Katy Perry's Unrestrained World

BEAR WITNESS TO KATY PERRY’S UNRESTRAINED WORLD

The summer of 2018 has seen some of the world’s biggest acts visit the UK’s stadiums, arenas and festivals, but none have gone quite as big on the weird and wacky side of technical production as California’s own Katy Perry. TPi’s Ste Durham was at Manchester Arena to meet the 100-strong crew behind this huge undertaking

In a corner of the market that has been guilty of taking itself too seriously in recent years (with varying levels of both authenticity and success), pop superstar Katy Perry seems to be one of the few artists striving to deliver a truly over-the-top live event. Restraint is apparently a dirty word in the camp and, as a result, audiences are invited to experience a concert in which each and every song is like a one-off awards show performance.

“We’ve gone from 4 trucks on the first tour to 30 trucks now, and her scope and vision has grown a great deal in that time as well,” began Production Manager, Jay Schmit. “She’s involved from the very initial concept and message; leading the charge before allowing the creative team

to elaborate her ideas and tell the story practically.”

In order to attain the consistently high standard for which Perry’s live shows are now well-known, Schmit relied on tried and trusted vendor relationships - along with a few notable additions.

Schmit commented: “There’s very little on a Katy Perry tour that’s ‘cookie cutter’ dry hire, and the show is always evolving, so vendors need to be able to adapt and overcome to help us bring her vision to life.” He continued: “Clair Global have been our audio supplier for a long time, and we always have Upstaging for lighting, but we went with a new company for video this time around - Real Deal Touring - who were very determined in coming on board and helping us out. They’ve been flawless

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actually.

Although special effects supplier Pyrotek has a long history with Schmit, this was the company’s first foray into the unique demands of a Katy Perry production. “They’ve done an outstanding job, as have all of the prop companies,” the PM confirmed. “While most prop shops would be happy to make a 20ft tall basketball hoop or an 8ft pair of golden dice, actually making this stuff roadworthy is the biggest trick. You have to have vendors that understand where Katy is coming from creatively, as well as realising that the props have to travel extensively and be sturdy enough to have dancers and Katy interacting with them.

“ShowFX and DAS Design Works have both been big helps throughout the tour; not to mention other promos and one-offs. These guys can really turn them out quick! Flix FX and Backline Fabrication also supplied props, and both knocked it out of the park.” Airworks and Landmark Creations supplied the inflatable pieces that completed the extensive array of props, while TAIT provided set and numerous automation elements and Five Points Production Services handles rigging duties.

Despite this enviable roster of fabricators, Perry’s limitless imagination keeps Schmit and his team on their toes: “It’s always an incredible fear - what’s next?” he laughed. “Every time you think we’ve plateaued, you think ‘how much bigger and kookier can it get?’ It turns out that those aren’t good questions to ask yourself in this camp because Katy will come up with answers and you’re not gonna like them!

“In all seriousness, she - along with Es Devlin, Baz Halpin and the Squared Division guys - continues to raise the bar every time. It’s a team effort. Once they’ve conjured up these ideas, we have to figure out any practical limitations

there might be. It’s great, wonderful, exciting stuff; but there are only 12 inches in a foot and 24 hours in a day. It takes the whole team to push those limits, and in this team everyone steps up and takes ownership. There’s a gratitude that’s easy to see - we’re all grateful to have the opportunity and ability to do this. Our team amazes me every day.”

Further industry stalwarts provided the backbone to this mammoth touring unit, including Silent Partners for video content, Sound Moves for freighting, Transam for trucking, Eat Your Hearts Out for tour catering, Road Radios, SOS for logistical support, and Beat The Street for bussing.

To conclude, Schmit heaped further praise on his hard-working crew: “It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a community to put on a show like this. I couldn’t do this without my right hand, Kim Hilton, and the same goes for our Stage Manager, Alan Doyle, and Chelsea Skals. No one is more important than anyone else, and everybody has a job to do.”

LIGHTING Renowned LD Baz Halpin was asked to design a lighting rig to complement the original stage and set devised by Es Devlin, under the creative direction of Antony Ginandjar and Ashley Evans, otherwise known as The Squared Division. Lighting and Screens Director, Drew Gnagey, was chosen to operate the show, having programmed it with Eric Marchwinski during rehearsals.

Gnagy explained: “Baz is in LA currently so I am here to make sure we’re up to snuff every day and everything is running smoothly. The core of the rig is made up of a couple of paintbrushes; we have 3 arch trusses that are flown above the fascia and video wall split in the middle, the upstage 2 of which are lined with Claypaky Scenius Unicos. The downstage most arch is lined wuth

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Scenius Spots for those big, bold statements. “Another paintbrush is the 78 TMB Solaris Flare Q+ LRs in the fascia, which are super bright and allow us to do a lot of fun stuff with programming and a couple with bitmap effects in the disguise media servers. We also have Chroma-Q Colour Force II 48’s and 72 lining the front edge of the stage, the thrust, and the B-stage, and some GLP impression X4 Bar 20’s on the floor. The bi-part video wall opens and closes to reveal a circle truss behind it, loaded with 24 Claypaky Mythos 2’s, and a torm wall behind that with over 100 GLP X4’s.”

Gnagy said: “The Scenius Unicos and Flare LRs are the brightest fixtures of their type I’ve ever seen - I can’t say enough great things about them. We do a lot of aggressive programming where everything is master-planned, so it’s nice to have fixtures you can rely on to handle what we’re slamming out of the console.”

The tour also made use of RC4 Wireless’ new RC4Magic Series 3 SX software, which controlled the LEDs in Perry’s props and some of her costumes with 19-bit per colour wireless dimming. In particular, an RC4Magic S3 2.4SX DMXio-HG transceiver and an RC4 S3 2.4SX DMX4dim was used to illuminate the massive inflatable lion head fabricated by Landmark Creations that dominates the stage for the song, Roar.

According to the manufacturer, ease of use is one of the hallmarks of the RC4 Wireless system, where all of the products work in a similar manner known as ‘Harmonized Design’.

“The beauty of the RC4 Harmonized Design is that new concepts, techniques, and methods introduced for one product or project can seamlessly transfer to all our other products. Thus, overcoming the 16-bit barrier and delivering 19-bit per colour LED dimming in our DMX4dim results in higher resolution dimming in our LumenDim and W-DIM lines as well. The same is true when new dimmer curves and other features are added. Everything advances together, is debugged and tested together, and is released together,” said James David Smith, President and Chief Developer

at RC4 Wireless.

“The RC4 equipment has been working flawlessly; technically, there have been no issues at all. The learning curve with the RC4 equipment was pretty seamless and it all made sense to us,” said Lighting Crew Chief, Thomas Walls.

The crew spent 7 weeks in rehearsals at Pennsylvania’s Rock Lititz campus, which allowed them the time to integrate elements of the show, such as lighting, automation and video, and control it all from the MA Lighting grandMA2 manned by Gnagy at FOH. He explained: “We definitely took the MA2 to the next level on this one. We fully use and integrate the XYZ positioning system within the console, which makes it extremely efficient. We get a lot of information from the TAIT guys in the automation department - they send us ArtNet triggers so we can see what’s moving and when, which ensures that all of the spotlight cues are hit perfectly.

“We also use a lot of position-based focus information in regards to Katy, the props and the dancers, as they’re all over the stage constantly during the show. Everything was recorded with XYZ values vs. pan / tilt values, and we calibrate the rig every day to make sure it’s correct. No matter where truss hangs and where the stage ends up in the venue, we can be sure the lighting focuses are in the same place every night.”

He continued: “This integration allows us very tight control of all the PSN (PosiStageNet) stuff we’re doing. Overall, it’s a great system for us and has been rock solid since day one.”

Walls gave further detail: “There’s one fibre line for 4 networks and we use managed switches to control everything. The whole show is timecoded, and I have 8 lighting guys on headsets in the rare case that something happens.

Despite the synergy created by this holistic approach to the show’s visuals - more on this later - Gnagy’s mixed duties also meant that he had to be on top for to keep every aspect as consistent as possible from city to city. He said: “There’s a lot of moving parts on a show this size, so you have

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to be keenly aware of where you fit in the machine. My integration with the media servers has to be seamless, so I’m programming at FOH, getting stuff down the fibre to them, making sure content plays correctly and the IMAG looks great. Omar is a fantastic director - we have a lot of interaction and I love working with him. I have a channel to intercom to video world behind the stage all times, so I’m in constant contact with Video Director, Omar, and Danny Perdue, who is the Server Tech and Engineer for show.”

VIDEO The centrepiece of the show design was a gigantic LED eye, which stretched 44ft from edge to edge, made entirely from ROE Visual MC-7H 7.5mm and housed in frames by Acass Systems USA. The bi-part video wall mentioned by Gnagy previously was the eye’s iris, and served as a portal for props, lighting reveals and the artist herself at the top of the show (she arrived via custom fabricated flying machine, of course). Obligatory arena-sized IMAG came from 2 Barco FLM R20+ per side, while the show’s live content was captured by a combination of 6 manned Sony cameras, 3 Panasonic robocams and a static drum cam.

Video Director, Omar Montes Rangel - who took the reins from Video Creative Director, Gabriel Coutu Dumont, explained: “We have 2 disguise gx 2 media servers to drive what is essentially 4 different screens. The eye is 5440 active pixels wide by 1570 high, and we are pushing a lot of information through it. Even though we’re sending a full 1920x1080 master to each wall, everything is done in quadrants. It’s split down the middle and we have Tessera S4 processors from Brompton Technology to control the walls. Nothing is being stretched, as the A and B show is essentially the same, it’s just width of eye changes by 12ft and the height changes a little. We always know ahead of time so we can adapt pretty easily.”

The crew ran a pair of Ross Video Carbonite Black 3MEs, one for the IMAG and one for the LED wall. Montes Rangel continued: “It’s a spectacle on stage so I try to get perspective and capture all of her interactions, all of her flying moments and so on. It’s a fast cut show, though it does slow it down a bit in the middle. There’s lots of angles and switching from left to right to the beat. I cut it depending on what’s on stage, but the certain spots that I have to hit consistently are usually the ones I get from camera 1 at FOH. If I miss one of the props or some of the action I’ll always try and catch it from a different angle next time around.

“I knew what I was coming into and how crazy the show was but everything fell into place during rehearsals. The show is broken into 5 sections, each with a corresponding colour palette. It takes you on a journey for sure!

“We have alternate pieces of content for certain songs that we can drop in, and our video engineer Danny is also a media server programmer so he can do so on the fly if necessary. He monitors and controls the content while Drew runs it from FOH.”

Montes Rangel echoed Walls and Gnagy’s sentiments regarding the level of co-operation between all of the departments on the Witness tour: “It’s one of the most networked gigs I’ve ever been on. We have a 10GB router from here to FOH, and there’s so much information circulating via fibre from Drew to video, lighting, automation and underworld, as well as a full security camera system under stage. This means the Stage Manager Alan can see what’s happening everywhere and stay on top of all these cues.”

Perdue gave more detail: “Everything was dialled in during rehearsals but now that we’re physically changing things from show to show, it all has to be recalibrated on the spot. It’s just a daily check we do now. The level of networking is so useful because it means we can go out to FOH and work on something without any headaches.

“It’s something that takes a little more planning but we have a Google sheet with the IP address of every piece of kit on it, as well as VLANs separating automation traffic from the system gear traffic and the ArtNet. Everything is separated.

“We had some of the disguise guys come out to help us set it up, which has put us in a good spot. If we haven’t sectioned everything off it would be such a mess!”

Perdue cited the song Roar as a prime example of the network’s strength, wherein the Solaris Flares in the fascia are pixel mapped from the disguise servers, allowing the video department to drive the lights.

So are we finally seeing the fabled integration between departments that has been promised for so many years? “I think so,” said Montes Rangel. “It’s slowly happening, and a lot of the bigger tours are getting into the groove of having an IT guy out with them. We did a lot of the groundwork in rehearsals so it wasn’t necessary to have one on this tour, and if anything needs to change you can just reference the Google sheet. And it’s not just visuals - everything is working together to create what you see on stage.“

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AUTOMATION A major part of the action on the Witness tour is thanks to an extensive amount of automation; taken care of in this case by TAIT. Automation Operator, Shaun Quinn - 1 of a 4-man team - talked TPi through some of the key factors.

“This show has 28 axes of motion,” he began. “That’s not a lot for some shows but we still have 8 matrix lifts, the bi-part video wall, and a huge fly track that is based on 2 trolleys that move 200ft up and down stage on a curved truss. We fly performers, props and Katy herself throughout the show. We also have 8 inflatable planets in the ceiling that descent from their sheaths and and illuminate at one point.”

He continued: “In this show there’s always something moving, whether that’s props, lifts or flying performers. In 2-hour show there’s close to 300 cues, which again is not a crazy amount, but there’s literally one song where I can relax for 2 mins.”

Quinn assisted in the TAIT Navigator programming required the show and, while there’s nothing unprecedented in terms of the moves themselves, the amount of integration does increase the show’s complexity. “We send our position and velocity data to video and lighting so they can track their

equipment. There’s also an upstage hydraulic lift used for loading and unloading scenery that is manually controlled by other stagehands and a downstage zipper lift in the B-stage run using a joystick by someone underneath the stage. This is purely due to the fact that some things need to be spotted in person to ensure we are as safe as possible.”

Given that Perry flies at 5 different times during the show, on a combination of props and hand loops, safety and redundancy is of the utmost concern; as Head of Automation Patrick Leonard - who has flown the artist for almost 10 years - explained: “Any performer flying has element of risk, obviously, but flying the artist is even riskier. In other words, if something gets stuck or goes wrong, you can leave a piece of scenery in the air, but you cannot leave a human being there - particularly as she’s the whole show!”

He continued: “We’re moving from start to finish. It is a lot more work but the entire crew knows the routine instinctively now and no one has the show off. If the carps aren’t on stage they are packing prop trucks. If that didn’t happen we’d have blockages and hours added on to load-out. We’ve got 4 or 5 trucks gone already by end of show. Our Stage Manager Alan Doyle is the master of logistics - it’s very impressive.”

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Above: Perry’s selection of customised Sennheiser modules; Head of Automation Patrick Leonard; Special Effects Shooter, Simon Brierley.

So, in the land where anything goes, has Leonard ever had to say no the to Perry’s limitless imagination? “There was discussion of some more hand loop stuff but we put the kibosh on that because as soon as you have people flying over audience to that extent it becomes impractical and not as safe. Instead we bring her out about 12ft over audience’s head on the planet piece, before she winds up about 42ft off the deck. It then just camelbacks down the track.”

Leonard concluded: “I’ve got a great crew of 4 guys, who also help out with power - I do the advance for transformer rentals and stuff - and the whole crew is very production-based and not departmentalised at all.

Everyone has his or her jobs but we’re here first and foremost to help put on a good show. At the end of 20-hour day you’ve got to get on a bus with these people and either forget about the day or talk about the important things. The fact that we can still have a laugh and beer while we’re doing that, even after all this time, is testament to how great this group of people is.”

SFX & SM Special Effects Shooter, Simon Brierley, had a team of 3 with him on site to ensure that the creatives could reinforce their eye-popping show design with a good amount of pyrotechnic muscle. He talked through his setup:

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Above: FOH Engineer, Toby Francis, and System Tech, Paul Eric Jump; Media Server Tech, Danny Perdue, and Video Director, Omar Montes Rangel; Head Rigger, Chuck Melton; Automation Operator, Shaun Quinn; Lighting Crew Chief, Thomas Walls, and Lighting and Screens Director, Drew Gnagy.

“We’ve got 4 smoke machines underneath the stage that pop up for 5 or 6 songs, and during the opening when Katy emerges from the bi-part wall I have 12 Co2 jets located in the massive circle truss at upstage centre to create a vortex.

“There’s also 12 confetti cannons on the automation fly track that are used during Swish Swish, and 4 ground level confetti blowers that are used 3 times during the night. We have close to 300 pieces of pyro for Firework - including comets, gerbs, and mines - all of which goes off in the space of a minute and a half!”

After Perry’s big entrance song, Brierley had the idea to keep the intensity high by adding pyro to the second song in the set – a notion welcomed by Schmit and the creative team. He explained: “I went to Jay during a break in South America as I had something to get off my chest. I expected nothing in response really, but I ended up getting a call from Ashley & Antony. They asked me about my idea, which was to add a smaller pyro board on the B-stage for Roulette that comes out of nowhere. We tried it one night and it’s been there ever since.”

Brierley added: “She’d never done special effects on that song before, so it feels great that it was my idea that’s given us something new at top of the show. Obviously the Firework cue has always been there but Jay is good at letting me tweak things to make them look better. I stick to the score or the cues, I just change colours and combinations from time to time. I really just wanted to get it off my chest and I was shocked when it went past Jay, now it’s a staple!”

While safety is always a primary concern for crewmembers in Brierley’s position, the sheer volume of movement in this show prompted him to make additional considerations. “It’s always safety first with me, but it helps that the artist, band and dancers are great. For Firework, the pyro boards are mid to downstage, while Katy’s on the B-stage, there are no dancers and the band stay well upstage. There is a little bit of extra stuff above band, but it looks a lot closer than it actually is. Roulette could be an issue due to the crowd but, again, it’s more of an illusion of proximity and the surprise factor. I sometimes hit beams at lower trim heights but it’s not been a problem,

and I try my best to miss the inflatables!”

Even with a large proportion of the crew singing his praises, Stage Manager Alan Doyle was proving to be Manchester’s most elusive man. That was, until TPi cornered him in the production office 15 minutes before show time… “You found me,” he laughed with amiable resignation.

As is often the case with crewmembers as enigmatic as Doyle, he was a key component in the Katy Perry touring machine. He began: “There’s a core of us that have been together for a while - Chuck [Melton, Head Rigger] and myself have worked together since 1996. We’ve had to train a bunch of lads for this tour, kind of bring them round to our way of doing things. For a pop show of this size, teamwork is essential, and everyone needs to have each other’s back.

“I never have to worry about any department. The automation team is unbelievable; they’re so calm and content that Katy never even notices if there are any problems. The carps get their arses kicked every day with the props, but it’s a Katy Perry tour so they now what’s up. We had to beat into them what she wants - and that’s perfection.

He continued: “These guys are going 100% on a daily basis. Nobody stands still. We always get the old ‘did you bring enough shit?’ from local crew when we turn up but when they see it, it makes sense.”

As Doyle calls the show, it is up to Duncan Kaye to take care of the prop load-out of the first 4 trucks during show. “Without him I’d be lost,” Doyle said. “We ran through the show 20 or 30 times before we even went out on tour, so the rhythm was already kind of established. Catering and props loading out during the show helps a bunch, and then it’s balls to the wall for 2.5 hours. Sometimes it’s a case of keeping the local crews’ attention. It’s a show in itself to see all the props moving around backstage!”

AUDIO The main hangs at Manchester Arena consisted of 16 Clair CO-12’s per side as the main hangs, with boxes of i3 on the sides and 3 CP-218 subs flown per side in cardioid mode. There were 6 additional CP-218’s in the centre, also in cardioid, on the ground and 2 more on the side for fill. Front fills were

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stowed underneath the lip of the main stage, while the dancers relied on Clair 12AM wedges for on-stage monitoring.

Paul Eric Jump, System Engineer and Clair Crew Chief, said: “There’s no real secrets to how we set up the system; just considerations that we have to make due to the fact that she’s probably out in front of the PA for 80% of the show. The top 4 boxes of the main are at 80 degrees and the other 12 are at 120 degrees, which splatters stage and thrust. She’s such a strong singer that it doesn’t really affect her. Even when she does the ‘planet’ fly gag - and she’s literally 20ft in front of the PA while talking - we still don’t have any feedback issues.”

He continued: “Time alignment is main thing and there’s no real EQing, it just sings. We’ve built EASE Focus files to represent most of the world’s main arenas, but if it looks off we can verify distances and heights. Any discrepancies can be sent back so they can be updated, which means we can do a tour in advance rather than measuring rooms every day.”

Given the size and scale of the production, wiggle room was in short supply for the audio crew, as Jump explained: “Everything has its place and can’t move, not even a few feet. We have the planet balloons in between the main hangs besides all the video, lights and automation.”

Chuck Melton, Head Rigger, was in concurrence as he talked through the rig: “It’s certainly quite congested up there, but the fact that there’s no play almost makes things easier - you hit it dead on, or you don’t. We’ve got 120 points altogether, 22 of which are on 2-tonne Chainmaster hoists and 98 are on the 1-tonnes, with the entire rig weighing 120,000lbs in total. We’ve never had to switch to the B-Show for weight reasons; that’s dictated by the width and trim of some venues.”

With the audio-centric chat well underway, we were joined at FOH by renowned audio engineer Toby Francis; who was keen to begin by discussing his new weapon of choice - the Yamaha RIVAGE PM10. “I’ve used the same series of desks for the last 10 years - which I still love - and I’ve always been comfortable on other brands as well. If anything, I kind of skipped over this range,” he said.

“I ended up trying it, and I have to say that this is a phenomenal console. I love the sound of it and the Silk feature on preamp is pretty extraordinary. I don’t always like plugin packs but all native options on here are amazing. “We did a surprise show within a week on it (I could have done it within 2 hours really) and the MD had already noticed a huge difference in the first rehearsal with it. The lesson is not to prejudge. In the world of audio, the

pieces are constantly moving, key people and tech are both being shared, and advances have been huge across the board.”

Francis continued: “I output stems from the digital console and use the automation on it to make changes within those stems. I sum it in a Rupert Neve 5059 Satellite summing mixer and master each stem at that insert point, before outputting that together through a stereo band bus, that I drive in a certain way. I then stereo everything, which puts the band bus and the vocals together. This method ensures that the music is wrapped around the vocals, much like on the studio tracks.”

Rupert Neve’s involvement with the PM10 was a major factor in enticing Francis to give the console a go; a decision that has already benefitted the veteran engineer on this run: “It’s classic Neve, it’s brilliant. I hardly have any EQ on my inputs - I drive the preamps really hard because I’m summing elsewhere. There’s a 1073 model in there that I put on a lot of the inputs and I drive it pretty hard. That and the Silk combined give you an uncanny analogue quality. A lot of the inputs are virtual - the guitars are Fractals, the keys are computers, the bass is DI - but this desk allows you to give life to things that don’t have it.”

Everything comes to Francis at FOH in both digital and analogue forms, allowing him to make the choice on which to use through the PA. “I take mostly analogue because I think it sounds better,” he explained. “We create a MADI digital path as well as the analogue one for basically everything. We’re already planning the next tour this way, now that I’ve seen the advantages.”

Francis’ kudos extended to the system: “It’s a very responsive PA. There’s a lot of definition, which is essential for us, and the mids are so phase-correct. I don’t like this PA because I work for Clair; I work for Clair because I like their PAs,” he laughed. “We used to use twice as many subs to get the same level of low end as we do here, plus we get that added punch. They want the audio to be as big and impressive as the visuals.”

Jump previously alluded to Perry spending a large portion of the show in front of the PA - an obstacle that Francis and his PM10 were more than capable of overcoming. He explained: “For a start, both Katy and her 2 backing vocalists are phenomenal singers with great mic technique, so that helps, and this console helps me deal with the rest. I’ve got a full wide dynamic EQ on all of the vocal mics, where the thresholds tighten and loosen according to where Katy is on stage, snapshot-to-snapshot. I update that as we go.

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Above: Stage Manager, Alan Doyle; Production Manager, Jay Schmit; Monitor Engineer, David ‘Super Dave’ Rupsch.

“Other than that, the Sennheiser 5235 is the perfect mic for getting a good sound from a singer who is firing all night. I use to think those things were fragile,” he chuckled. “She throws the mics all over the place and she even has a bit with one of the dancers where they both kick it around! Everyone’s in on it now!

“I’ve used that mic it since I started mixing artists that came out in front of the PA and it’s amazing. The minute she’s in the PA pattern you can hear a difference; she’s a little less present because the entire mix is hitting her at the same level. I go up on stage during soundcheck when the music is blasting out and I can’t believe we make it work. She has one ear out when she comes off the stage and that’s really helpful for her.”

Another factor that has influenced Francis’ mixing technique in recent years has been the seemingly relentless proliferation of what was once called ‘bootleg’ concert footage. “Both Katy and Ariana [Grande, another Francis artist] are huge on social media and YouTube, and have expressed that the show has to sound good on and through a phone,” he said.

“Literally millions of people are going to see and hear the show in that way every week during a tour. The latest phones represent sound very well and any FOH engineer who doesn’t factor that in is making a huge mistake. “Every 2 or 3 shows I check and see what’s on there… because the artists do too. The sound engineer’s role is becoming even more crucial, and PAs are more revealing now - it helps to promote talent but it can also show any imperfections in the chain.”

While Francis was one of the few that had no secondary jobs on the tour,

it didn’t mean that he got off easy: “The Clair guys do a lot of the carpentry stuff during the show and Paul fires confetti for 3 songs,” he then paused and gestured to his colleague, “you can usually complain to your system engineer about being covered in confetti but now he’s the one burying me in it!”

Monitor Engineer, David ‘Super Dave’ Rupsch, has looked after Perry’s personal mix on and off for the past 9 years,

“I think of this as being more of a stage show environment than a musical performance environment,” he began. “It’s tightly choreographed and there are a lot of audio cues, wardrobe-specific mics and so on. I use a lot of snapshots, but with that I have to maintain fluidity so, if it goes off script, we can easily conform the mix. You have to be prepared for new things, even in the middle of a show. Communication is so important and we have a great team here.”

Wireless monitoring on stage came from a Shure PSM1000 system, with 16 channels for the 8 musicians, crew, guest vocalists, wardrobe, handlers, and Perry herself, who opted for Jerry Harvey Audio Ambient FR moulds. The on-stage backing vocalists chose JH10’s, while the instrumentalists used JH13’s, and the drummer opted for Roxannes.

Rupsch favoured a DiGiCo SD7 at his position underneath the sprawling stage structure, as he explained: “I’ve always liked sound of DiGiCo, and the SD7 in particular is great for monitors. I wanted to maintain comfortable fluidity and consistency. We start every tour from scratch, as there can be musician or arrangement changes from tour to tour. Reverbs and so

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on can stay the same but there can be new playback, key patches, new instruments and players etc. Thankfully, we rehearse extensively and go to a lot of trouble to balance every component meticulously.”

He continued: “I’ve programmed certain ‘locked-in’ things to timecode that cover me if I’m involved in mic swaps or other problems that drag me away from the console. Even so, I can still grab hold of the faders and massage the mix to fit the room.”

According to Rupsch, Perry favours a full mix, even opting not to sing in initial rehearsals in order to ensure her reference is as perfected as every other aspect of the show. The engineer explained: “There’s not a huge amount of detail from her initially, so we just make it sound good for her and if there’s something she does or doesn’t like, she’ll let you know. I ride her vocals throughout the show as the dynamics change, using a combination of short and long delays and some reverb coming in and out through the show for long notes or tightening up for a mouthy reflective reverb. You hit on different things that work for her over time.”

He continued: “I think a monitor engineer should help direct the feeling for the performers on stage, not just push the audio up or down. I have a camera feed of Katy throughout the show to monitor any mic drops or malfunctions that I wouldn’t catch without seeing them. We have such a great understanding now that I know what’s wrong if I see her messing with her IEMs or making a slight gesture that no one else would even notice.

“The amount of rehearsal helps a lot; it almost becomes autopilot and you can start to be proactive. I almost get upset when I get requests because I feel like I should have caught it already!”

Rupsch elaborated on Francis’ comments about the Sennheiser mics, also noting how well they stood up to the artist’s less-than-delicate onstage handling: “The company approached me at the start of my time with her and we discovered that they are modular so we can take them apart,” he said. “I can send them around to add colour or artwork that corresponds to her costumes. In the meantime I have different components from all the

ones she’s used, about 40 in total.

“They’ve always had pretty rough treatment, being thrown down and so on, but now it’s straight up turned into abuse! You’ve got to give the German engineering some credit; they’re absolutely solid, especially for a mic that has such incredible sound and characteristics. We can say with great certainty that they are very durable!”

The last words went to Francis: “These guys want to make miracles happen, and that’s part of what makes her Katy Perry - she does things you don’t necessarily think are possible. And she does it with style and flair, not to mention she’s an awesome boss. She could not have been nicer and more professional. She knows everyone’s names, and what everyone does. She wants everything to be of the highest quality, including gear and crew. Even the lowest guy on the crew will sing her praises.”

After completing the European leg of the tour, Witness ventured to Africa and Oceania, before coming to a close in Auckland, New Zealand, on 21 August 2018. TPi Photos: Andrew Benge www.katyperry.com www.thesquareddivision.com www.esdevlin.com www.silent-house.com www.clairglobal.com www.rdtouring.com www.dasdesignworks.com www.flixfx.com www.backlinefab.com www.fivepointsproductionservices.com www.airworksinflatables.com www.landmarkcreations.com www.sostouring.com

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