Dirk Durham and Earl Neal sat comfortably on a bus outside the Rockford Metro Center in Northern Illinois prior to the next to last show on Toby Keith’s “Biggest & Baddest Tour.”
This was also the calm before the twister. When Toby Keith takes the stage in 90 minutes, it’s a controlled audio stampede for the duration of the evening.
That morning entering the small arena, the first impression of the PA was “That’s a lot of PA!” A JBL VerTec rig was flying, arched like a skydiver. The system features 56 tops and 40 subs.
Earl Neal, Toby Keith’s Monitor Engineer, met us with a big smile. Neal’s short list credits include, Patty Loveless, Lenny Kravitz, Rod Stewart, Brad Paisley, Aerosmith and since 2003 – Toby Keith.
Before departing to coordinate his wireless, Neal walks us to the Front of House position and we get another welcome from Durham. He’s the other amigo on this award-winning live audio team.
Durham winks with the grin of a pastured cowhand and an Okie drawl, “Really I’m fortunate,” he says. “Toby will blow the back of the capsule of the mic out. It’s just keeping him up above everything else. You’ll see tonight – it’s a rock show. He’s all over the place. The band is flying around and with him singing, he can get a lung full of air and dominate the whole stage.”
Durham’s been with Keith since March of 2000, and he truly loves his gig. Asked if he got the job because he’s from Oklahoma, he smiles, winks again, and replies, “Ya know the up thing was, I had been around with other bands through the circuit – Dallas, Tulsa, and stuff playing back-to-back and touring. He had known of me. I knew who he was.
“I had retired in ’96 and went home and was ranching when Toby’s production manager called me and asked if I wanted to go see what they thought of me and if I liked them. We hit it off right away. And I love it. I have to really mix every song and Toby keeps me real busy, which makes a 90-minute show seem like 30 minutes. I’ve tried several digital desks but he’s such an active performer and it’s such a dynamic show with the band and all, I have to use an analog console. I can’t just set it and leave it alone.
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When I started with Toby, I went out and bought all his CDs just to study his songs. After the first night I mixed him in Michigan, I almost had to throw all the CDs in the trash. His live performance is nothing like the CDs. There’s so much energy live. It’s a great gig.”
Durham’s and Keith’s vendor of choice is Sound Image, with the decision-making process to use the sound company a collaboration.
“We had a weekend off from the Brooks and Dunn tour,” Durham continues. “Toby said, ‘Dirk, let’s go to the Aerosmith concert,’ and that’s what we did. After the show Toby said, ‘That’s what we need, that PA.’ So, I called up Dave Shadoan and we ended up with the first VerTec rig that Sound Image bought. Everyone at Sound Image has been like family to us. Everett Lybolt, Dave Shadoan and Ross Ritto take real good care of us. We never have to worry about a thing.”
Durham says he uses the same system regardless of the size of the arena.
Standing at the Midas XL-4 at Front of House for Keith’s mix, he talks about the tack in his stable. “Seems that just about every digital desk I’ve been on, people try to get it to sound like an XL-4. So why use an imitation when you can have the real thing? I’m spoiled in the fact that they don’t cram me for space, so it works for me. For effects I use a Lexicon 960L and a TC 10000. In my drive rack are all dbx 4800s. It’s all Crown IT (I-Tech) powered.”
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When Durham needed to get to work on his Front of House footprint, I drifted to monitor world where Neal was just wrapping up pulling his frequencies.
“When I took this gig six years ago I was on an analog console, a Midas H-3000,” he explains. “I had some guys sharing mixes because we didn’t have enough outputs. At that time it was a 13-piece band. We had two more singers. It was a really busy gig then.
“Then we went to the DiGiCo D5, I was able to automate a lot of the stuff I was doing for the band and it left me open to mix for Toby on the XL-3. His ear mix is a Front of House mix. He likes to hear all the solos get rode.
“He likes to hear all the instruments. He’s got all the backgrounds in his mix. It’s a Front of House mix that’s a little hotter than if I was mixing Front of House.
“The cool thing is with the band, I can snapshot the songs that I know they have changes in on the D5. It leaves the rest of my thoughts taking care of the cowboy. I’m running the XL-3 just like the Front of House console. I’m going straight off the left and right bus.”
“Basically, I’m dealing with the same stuff that Dirk is dealing with in keeping Toby’s mix up,” he continues. “There are a lot of guys to keep an eye on onstage. I mix with two hands, one on each desk. I love the sound of the DiGiCo – it can tend to be a little bland so I’m running dbx 376 tube mic pres on some of my primary instruments and vocals, just to give it a little dirt.
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“The D5 is super clean and I need to dirty them up a bit. That’s the only outboard I’m using with the D5. On Toby’s mix on the XL-3 I’m running a dbx 786 mic pre on his vocal and his acoustic. I got a big rack of dbx 160 SL stereo compressors. I love the dbx Blue Series stuff. I also have three Yamaha SPX2000s.”
Neal employs a Professional Wireless IAS system to handle the frequency coordination each day. “I have 37 pieces of wireless equipment. When I first took the gig, that was one of the biggest issues out here. They were having a lot of wireless problems.”
Everything Neal is using for wireless is Shure.
He elaborates, “Toby is Shure endorsed, but that is not the reason we use their products. I like them because I can trust them to stay on frequency. It’s really easy to blend their different bands together and come up with 37 pieces that work together.
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“Ryan Smith at Shure in Nashville takes excellent care of us. When we send things off to be serviced, they turn it around within 48 hours. That means the world to you when you’re out here.”
Toby Keith and his band’s in-ear selection sway little from one product – Fidelity Custom Earphones. (Author note: I own several different brands of in-ears, and Fidelity Custom Earphones Triples are up there with the industry leaders.)
“Every manufacturer out there that makes armature ear buds like Future Sonics, Sensaphonics, Westone, Fidelity Custom Earphones, etc., all buy their parts from the same companies,” notes Neal.
“It really comes down to a preference by the artist. Toby’s whole band prefers Fidelity Custom Earphones so that’s what they use. Toby has been experimenting himself the last couple dates with Future Sonics but he hasn’t made a decision whether he’s going to keep them or not.
“He has been using Fidelity Custom Earphones up to this point and I’m sure he’ll continue to do so in the future.”
You can’t take the rodeo mix out of the cowboys and Keith’s shows are nothing short of a Stetson raising bull ride.
Durham’s mixes come out on top with a gut gurgling rumble with massive lows like I’ve never experienced with any other country band. His mids slap you in the chest and the snare snaps you between the eyes.
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This show rates up there with some of the top rock acts I’ve seen over the last three decades.
Durham’s show is strong. He rides the board throughout Keith’s performance, never disappoints and always surprises – just like The Big Dog Daddy himself.
Neal just enhances all that with his dueling desks, playing the boards like fine tuned instruments while he watches the cowboy on stage run and gun for keeps.
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The VerTec rig compliments throughout the entire show and Durham never gives it a rest. He steers it with perfection and warrant. That’s why these two Amigos never get bucked on their asses!
Nort Johnson is an entertainment production and management professional who has been working in the music industry for 30-plus years. He has supplied tour management, production management, Front of House and monitor duties for some of the more prominent entertainers of the last three decades.
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