig, which has been cool: a long, narrow video wall silhouettes the band, about one metre off the ground.”

Clean Bandit brings new challenges, Griffiths explains, which has required some extra concentration when riding the faders.

“It’s a very different show to my other regulars,” he says. “We have four band members along with guest vocals, so there’s a lot of pick ups. I’ve been using follow spots on this, so it contains a lot of spot calling which my other two bands don’t have, but it’s nice, as it really keeps me on my toes! I know everyone probably says this, but Clean Bandit really are amazing guys to work for. I’ve been lucky once again, as they trust and believe what I do is right. Also, I am 100% a big fan of their music, which always helps!” www.digico.biz www.dpamicrophones.com www.glp.de

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// THE SCHEME //

/ T H E S C H E M E / London-based trio, The Scheme, are not what we’d call a conventional band. At first glance, you might mistake them for a boy band (many do), but don’t be fooled. These guys are serious musicians, and songwriters, and they’re dedicated to their craft. Recent highlights, aside from unprintable drinking exploits, include a month-long writing session in one of Europe’s musical hubs, Berlin, and the release of two singles: Dust, and Jordan’s Smile, the latter of which is particularly beautiful, and has a heartbreaking story attached to it. Headliner descends on London’s buzzing Portobello Road to find out more.

On arrival at Portobello’s Electric House, the band are already sat down, beaming, and eager to order a drink.

Nice start. After the pleasantries are out of the way, and cold Heinekens are chinked in unison, I begin on a rather sombre, but important note, asking the lads about Jordan’s Smile, their brand new charity single. It was inspired by the tragic story of Jordan Smelski, an 11-year-old boy, who tragically passed away a year ago from Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis, which he contracted simply by swimming in hot springs.

“It’s insane that this happened to him, and it’s such a rare condition.

We wanted to help raise awareness for what happened to Jordan, so the way for us to do that was in musical form,” explains Kyle, with more than a hint of melancholy. He’s the pianist in The Scheme, and is originally from the States.

“One hundred percent of the proceeds of the single will go to the Jordan foundation, and it’s nice that they’ve

adopted the song as their theme tune; we’re just happy to do our bit, you know?

People need to be aware of this globally.

Its symptoms mirror meningitis, but you only have a maximum of 48 hours to counter it. It’s really scary.”

The Scheme have also just secured the half-time show at Florida’s Amway Center in August, home to the Predators Indoor Football team, where they will perform the song to more than 10,000 people. Jordan’s father has season tickets to The Predators, so it all fits rather nicely.

“That will be an amazing experience for us, and of course, it’s fantastic exposure for the charity,” enthuses Kris, primary vocalist. “It’s amazing actually, the reaction people have to that song.

They either cry, or they say nothing at all for at least 30 seconds afterwards. It’s a powerful thing.”

Intrigued, I ask what the song sounds like, and quiz the trio on how they perform most of their shows, hoping the answer isn’t ‘to a backing track’. Far from

// THE SCHEME //

it... As if by magic, guitarist (and a bloody good one at that), Aleksey, pulls an acoustic guitar seemingly out of thin air, and I am serenaded. I have to say, the performance is staggeringly good, with perfectly delivered three-part harmonies. Trying desperately (and failing) not to get emotional, I also find myself going silent for some time after the song ends. Wow. Okay, I’m sold. So you’re really not a boy band then, are you... despite the fact you’re all part-time models..!

“Yeah, well he gets more work than the rest of us, for some reason,” laughs Kris in a broad scouse accent, pointing at a bashful looking Aleksey, whose head is now bowed.

“But you’re right, people do assume we’re a boy band if they haven’t seen us play. We don’t mind that, necessarily, but we’re all about the music and the art; Kyle plays piano, and as you just heard, Aleksey plays the guitar. We want to show people that we’re a proper band.”

Which they clearly are. At this point, I notice they are all wearing identical wristbands. I ask what the significance is.

“They say ‘everyone needs to nose’,” says Kyle, with a half smile. “Basically, you need to keep your head above water, or wear a nose plug, if you’re going to go swim in these hot water springs, as that’s where the amoeba attacks. On our album cover, there’s a butterfly, and the wings come off, and there is a little nose clip on the end, which is to show further support.”

This clearly means a lot to The Scheme, and they’re genuine, no question. The song actually came to the guys after a few pints (don’t all the best ones?), and they tell me how they initially recorded it.

“We laid it down on an iPhone,” says Aleksey, with a chuckle. “We were in Liverpool, and Kris’s friend, Rich, is a really cool producer, and we phoned him and asked if we could come in and put down a demo, and he did it for us, free of charge.

Then we sent it to the charity, and they said we had to get it produced properly, which Rich also did for us in about a week.”

One of the songs I had heard before meeting the lads was Dust, another new single, with a really nice sound, and very cool video. I ask them about that track.

“Yeah, that was written in Berlin on our month-long drinking – I mean, writing session,” smiles Kyle. “It’s a really professional video, which we did with Timberwolf, but actually it was just a really good camera and an interesting looking room that happened to be lit very well!”

I noticed that they don’t appear in the video, which kind of surprised me... I almost mentioned ‘boy band’ again there, didn’t I? 39 HEADLINER

“ W E WA N T E D TO M A K E T H E V I D EO A L L A B O U T T H E S O N G S , A N D T H AT ’ S W H Y W E W E R E N ’ T I N I T; I T G OT P EO P L E TO FO CU S O N T H E M U S I C .”

“Ha! We made the video about the music, and that’s why we weren’t in it,” insists Kris.

“We wanted to make it about the songs, and we actually had a load of positive comments about how we are a pop-rock band, not a boy band, and it got people to focus on the music.”

“Because people don’t think about the band, they look at the video, hear the song, and are like, ‘who’s this?’” adds Aleksey, tilting his head, and mimicking a puzzled look. That really made me laugh, don’t know why. “Because we also have Jordan’s Smile, which was 100% on us, we thought with Dust we would tell the story lyrically, and just go for it. It’s only our current fans that are disappointed we’re not in the video, so I think it was a good decision.”

So what next, apart from the huge gig in the US, of course?

“Well, we just got our first in-ear monitors, and ideally we want to get into an agency to get us on a tour, supporting a bigger artist, so we are gearing up for that, really,” says Kris.

“And if we get that, we’ll put money into

more instruments and the art, because you can write songs all day in the studio, but you have to do something with them.”

“It is also fun to do things acoustically, though,” states Kyle. Aleksey nods in agreement. “You can change it up, add an instrumental bit. In many ways, it’s more interesting doing it that way.”

The official impact date is at the end of July for the single, though everyone involved in the charity was begging the lads to get something out, so they did a soft launch for Jordan’s Smile, which already seems to be gaining traction, Stateside.

“They have a bit of pull out there with Fox News; Jordan’s family have been talking about the single, and us, so it’ll be interesting to see how it’s taken by the American public,” says Kris. “We’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?”

We will indeed, but we think the future looks pretty rosy. Follow the boys’ progress on Twitter: @wearethescheme www.jordanssmile.org

// XL VIDEO //

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

T

he music entertainment industry is one of the most treasured across the globe.

We all love it, we all thrive on it, and we are becoming more and more demanding of it. How so? Well, we’ve always wanted it to sound good, and thanks to super-efficient PA and console technology, that’s pretty much a given. But today’s generation expect much more: they want to see amazing lights and giant video screens, so they can get that up close and personal moment with their heroes, even if they’re stuck in the cheap seats. As a result, the shows are getting way bigger, the kit is getting way cooler, and technology is evolving at a faster rate of knots than ever before.

One man who knows all about that evolution is Lee Spencer who, in January 2000, along with business partner, Chris Mounsor, took the bold move and started up his own creative video production company, which has grown into an industry leader, providing for some of the world’s most innovative and inspiring tours. These guys offer a unique and often bespoke service which, considering they’re working hands-on with some of the biggest supergroups of all time (Coldplay, U2, and that incredible Roger Waters tour of The Wall), they really need to. We start from the beginning, and find out a little more about the dynamic operation that is XL Video.

When XL Video was formed, Lee Spencer had already held the MD position for a different firm, with a very good rep for video, but he was always craving that little bit more.

“I had all the perks of being the MD, and suddenly decided to give everything up, just as my wife was about to give birth to twins, so it was a quite bizarre thing to do, really, if you think about it,” Spencer says, with a smile. “It’s history now, but that’s how we started off, and

“ P EO P L E WO U L D COME TO US WITH CRAZY IDEAS, A N D I F I T WO U L D WO R K , W E WO U L D M A K E I T F LY. WE WEREN’T FRIGHTENED OF S AY I N G Y E S T O A N Y B O DY.”

// XL VIDEO //

our first tour was [UK boy band] 5ive.”

According to Spencer, there is always an element of luck in any business, and he cites several factors within the industry as pivotal in XL’s quick success.

“Everyone was on analogue at the time, and we decided we’d be SDI (Serial Digital Interface). Also, the whole market was changing,” he explains. “I think we were great people to work with, as we weren’t suits, and Chris had toured with Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays, so he was like one of the guys in the band, really. Nobody knew me, as I came from the corporate world, but it was a nice mix from the get go.”

As the company found its feet, XL acquired more clients, and as a result, more tours, thanks in no small part to the bespoke service it offered.

“After a few years, it was more about people keeping up with XL, as we were way ahead of the market, and knew what people wanted,” Spencer says. “We were now more than just a rental company, because of the way we packaged our camera systems and provided solutions to problems. People would come to us with crazy ideas, and if it would work, we would make it fly. We weren’t frightened of saying yes to anybody.

“I would be the one in the background panicking, and Chris would just go for it. And I have to say, on balance, he was right most of the time! There were times he could have bankrupted the company many times over, and I had to reign him in, but we worked very well together, and we still do... [pauses]... Well, he sits in Spain, and I sit in England! [laughs]” Mounsor retired two years ago, and Spencer has run the XL ship solo ever since.

Our conversation turns to technological advancements in video world, and I ask him what he sees as the biggest shakermakers,

41 HEADLINER

immediately realising that shakermaker isn’t actually a word, just an Oasis song title. I think I get away with it...

“It depends which side of the market you’re looking at, but changes have been made because of signal paths and resolutions, and that’s because the consumer market demand high quality images. There’s been all this R&D for TV sets, but mainly for computer graphics companies, the people designing magazines and billboards, all that kind of stuff,” comes the reply. “They want higher and higher quality, and off the back of that, we’re further downstream, R&D pays off for us, and manufacturers are able to go higher resolution.

The biggest changes in order have been SDI when we came in, then HD; and apart from that, the cameras haven’t changed that much.

They’ve just got cheaper and better.”

With screens, on the other hand, there are three or four big changes in the marketplace, Spencer insists.

“The first thing is, everyone was aiming for resolution, but as resolution got higher, the screens seemed to get smaller, so people wanted bigger screens, but better resolution,” he says, with a half laugh. “The way to achieve that was lightweight screens, which is where your see-through screens came from. We chop all the metal out, and then you have these hi-res, ultra light screens which then allow for very large screens to go out on tour.

“If you go back seven years, big screens on tour were 60-100 square metres. I am excluding the likes of The Stones, who just had multiple screens, and U2, who really pushed the boundaries, but on the whole, on your average tour, it would be soft screen projection either side, and maybe 40-80 square metres on stage. Then the bolder ones went with side screens that were LED, and started to dress the set as architectural LED came out; and

then lightweight LED came out. I would say now that our average tour that goes out has anywhere from 100-200 square metres; and if you’re in stadiums, you’re talking multiples, up to 1,000 square metres of screen.”

That sounds enormous. “That’s because it is,” Spencer grins. Fair point. I ask Spencer to tell me more about the lightweight frames.

“Well, we’ve developed the ability to rig the screens very quickly, through lots of trial and error, and have come up with a great lightweight frame. However [smiles], what happens is, you create the screen so you can put 1,000 square metres up, someone says they want it on tour, which is great, but if you put that into stadiums and the wind gets up, it’s just a big sheet in the wind; you’re talking one-and-a-half million pounds worth of screen floating about, hitting metalwork, and getting wrecked, let alone the damage it could cause should anyone get in the way of it! So we put a frame on the back of it, make it more rigid, and stop it floating about.”

So you add weight to the lightweight screen you’ve spent all that time developing? “[laughs] The skill has been to put a lightweight, fast constructable frame onto the back of a very lightweight screen; and that’s something we did two years ago now,” Spencer says, slowly and purposefully. No more teasing, I decide. “So after two to three years, and lots of trial and error, we came up with what we feel is one of the best screens on the market now.”

So what about the copycats. Dare I mention [deep breath]... The Chinese?

“Oh, we’ve been copied many times, and yes, including our friends the Chinese manufacturers, and they’ve fed off us as much as we’ve used them for the manufacturing base,” Spencer admits, freely. “And that was the last big thing that hit our industry on the

// XL VIDEO //

video side, the Chinese coming in. Up until six years ago, everything was manufactured in and around Europe, and very little was done in China; the quality was too poor, nobody would touch it, and those that did buy it, regretted it as soon as they got it home as it would fail on the first show, and there was no back up.”

To counteract this, XL Video went to China, started an operation, and began designing its own screens out there - and not only for the music industry, to keep the likes of U2 onboard, and continue to provide that boutique service - but for the automotive, too, which is a big part of the XL business, run out of the firm’s German office.

“To give you an idea, at the Frankfurt Auto Show (IAA) this year, we’ll provide video for a substantial percentage of the stands, and at the NAIAS in Detroit, we’ll service the majority of exhibits,” says Spencer. Wowzers. “The screen size again will be phenomenal, but some of the things we’ve designed are just fantastic, particularly the screens that go underneath the walkways for the cars to drive along, and the image then follows the car down.”

We move on to cashflow, which, of course, is what cripples most companies. Spencer likens it to running up a hill: it gets steeper and steeper, and that hill is all about captial: “As the company gets bigger, your client base grows, and so does the demand for stock, and therefore, so does the demand for capital.

And suddenly, the bank takes a look at you and says, ‘they were really cute when they started, I was lending them a couple of hundred thousand, but now it’s a multi-million pound company, and I need to lend these guys three million for the next leg of U2? I am worried!’.

“So all of a sudden, those funding lines start to dry up, one after another, and you find yourself without capital. You’re no longer flavour of the month, and you can’t produce what U2 wants or what any big band wants.

You can’t put those screens together, you can’t buy the latest cameras, and you start going backwards. It’s much easier to run down a hill, you know [smiles].”

This is where Medialease comes in, a high-end broker for the audio and lighting

industries, headed up by Paul Robson.

According to Spencer, without Medialease, XL might never have got off the ground. He recounts the first time he approached Robson to do a deal with XL: “I went to Paul, and he said he could help us. The banks were cheaper at the time, and I’ll never let him forget it! [laughs] However, it gave us our first break. It helped us get off the ground, get all the cameras, and get out on tour,” Spencer says. “Then, once the money started to come in, I went back to Paul, and he was able to demonstrate to the first lender that we were generative, and then the second lender came in. I think even today, there is probably only one lender that is equal to Paul in terms of the volumes they’ve loaned us, but even that person has got no idea about the equipment; he doesn’t understand what it does, and he is doing the deal because his faith is in me and the company and the balance sheet. There is only one Paul Robson in this industry: he knows our industry inside out, from the product side to the financials. With Paul, you get the complete package.”

Robson plays down the importance of his role a little, but really, he’s much more than just a broker. He truly puts himself on the line, and he undoubtedly knows his stuff.

“I am merely providing the funding, and 95% of the risk is taken by the bank, so my job at that point is to put forward strategic reasons as to why they should do the deal, and we broker the deal,” Robson explains. So, what if it all goes wrong? “Okay, let’s assume it does. The bottom line is, the bank wants me to be able to deal with it. And I could. I could get my hands on the kit, and get rid of it - not for a profit, or whatever they’re owed, but I will be able to get them out of the hole, because I understand the market. That’s the point. I need to be able to tell them with some conviction that it’ll succeed, but if it doesn’t, we have a get-out.”

“I’ve had various CFOs come in and say, ‘why are you using a broker? Surely you can get a cheaper rate direct?’” adds Spencer. “I just say, ‘I can, but you go to the bank and explain what you want to buy, and sell it to them - you can’t’. And that is where Paul comes in, and is why he’s worth every penny he ‘wrings’ from

us! [laughs] Because he can sell our products to the banks in order to get us funding, and he can do that better than I can do it, because where I can talk the product, he can talk the product and the finance.”

We start to discuss the recent collaboration between XL and PRG, and I ask Spencer what he thinks that will bring to the table.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the lighting and video markets converging, but I don’t think it has in the way most people thought it would,” he reflects. “But I am very excited about the future going forward with PRG. I think today, whether it’s audio, lighting, or video, the only way to keep running up that hill is to become a bigger company or join or partner with another one. Even though the prices have dropped quite significantly in LED video, the investment of it has gone up dramatically. You’re not a serious player in this market anymore unless you’ve got 5,000 metres of LED screen, whereas in the old days, if you had 200 square metres, you were at the top of the pile.

“Going forward, what XL is going to be able to offer its customers is the most important thing, and that will all be down to how our relationship with PRG evolves. It’s early days yet, but I can see all customers and staff on both sides benefitting hugely. It’s a genuinely exciting time for XL Video.”

I ask Spencer if he has a magical moment from his time at XL that he can leave us with.

He ponders for a few seconds, raises an index finger, beams, and says: “We did the wall for Roger Waters’ recent tour, which was just incredible - and we were working directly with Roger a lot of the time, too. There were such intricacies to deal with to get that right, with the whole ‘wall’ being projected video, and I’ve also been a lifelong fan of Pink Floyd. Watching that live, and seeing what we’d achieved, almost brought me to tears, to be honest...[pauses]... I guess moments like that are what working in this industry is really all about.”

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// JEM FINER //

/ T H E F I N E R

T H I N G S

I N L I F E /

F

ounder member of The Pogues, Jem Finer, talks to us about his extraordinary creation, Longplayer.

We advise you Google it for the intricate details, but, very simply, it is a musical composition which incorporates Tibetan singing bowls and computer algorithms that can play continuously for 1,000 years. I know - doesn’t sound that simple, does it? We get the lowdown (in layman terms) from Jem, at the launch of the Longplayer App in Hackney, London, and peek into the scientific mind of this acclaimed musician, who, although doesn’t miss the touring life, won’t entirely rule out doing it all over again.

So you’ve been working on Longplayer since 1995, Jem. Tell us about it...

It started to play at the beginning of 2000. Essentially, it’s a 1,000 year long musical composition - but that’s the easy bit! Because, with computers and algorithmic composition, and systems, and so on, it’s very easy to generate a very long bit of music, but what is difficult is when you take it seriously, and the idea of creating something that has the potential to exist for at least one of its performances. Longplayer is a loop; it never

44 HEADLINER

// JEM FINER //

“ I H AV E A L WAY S B E E N AT T R A C T E D T O T H I N G S C O N C E P T U A L LY; L O N G P L AY E R I S V E R Y C O N C E P T U A L , A N D F O R M E , T H E I D E A O F T H E P O G U E S WA S T H E S A M E . ”

repeats until after 1,000 years, and then it goes back to the beginning.

So it’s everlasting, then? The mind boggles! [smiles] Yes, in theory, but to realistically make something that can last that long, you have to be very careful how you compose it, so it’s adaptable to any changes in technology, energy sources, and so on.

Because who knows where we’re going to be in 10 years, let alone 1,000, right?

Exactly. So it started its life on the computer, being performed by computers, which is good, cheap, and relatively simple. But the main survival strategy setup when Longplayer started was a trust of people to look after it, and together with the trust, I am always exploring new ways of playing Longplayer.

We’ve done live concerts - we did one at the Roundhouse [in London] in 2009, with singing bowls and a graphic score - and that relies on no technology other than people obeying simple instructions and playing very simple instruments.

And now you can tune in via the new App...

Yes. It takes advantage of the fact that there are 500 million iPhones out there, and piggy backs on them with the sort of biological strategy that if you want to survive, you make millions of copies of yourself, and then maybe one or two will get through. You switch it on, it looks for the time and date on the clock, finds its place, and plays. And with the App, the phone is literally performing the piece; you don’t need data connection. There’s no pretence that it’ll actually last 1,000 years, not at all, and probably the best strategy is the human version, without any need for electricity or moving parts.

Tonight, you’re playing Longplayer on 12 record decks. What’s the process?

This harks back to when I was first developing Longplayer. How does it translate to the physical world? And it was exactly this: using record players. In the first solution, I was conceiving them to play for the full 1,000 years, but the records would have to be six foot wide, and record players would have to have two arms [laughs]. But there is a potential in these records that I’ve cut, to start playing at 7.30pm and then play for 33.3 hours, 2,000 minutes in time. So that’s it in a 45 HEADLINER

nutshell, basically.

And what will we actually be hearing, at the risk of sounding completely stupid..? [smiles] Well, the way Longplayer works, there is 20 minutes of what I call source music - singing bowls - and then there’s a system that works on them, an algorithm, which uses that source music to make a 1,000 year loop.

Has this scientific brain of yours helped you in all walks of your musical life?

I have always been a systems kind of person, and I like making systems, working things out with maths and stuff, so I taught myself to play music largely by understanding it mathematically. I was a photographer, and then I got into music when I came to London in 1977, as I was living in a place where people played music, so I just started working it out.

But I have always been attracted to things conceptually. Longplayer is very conceptual, and for me, the idea of The Pogues was also a conceptual thing; Shane [MacGowan, frontman of The Pogues] had this idea that he wanted to play traditional Irish folk music, but on instruments none of us had really played.

You played the banjo, didn’t you?

The first band I played in, I actually played bass, then I played guitar, and I was playing guitar when Shane and I started playing together, but I was trying to play it like a banjo, and that’s when I thought, ‘I might as well get a banjo!’ So everything I have done, there is a conceptual element to it. It’s really taken me, this idea of plugging into a tradition and redefining it, to give it a new life, and that’s what traditions need. That’s what we did with folk music, and all other sorts of music we came across in The Pogues; and in a sense, that’s what we’re doing with Longplayer.

The reason we take Tibetan singing bowls is because they’re already something with a long history of tradition. Another problem in making something very long is how you deal with changes in culture and cultural attitude to music. If you take something that’s already elemental, you don’t have those cultural problems, so it all kind of fits together; and all the other stuff I’ve done comes from the same place, getting obsessed with an idea and working it out into a physical form, like a mathematical artist. It’s responsibility for verification!

Are you a mathematical songwriter, too?

Sometimes, yes. I mean, I hadn’t written songs before, and then I started to listen, to see how songs were constructed, so there is an element where that is very helpful; obviously you need some intuitive in there, but sometimes having a system to fall back on can be very helpful, or even trying to listen to something and then work it out. There are a certain set of chords that maybe you can just make this, that, or the other in... [pauses] Having said that, if you stick with that, you have a formula, and I have always tried to shy away from formulas, looking for ways of tricking myself into not getting too obsessed!

I don’t want to see your notebooks...

Oh, they’re quite interesting, actually!

How active are you, musically?

Pretty active. I just finished a film soundtrack for Andrew Cötting for a film called By Ourselves, and I am writing music for his next film called Ivan and the Dogs, but that’s still in development. I also played an impromptu gig last Sunday; I play as much as I can, really.

Do you miss touring?

Not at all. It was great at the time, and who knows, we might do some more in the future, but I am very busy and happy to not be on tour at the moment. It can become quite monotonius sometimes, and very tiring. But it’s nice being my own boss the whole time, to be honest!

What are the positives about the digital evolution within the music industry?

Definitely the fact that digital technology allows more people to make films and music, to distribute, to write. Social Media has its pros and cons, but the Internet is an amazing thing - really extraordinary. Like all extraordinary things, they can be used for good and bad, but I suppose for me, the main thing is, I love the fact one can suddenly do so much oneself very cheaply thanks to technology. You can write, record, experiment with film. It’s fantastic. www.longplayer.com

// PEREDUR AP GWYNEDD //

HARMONIC MOTION: PENDULUM TO FAITHLESS

While industrial rockers Pendulum remain on hiatus, the band’s lead guitarist, Peredur ‘Perry’ ap Gwynedd remains busier than ever. He is now the guitarist in one of his (and our) favourite bands of all time, Faithless, and he’s also touring with Anastacia. But that’s not all... We speak to Perry in his homeland, Wales, where he’s commentating on the last week of the Tour de France on behalf of Welsh TV. Does a career get any more eclectic than this?

“TWO NEAR NAKED MEN WRITHING ON THE FLOOR IN F R O N T O F M E ; YO U D O N ’ T S E E T H AT E V E R Y D AY AT A P E N D U LU M G I G.”

Perry ap Gwynedd began rehearsing with Faithless in May 2015, and is now playing all of the European summer festivals with the British electronica band, a role that he’s been after, he says, for some 15 years.

“I’ve known Sister Bliss for a long while now, as we’re neighbours, and we’ve got a lot of musical friends, basically,” Perry explains.

“She asked me if I would be interested in touring with them, and I said, ‘yeah!’, as I’ve always wanted to tour with them since I first saw them play live around 2000.”

It must be different, not working with the lads in Pendulum, then again, Perry was always a session player before he joined the band, so is probably used to ‘just turning up’.

“Yeah, I have been a session guy all my life, so slipping from one thing to another isn’t that difficult for me, really,” he confirms, adding that while some of the other Pendulum guys are deejaying or working on solo projects, he’s just happy playing his guitar. “Changing things up has always been a part of my musical life, and where I am now is just great.”

Perry plays PRS Floyd Rose custom 24

// PEREDUR AP GWYNEDD //

guitars, and he has a couple: one American, and one Korean (the ‘SE’ model). With Faithless, “for some reason”, the SE is his axe of choice.

“The American one and the Korean one are both fantastically made guitars, but the SE is my go-to at the moment,” he smiles. I ask him about his pedal board: what would I expect to see if I was on a Faithless stage?

“Well, the first thing in the chain is an Audio-Technica System 10 stomp box,” he begins. “With Pendulum, I did use another brand, but it just sucked my tone out; it rolled off all the bottom end. So this time, I needed a wireless, because I am not stuck to one spot; and I just wanted something that didn’t suck any of my tone. Someone told me about the System 10, and I thought I would give it a go, and I just found it brilliant. There is zero tone sucking, and the real reason I use it is because it just works!

“Another advantage is, it’s got two outputs, so you can have something else linked up if you really want to, with just a flick of a switch. It’s also great because it’s in a metal casing, so you can smack the hell out of it, and not be concerned! I haven’t got light feet, you see, and I have gone through God knows how many stomp pedals and volume pedals, but it’s in a full metal casing, so it lasts a long, long time.

“Also, what’s great about the AudioTechnica guys is, from an A&R perspective, they’re gold: if I need something at any time, there is no toing and froing, it’s there immediately. They’re always on the end of the phone, which is so important when touring.”

Out of the System 10’s second output comes Perry’s guitar tuner, a TC Electronic Polytune, which, he says, is the most important pedal on his pedal board.

“It’s the one that doesn’t make any noise at all,” he laughs, insisting that it’s the best tuner he has ever come across. “I stopped using my old one, as I really grew to hate it, mainly because, again, it totally sucked the tone. I used to use my old one in series, and if I was playing a clean sound, there was this fizz behind it, and I was like, ‘what’s that?’ I took every pedal out of the chain, and realised it was my tuner. Eventually, and thank God, TC brought out the Polytune!

“Now, what’s amazing about it is, it’s a polyphonic tuner, and you can strum all the strings and can see which one’s out of tune, so it saves a hell of a lot of time on stage. And this is true bypass as well, so it doesn’t suck your tone. I kicked the old one straight into 47 HEADLINER

touch! Amazingly, it’s the same price as my old tuner, too, so it’s an absolute no brainer!

Not a hum in sight, total true bypass, amazing. And there is no colouration of tone whatsoever.”

The only other bits of kit on the floor are one of the new Mini Cry Baby wah pedals (which is only the size of a stomp box!), and a Morley Passive volume pedal. Then, it’s straight into Perry’s pride and joy, his Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister 36 guitar amp: “It’s fully valve, and it has four different valve preamps in it. It also got the ‘Best in Show’ at last year’s Musikmesse [trade show] in Frankfurt. It’s fucking incredible, frankly. It’s got 128 different

And when Perry isn’t playing, you might find him biking up some mountain in the middle of nowhere, or even talking about somebody else’s bike... Right, Perry? “[laughs] Yes, I am actually in Wales at the minute, and I am commentating on the Tour de France, which is amazing,” he smiles. “I am a big cycling freak, and Welsh TV got the contract last year and asked me if I would be interested in being involved in it. Of course, I jumped at the chance!

“I take my bike everywhere with me; when I turn up on the tour bus in the morning, I usually put my bike together, find the nearest mountain, and climb up it! I just love doing it! I have been touring for so long that I’ve seen most of the cities in the world,

“WHEN I TURN UP ON THE TOUR BUS I N T H E M O R N I N G , I U S U A L LY P U T M Y BIKE TOGETHER, FIND THE NEAREST M O U N TA I N , A N D C L I M B U P I T ! ”

programmable presets – and they’re digitally programmable, too. There is a great reverb, modulation, and delay as well, so it’s really a pretty versatile amp. This is where all my tone comes from: all the overdrives, all the clean sounds, everything comes from the amp. I am totally a mono guy, not into stereo effects, but it sounds perfect, and the preamps are also out of this world. Another great thing is that it only weighs eight kilos, so if you’re doing fly gigs, you could even carry it in your rucksack as part of your carry on!”

I ask Perry how different the audiences are if you were to compare Pendulum and Faithless, as musically, both bands are at very different ends of the spectrum.

“It’s always slightly different,” he says, softly. “Pendulum audiences are a big, heavy metal crossover, so you get a lot of mosh pits, but Faithless is an electronic dance crowd. We played Download so many times with Pendulum, and there’s a massive crossover there, so this current audience is a little less manic, perhaps. To be honest, I just love it; I enjoy it, whatever, and wherever I am playing!”

so now I like to get out of the city and head into the countryside. And of course it keeps you fit as well, which is great!”

Perry will also fly to Paris to broadcast live from le Champs de L’elysees for the last day of the Tour de France. It’s a hard life, eh? “[smiles] Oh it’s brilliant, mate.

Absolutely brilliant,” he beams. I ask him to leave us with a comical story from on the road. After a little deliberation, he chuckles, and says: “There was a streaker once at a Pendulum show in 2010, and it was a very, very hot day.

A guy jumped on stage, butt naked, and our MIDI tech was also kind of naked; all he was wearing was shorts and steel toe-capped boots. I remember all I saw was him rugby tackling the naked guy – oh, and he had a teddy bear headpiece on, too, like a teddy bear hat, so that was pretty bizarre... Two near naked men writhing on the floor in front of me; you don’t see that every day at a Pendulum gig!” www.faithless.co.uk www.audio-technica.com

/ S A M S O N F O R P R E S I D E N T /

Martin Wahlgren, AKA Samson For President, is a musician who does almost everything himself.

He’s a singer, songwriter, producer, and collaborator; and, according to renowned Swedish radio journalist, Mats Nileskär, “an important part of the new Swedish soul wave”. Just a couple of months ago, Stockholm-based Wahlgren completed a new album, Sisyphus, which, he says, “portrays the struggle of just being a human being”.

Headliner catches up with him in the Swedish countryside to investigate further.

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A

ccording to Wahlgren, Samson For President’s musical inspiration dates back to his childhood, which is when he first realised that he was ‘a little different’ to the other kids.

“Gradually, I began to understand how I was wired differently, and I tried to use that to create a focused, productive tool, and not a weapon against myself. I sometimes feel a bit like a sad circus clown: much joy mixed with total darkness, like there’s a hollowness somewhere that gives life,” opens Wahlgren.

Immediately transfixed, I ask him about the name, Samson For President, where it came about, and what it represents. He starts to laugh.

“Well, we started as Samson, but it was election year that year in Stockholm, and the politicians were putting up posters, and taking all the space. There used to be a law whereby you could put up political posters, but not culture posters, and as a musician, I could only post in assigned areas. So we got upset about that, and we decided to make a political one, Samson For President, so they couldn’t say it’s not political. I mean, Sweden doesn’t even have a President [laughs] but it was technically a political poster. And we put it up everywhere and, well... it didn’t work!

But all these years later, I still kept the name.”

Wahlgren’s new album, Sisyphus, was released at the end of April, and the writing and recording process was largely undertaken just by himself.

“With this record, I wasn’t sure which direction to go, musically, so I wrote all these songs, and I would take them to my friend, Jonas Asker, and then we would get rid of most of them,” he smiles, admitting that it was a particularly clinical process. “It was tough, knocking 25 songs down to like, nine, and you need to believe in your songs, too, giving them a chance until the very end, but at some point you have to ask yourself if it actually is any good. It’s like a photographer friend of mine once told me: a good photographer will get maybe seven great pictures out of 100, and a normal person will get one or two out of 100, you know? It’s the same if you’re writing songs, and working as a musician.”

“It’s a struggle,” Wahlgren concedes, and begins to tell me about his “funny looking studio”, which is where the magic happens.

“I’ve done everything myself, the recording, mixing, producing – everything except the mastering and pressing of the vinyl, actually,” he explains. “It’s like a small wooden hut in the countryside, where everything is half-functioning, but some of the results we’ve got have been great.”

// MARTIN WAHLGREN //

“I SOMETIMES FEEL A BIT LIKE A SAD CIRCUS C LOW N : M U C H J OY M I X E D W I T H T O TA L DA R K N ESS.”

He’s not kidding. After listening to several of Wahlgren’s tracks, I realise he is a serious talent, and knows how to track his music.

I ask him to take me through some of his go-to kit.

“Firstly, I love my Genelec monitors. I have the 8040s, and when I was younger, I remember going to all the studios in Scandinavia, and everyone had Genelecs.

There was a real love for them; this is back in 2006,” he explains. “So I would then go to the stores, and ask what brand they recommended – and it would always be Genelec! I then found out that many Swedish and also international artists that I love had made great records on them, so I worked for a whole summer and then bought a set of the 8020s. I had them for a long time, really liked them, and it turns out the drummer I was playing with then started working with Genelec in Stockholm.

“So when I was making this new record, I told him I wanted to hear more bass, and he suggested the 8040s. Since I was already familiar with the sound and the feel of the brand, I got the bigger ones, and they’re just fantastic. I get that extra low end, audio clarity, and no fatigue. I think those speakers and my recently purchased bass guitar are the two best investments I’ve ever made, actually.”

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For recording vocals, Wahlgren opts for dynamic microphones, just in case his neighbours get a little noisy..!

“If you’re using dynamics, and not condensers, if they slam the door next door, and I’m using a dynamic mic, you don’t need to think so much about background noise,” he laughs. “In fact, I can put on a dishwasher load and still record a good session, so that helps a lot, too.”

The album is out on Spotify and iTunes, and is on sale in record stores in Holland and Sweden. Wahlgren has also just completed a short tour of both countries off the back of that. So what next?

“I hope to go back to Holland and then on to Germany,” he says. “And the plan for the future? Well, we also recorded a live record, which I would like to get out in the fall, but the longer term plan is to go even deeper into it; we’ve found a house that’s even more in the countryside, and me and Jonas and some other friends bought some good stuff: mics, a great piano – and the plan is to go into a really deep session at the end of September, and not come out until November! We’re gonna do the whole songwriting thing again, and dig deep into music.” www.samsonforpresident.com www.genelec.com

“THE GENELEC 8040S ARE JUST FA N TA S T I C ; I G E T MORE LOW END, C L A R I T Y, A N D N O FAT I G U E . ”

// ZAC BROWN BAND //

CHICKEN FRIED TO JEKYLL + HYDE

G

eorgia-born Zac Brown was given his first classical guitar lesson at the age of eight, but by the time he'd reached double figures, he'd realised bluegrass music was his thing. During his mid-teens, he took a years' worth of singing lessons, and soon started performing solo shows. By 19, he was on the road with a drummer and his dog (literally – the dog’s name was Pete), laying the foundation for what would become the [eight-piece] Zac Brown Band some nine years later. Today, Brown is touring his latest record, Jekyll + Hyde, which was released at the end of April this year. It follows a triple-platinum debut, and two further platinum records, not to mention the 10 number ones on the Billboard country charts.

It was in 2002 that Zac Brown put together his first Zac Brown Band, and a year later, he had formed his own label, Home Grown (now 50 HEADLINER

called Southern Ground for political reasons), from which he released his first independent record, Home Grown (2004), followed by Live from the Rock Bus Tour (2005), both of which shifted more than 30,000 copies. A very impressive start.

When Brown secured national distribution, things really started to heat up. The single Chicken Fried was downloaded more than one million times; and the album, The Foundation, sold a massive 300,000 copies within weeks of its release.

In 2004, Brown opened a music club and restaurant with his dad to serve gourmet Southern-style food. The Zac Brown Band played weekends, and Brown played solo every Tuesday night. When he wasn't in the kitchen, he was on the road with the band! Every year since, the band’s popularity has grown.

Skip to present day, and there's a new record deal and a new album. After making their Saturday Night Live debut in March, the Zac Brown Band released Jekyll + Hyde through Big

Machine Records in April, and are now touring it across the stadiums of North America, with a European date thrown in for good measure, and it's all all sounding (and looking) rather good indeed.

Provider for the tour of all things that make the stage look pretty is British lighting company, Okulus, who have opted to utilise a whole host of GLP X4 and X4S lighting fixtures. Okulus co-owner, James Scott, used X4 as the sole fixture on Passenger’s Whispers tour last year, and once again, it's playing a pivotal role.

“We were totally blown away by the variation in beams that could be produced from such a small unit,” says Scott, who designed and programmed the show with business partner, Louis Oliver. “We began specifying them on multiple designs, and now they're a key part of our inventory.”

Scott tells us about the 'theatre-esque' 60foot wrap-around gauze automation truss that totally closes off the stage. Sounds complicated,

// ZAC BROWN BAND //

“THE WHOLE STAGE IS BASED VERY MUCH ON WHAT THE BAND WANTED.”

but actually, it simplifies everything, he insists: “We needed a lightweight fixture that could be attached to the moving element of the gauze truss, but it had to have a central movement pivot. We couldn't risk any complications with the high speed winches that suspend the trough for the gauze.”

Enter X4. Scott has 32 heads – 20 of which are flown on the gauze truss, 12 in the lighting carts - which nicely backlight a very cool 15mm digiLED blow-through video screen. And these carts can multitask: they not only get the kit out of the way as the video wall opens and closes for entrances and exits, they are also used to bring on props and special effects.

Clever thinking.

“The X4 wins hands-down compared to most other small LED-driven fixtures,” Scott insists. “You can define very parallel beams, with zero ‘fluff ’ around the edges; and when you need to, you can really fatten them out into

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a very even field wash which, once you add in some of the internal macros for effects, and a little smoke or haze, can produce some really interesting effects.”

For Zac Brown Band, the X4 is mainly deployed as a tight beam, and in very bold focus positions. The straight down ‘caged’ look really works for the band, Scott tells us, and actually, the whole stage design is based very much on what the band wanted.

“We went big, and we went bold,” Scott concludes, with a smile. “And it has seemed to work!”

Zac and his band will continue their North American road trip until November, and will also drop in to London to play Wembley Arena on September 25. www.glp.de

“WE WERE TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY BY THE VARIATION IN BEAMS THAT COULD BE PRODUCED FROM SUCH A SMALL UNIT.”

SHOW REVIEW ERIC CLAPTON R O YA L A L B E R T H A L L , LONDON W O R D S | PAU L WATS O N

I

remember literally wearing out my cassette copy of The Cream of Eric Clapton a good couple of decades ago and some, along with several Betamax video recordings of old Slowhand doing his thing with Mark Knopfler and co. at the now legendary Nelson Mandela concert.

I also remember the first time I saw Eric in concert. It was the mid ‘90s, at the Royal Albert Hall, but sadly, I was watching from the gods. More disappointing still, it was during his From the Cradle period rather than Unplugged, the latter of which I was really into at the time. But, it was Clapton, and he was in the same room as me, a then 17-year-old guitarist whose band still desperately tried to replicate that long, laboured version of Wonderful Tonight, with limited success.

Skip forwards 20 years and I’m back again, and this time, it’s going to blow me away. What’s obvious about Clapton to even the least educated music fan is his extraordinary guitar playing, and that’s always a given, but what I realised during this performance was just how good this man’s voice is. From the opening syllables, he was dynamic, pitch perfect, and most of all, believable. And that’s no easy feat when you’re singing the blues.

His recent tribute to BB King on Twitter confirmed his love of that all-important musical genre, and the set inevitably began with a few blues classics, all of which were complemented by stonking guitar solos, and backed up by musicianship to die for, courtesy of an all-star backing band including Paul Carrack and Steve Gadd, and support act, former Amen Corner frontman, Andy Fairweather Low, who joined his long-time buddy on stage for the encore, armed with a custom black Les Paul.

Highlights for me, aside from the extremely entertaining chat I had with Clapton’s sound man of 26 years, Rob Collins, included Cocaine, Layla (albeit acoustic), a haunting rendition of the beautiful Tears in Heaven, a thumping version of Crossroads, and a tribute to Joe Cocker from Paul Carrack, who delivered a poignant version of the late, great artist’s melodic masterpiece, You Are So Beautiful.

“It’s all in the fingers,” Clapton has always insisted, when it comes to his tone. And I concur. All he had on that stage was a wah pedal and his amp. No special effects, no delays or harmonisers in sight, so ultimately, nothing to hide behind. This was Clapton at his purest, and his rawest, and that’s why he remains one of the most phenomenal artists of the last 50 years.

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GRUMPY OLD ROADIE M A K E H AY W H I L E T H E SUN SHINES

I

was talking to an old mate of mine recently. He’s not in our glamorous and overpaid business at all. He’s a postman. I do have friends outside of the entertainment industry, despite what you think of me, and they are indeed generally much duller than you lot. And even on this occasion, as the subject of solar panels came up, I instantly began to glaze over. But then I heard the word ‘free’, and my eyes opened. I listened to his story with great interest and have decided today, dear reader, to give you the step by step lowdown on how you too can get a totally free solar panel system with no strings attached.

So, solar panels. This is what I’ve learnt.

They come in 4KW systems (that’s 16 panels); they’re generally black; and they fit on your roof nice and neatly. The sun’s rays beat down on them, and the DC generated is cleverly converted to AC power and fed into the grid.

You don’t have to switch them on, wash them, paint them, or service them, because they’re on the roof, and it’d be a right pain in the arse!

They come with a 20-year guarantee anyway, and an insurance contract that covers you if your fitter goes bust. The Government currently offers incentives in the form of something they call a ‘Feed In Tariff ’. This is index linked for 20 years, but the incentive (FIT) is being reduced annually.

My mate’s system cost him £7,000, fully fitted, and he is very happy, but it hasn’t cost him a single penny yet. Here’s how.

He paid for the system in full on a credit card that at the time, paid a 1% cash back. He then

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opened another credit card account that had a zero interest period for 23 months with no balance transfer fee. All he did then was transfer the £7,000 from the first card to the second, picking up 1% cashback whilst doing so (that’s £70, if maths wasn’t your chosen subject). So at that stage, he’s £70 up on the deal, and is currently in an interest free period of 23 more months. In the few months that he’s had the panels, he’s generated £500 in tax free FIT payments, so in a year, £1,000 seems a reasonable figure to make.

At the end of the 23 months interest free period, he will have earned £2,000 in tax free payments. Also at this time, he plans to transfer the £7,000 credit card debt to another interest free card – there are loads about. He plans to keep this going for seven years, at the end of which he will have earned enough to pay for the system in full.

And he’ll still be £70 up on the deal, plus generating at the same rate for the foreseeable future which is guaranteed for 20 years by Her Majesty. And the FIT payments are all tax free! Did I already mention that anything he generates at his home, he can use free of charge as well, whilst all this skulduggery is going on?

Apparently, you get a little meter, and an app that shows you how much you’re making a day.

I’m gonna sign up to this because I think it’s a good idea. And it’s green, which means it’s good. What a salesman I’d make. I should be on commission!

- ROBERT THE ROADIE

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