Manson's Golden Age
Publié en Février 2004
By Tim Maffeihttp://www.uemedia.net
Jan 28, 2004, 10:46
Whether he inspires love, hate or indifference, few can argue that Marilyn Manson has carved himself a niche in modern music. Making a career out of intense imagery and a loud hybrid of sleazy rock and industrial music, Manson has been visible in the mainstream now for almost 10 years. Backing his sixth major release, The Golden Age of Grotesque, Manson is currently on the road, prowling the country through January with the Grotesk Burlesk Tour. No one will accuse the shock rocker of false advertising, as the evening's festivities come complete with half-nude, faux 1930s German vaudeville dancers and a violent stage act that would make your mom cringe.
Front-of-house engineer Tom Abraham isn't concerned so much with what the audience sees as what it hears, however, and it's his job to make sure that the crowds don't miss a thing. "My general motif is I like it to be crushingly loud," said Abraham, "but I like it so it doesn't hurt. It's seemingly loud; there is a lot of pressure, but it doesn't hurt your ears."
Providing that sonic pressure is a Nexo Geo T PA system provided by Thunder Audio/Thunder Production Group (Taylor, MI), with a total of 12 Geo Ts and eight Alpha S2 subs per side, powered by the standard Camco digital amps that come with the Nexo Alpha system.
Although the system is physically very small, taking up only 18 feet of truck space, it is powerful nonetheless. "There are still tons of headroom on the Geo part of the system," he noted. "The show's loudness is dictated by how loud I am running the sub, because the Geo part of it has more room to go."
Estimating that his mix hits 106 dB A-weighted during the show, Abraham works had to keep things under control. "You've got to make sure it stays very smooth," he said. "Otherwise, at that volume, it will really start to hurt, and I don't want that because I have to stand out there more than anybody else. Generally speaking, I tend to keep the high mids very under control, and keep the midrange really fat and warm. Then I add a lot of sub, and a lot of air on the high end, way above 8K. It tends to make it easier sounding on your ears."
All that mixing is done on a DiGiCo D5 digital console, which he was enthused about: "It's a great desk; I'm never going back. I've used the other ones [digital desks], but I wasn't too happy with them." Monitor engineer Clay Hutson is also using a D5; both engineers use the desks' onboard effects, and Hutson also has an Eventide Eclipse on hand.
Abraham has found that a digital desk is a virtual necessity for a complex show like Manson's, noting, "There's so much stuff that happens. You have to know what to do with it during the course of the song; sometimes it's hard to find space for everything. The band is really good, all of the sounds are very big, and there are other sounds that go with that, so sometimes it's hard to get everything apart."
On the mic front, the drum kit is captured with a combination of Audio-Technica and Audix mics. Abraham stated, "The reasons I chose those drum mics is because they are durable, dynamic mics. You don't really want phantom power around the drum kit, because of the water and other things that get thrown around. The little clip-ons are kind of delicate, so I picked dynamic mics that are really heavy-duty with a metal casing."
Manson himself is picked up via an Audix OM5 on a Samson UHF5 wireless. "The OM5 has a real tight pattern, and rejects quite a bit, and it's got enough cut so I get the vocal out front," said Abraham. "It's not the best sounding mic in the world, but it does the job in a really hostile environment. We go through about seven mics a show, because of what is going on onstage. They only last about three or four songs before you have to change them out."
Fortunately, Manson and company have actually lowered the number of mics they break in a given show. "You can't put any mics on that stage; they'll just get destroyed," Abraham noted. Aside from the drums and Manson's vocal mic, everything else is DI, so while the guitar cabinets are live on stage, the lines come through a Palmer speaker simulator to the board.
At the side of the stage, Hutson mixes for a combination of wedges and personal monitor systems. Both Manson and drummer Ginger Fish are using Ultimate Ears UE7 earbuds and Shure PSM700s. Hutson explained, "We preferred the PSM600s because they sound better to us, but the 700s have better frequency agility, which is a necessity these days." Backing them up are 16 Nexo wedges on stage as well, plus side fills.
"I give them just a good, solid, rock 'n' roll mix," said Hutson. "With Manson, there's a little bit more magic involved. In the ear, I use what is called a Waves L2 Ultramaximizer, which are used these days to finalize records. It allows you to push the 700s to the edge without overdoing it. He doesn't need it that loud, but it is. It's brutal out there. There's no finessing anything with him."
Indeed, there's little finessing of much anything on the Grotesk Burlesk Tour, but the production has been a success, running smoothly and consistently night after night, although it'd be hard to qualify it all as mere "business as usual." Looking up at the stage where mayhem would be breaking free in just a few hours, Abraham mused, "I don't think you could say anything is 'normal' about this, but maybe my standard of 'normal' has been changed."
Thunder Audio/Thunder Production Group
www.thundaudioinc.com
Les plus récents
Friends & Partners
