IN THE FIELD
IN THE FIELD: ALLEN & HEATH Keeping pace with British singer-songwriter, Lewis Capaldi’s FOH Engineer Andrew Bush takes some time out from his busy touring schedule to discuss his current Allen & Heath control package.
In a very short space of time, Lewis Capaldi has made the seismic leap from academies to arenas on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite this intimidating upward trajectory, the young Scottish singer-songwriter has retained many of the same core crew over the past year who have had to adapt to this new level of touring. Handling the singer’s FOH mix is Andrew Bush, who spoke to TPi about how he adapted to the demands of his employer’s success and the Allen & Heath desks that have been with him throughout the journey. “Lewis’ Tour Manager, Scott Smyth, contacted me in summer 2018 to ask if I could join as FOH Engineer for a few UK festivals,” recalled Bush. “My first run with Lewis started at Customs House Square in Belfast, followed by Reading and Leeds Festivals. We did a few more festival weekends in September and October 2018 and thankfully I was asked back for the sixweek Europe tour that ran throughout to the end of the year. I’ve been part of the crew ever since.”
With a busy 2019 schedule already taking shape, back in April, Bush and the rest of the production began pulling together a control package that would be able to deal with the fluctuating venue sizes that lay ahead of them. The result was an Allen & Heath package care of Glasgow audio company, FE Live. The new Allen & Heath setup marked a new chapter in Bush’s mixing career. “I hadn’t toured with Allen & Heath prior to April,” he revealed. “The decision to go down the dLive route came off the back of all the good things we’d heard about the audio quality. We also knew the desks and racks were easily interchangeable without any software or compatibility issues. We had a huge run of festivals over the summer and, for consistency for Lewis, band and crew, we wanted to use the same desks at every show, regardless of where we were.” Due to the size and weight, Bush and the team originally opted for the dLive C1500 for both FOH and Monitor Engineer Chris Smart’s surface, with both engineers sharing a DM48 stage rack. The advantage of this, as Bush 72
