It was a true British invasion of audio equipment when Las Vegas, NV-based group The Killers recently toured North America, with primary sound reinforcement equipment coming from Martin Audio and DiGiCo.
Delicate Productions of Camarillo, CA provided equipment for the U.S. leg of the tour, also working with British sound company Capital Sound, a partnership that sees both companies working together on two continents.
Alan Behr, Audio Crew Chief and Delicate Productions employee, explains, “We have a very similar inventory. In the past, a lot of the acts that enjoy this level of production over in Europe would come over to the US and find very similar attitudes and compatible people with Delicate. We work a lot of shows the same ways. It’s a great relationship to have – hopefully we can do a lot more work with them.”
Behr managed a crew of audio personnel that included Front of House Engineer James Gebhard, Monitor Engineer Clarke Laplante, Audio Techs BJ Hemmingsen, Fumi Okazaki and Harm Schopman, who would later replace Laplante mixing monitors.
Main PA
The system featured a DiGiCo SD7 digital mixing console at Front of House and a DiGiCo D5 at stage left for monitor mixing.
“Due to the number of inputs (80 in total), there are two stage racks for each console and two Whirlwind snakes,” notes Behr. “In order to cut down on setup time, the four stage racks and the two snake splits were combined into one rack.
“All the cabling is done every day, and all that remains is to pull out the feed from the stage. Since that was already done, we decided to put all the monitor amplifiers in the same frame.”
It allowed them to roll out everything with all console inputs and outputs ready-formed together. “When you pull out the loom for the stage, it sits right in the tray on top of that cart. It speeds things up substantially,” Behr adds.
The main PA was headed by Martin Audio W8L Longbow line arrays, touring the U.S. for the first time. The main hang consisted of 24 W8L modules, while low frequencies were handled by 24 flown Martin W8LS subwoofers.
Downfill was supplied by Martin W8LCD, 4 boxes per side, with a side hang of up to 24 Martin W8LC. Everything was powered by Martin MA4.2 amplifiers.
Gebhard explained his choice of touring with the Longbow system, describing his history with Martin products, “We’ve mainly used Martin LC loudspeakers in Europe, but because we’re playing a lot of sheds in North America, we would have had to use delays, or switch to Longbow. I’ve really come to love this system after they fine-tuned it.”
For his front of house console choice, Gebhard has been a fan of DiGiCo digital consoles, using them since 2003. “It’s just an amazing console, the SD7. With 80 channels coming off stage, the only other option was Digidesign’s Profile, but I personally prefer DiGiCo consoles. We did consider going analog at one point, but this turned out to be the only logical choice.”
Microphone selection was handled by both Gebhard and Laplante, with the two engineers relying on their years of experience to come up with the best combination for the artist as well as their own needs.
“The two of us work together to determine what’s working best. Many manufacturers are represented in the system,” Gephard said. “Audio-Technica features heavily into the drum kit, Shure on all the guitars, Shure on all the vocals, some Electro-Voice mics, almost everybody.
“We even tried Sennheiser mics for singer Brandon Flowers, but he’s always preferred Shure mics. It’s just his comfort factor. We did finally get him to try a wireless microphone as his backup.”
Monitor World
As mentioned before, a DiGiCo D5 console is utilized for monitors, which included a variety of in-ear personal monitors and wedges. Fourteen d&b audiotechnik M2 monitor wedges were selected. Sidefill needs were met by Martin W8LC/WSX18X line arrays.
“Almost everybody has wedges,” stated Behr. “The keyboardist/guitarist and saxophonist don’t use wedges. The drummer is on ears while also using a wedge and a subwoofer. The lead guitarist uses ears and wedges, and the singer is only on wedges and sidefills.”
The Killers Tour Equipment List
Front of House
DiGiCo SD7
Dolby Lake processing
Main Hang
24 Martin W8L
24 Martin W8LS flown subs
8 Martin W8LCD downfill
Side Hang
24 Martin W8LC
Amplification
Martin MA4.2
Monitors
DiGiCo D5
14 d&b audiotechnik M2
4 Martin W8LC/WS218X
Jeff MacKay is managing editor of Live Sound International magazine.
(Be sure to check out our Photo Gallery for more looks at the system and performances)
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