For the second year, Crosby, Stills and Nash is touring with a QSC WideLine-10 line arrays that take less than a quarter of the truck space of the previous loudspeaker system.
The extensive Crosby, Stills and Nash tour this year began in Europe, returning to the U.S. late in July in support of Demos, a collection of 12 previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1968 and 1971. We caught up with them at the St. Augustine (Florida) Amphitheater.
Sound for the tour once again being supplied and supported by Sound Image, and for the second consecutive time, the Escondido, CA-based sound company is providing QSC WideLine-10 line arrays that occupy less than a quarter of the truck space of the previous loudspeaker system.
At this show, system engineer and Billy Idol veteran Joe Walsh hangs two 12-box J-shaped arrays of QSC WL2102 WideLine modules.
The 11-inch tall cabinets travel on 6-foot high set-carts that each hold two columns of six facing each other, making it quick and easy to fly an array of a dozen boxes.
For larger venues, like the 15,000-seat Jones Beach Amphitheater in New York, they use 18-box arrays.
WideLine’s 140-degree horizontal coverage makes it a great match for typical outdoor venues that might otherwise require out-fill arrays to cover the wider zones of the audience.
They also make powerful front-fill loudspeakers, notably for Eric Clapton’s annual Crossroads benefit concert and in 3-box arrays for Rascal Flatts.
The system’s XTA GQ600 graphic EQ has minimal cuts between 160 and 2,000 Hz, partly due to the fact that the St Augustine Amphitheater has a Span Systems tent that covers three-quarters of its 4,000 red plastic seats.
A pair of QSC SC28 system controllers work with the WideLine-10 main line arrays, which are configured in a number of ways, depending on venue.
The SC28 is easy to use, with simple menu adjustments for amplifier sensitivity and for entering the number of boxes and array angles to automatically calculate array correction, providing a system that needs minimal EQ.
The main system also includes JBL VerTec VT4880A subwoofers, driven from an auxiliary on the console and processed with a BSS FDS-366T loudspeaker management system employing JBL Version 4 presets. The tour carries transition frames that allow ground-stacking up to eight WideLines on top of the VerTec subs.
In keeping with the classic vintage of their artists, both mix engineers use analog consoles. For the main system, Gregory Hancock mixes on a 48-channel Ramsa SX-1, which has fabulous preamps and EQ plus 10 VCAs and differential summing buses, and is the newer, bigger brother to the classic WRS 840.
“Great sounding EQ and great preamps – that’s what matters to me,” Hancock comments.
Outboard effects consist of a version 2 Lexicon PCM-70 used with a rich chamber for vocals, a Yamaha SPX-1000 on snare, a dual machine TC Electronic M-5000 with its 480 Hall on vocals and its Rich Chamber on acoustic guitars, plus an Eventide H3000 used with Rich Chorus.
Inserts include Manley Electro-Optical limiters on lead vocals, including Nash’s piano vocal, with a BSS DPR-901 dynamic equalizer on Crosby’s vocal.
A Summit DCL-200 compressor/limiter is used for the vocals of keyboardist (and Crosby’s son) James Raymond and drummer Joe Vitale.
There are also a half-dozen dbx 160A compressors and three Drawmer DS-201 dual gates.
Meanwhile, on monitors, 32-year veteran Rance Caldwell mixes monitors on a Midas Heritage 3000 positioned stage right.
His outboard consists of seven Klark Teknik DN360 stereo graphic EQs, five Yamaha SPX990 digital multi-effects processors, three Drawmer DS201 dual noise gates, and a BSS DPR-404 four-channel compressor for inserts.
The floor monitors are mostly single- and double-12 proprietary Sound Image wedges, with a stereo pair of their single-12 carbon-fiber A.C.E. “G2” wedges for Stills and a d&b audiotechnik M2 double-12 for Crosby.
Caldwell explains that they used d&b wedges on their recent European leg. Crosby insisted on keeping his M2 and as a result, Caldwell plans on using an entire complement of d&b wedges on the next tour. (When not touring with CS&N, Caldwell is the audio department head at the 2,000-seat King Center in Melbourne, FL.)
The show features two acts: an acoustic set followed by an electric set with a full band. Josh Mellott assists Caldwell on stage with the wedges and the microphones, which are all Audix.
Vitale’s drum kit is mic’ed with an Audix D6 on kick, while snare and rack toms get D2s, floor toms get D4s, and overheads and hi-hats get SCX1 pencil condensers. D3s are applied on all guitar amps as well as on Todd Caldwell’s Leslie cabinet.
All vocal mics are Audix OM6 except for Vitale’s drum vocal, which benefits from the tighter pattern of an OM7 that helps to isolate his vocal from his drums.
Mike Klvana recorded 50 of the tour’s shows on a Mac-based Logic portable recording system from a second split on the snake.
His rig includes a 4-channel Focusrite Liquid 4Pre mic preamp for CS&N vocals, Grace Designs m801 mic preamp for backing vocals, acoustic guitars and audience mics, and three 8-channel Focusrite OctoPres mic preamps for the remainder of the inputs.
Klavana also uses a PreSonus HP4 headphone preamp, and credits his Ultrasone Pro 550 headphones with a reduction in hearing fatigue from monitoring on headphones all night.
Mark Frink is Associate Editor of Live Sound International magazine.
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