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Mixing Juanes:
Puerto Rico’s Frank Aponte
By Chris Kathman
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Frank Aponte spent much of 2002
far from his home in Puerto
Rico, travelling with Colombian rock artist Juanes, all
over South America, the U.S., and Europe. When I last met
with him, at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles, he had not
been home for three months. “Frapo” reports that
the danger to his ears has not been the band’s stage
volume, or his own mix, but rather the incessant frenzied
screaming of Juanes’ female fans.
Have you ever noticed how some hard rock or metal bands play
to almost totally male audiences? Juanes
is the opposite – in every city they go to, the ladies
turn out in droves, and it is almost like Beatlemania. I watched
Frank
and Juanes proceed through a soundcheck recently, and the
process showed me how they have evolved a smooth working process,
that says a lot about each of them.We all wish for gigs where
the person employing us trusts our skills, rather than micro-managing
us, don’t we?
When Juanes walks on stage for his souncheck, the band continues
noodling cheerfully in the background, the vibe is friendly
and low key.
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Some of the musicians have been with him for 12 years, since they
were all in Ekhymosis, a metal band that Juanes fronted. Juanes
seems to stay focused in his own mind, and quietly consulted with
Frapo, over the PA, in between songs.
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I have watched Frank mix before,
and know that clarity is a big thing for him. The different
types of percussion in Juanes’ band were not overwhelmed
in the mix by the amplified instruments.
Ultimate
Ears supplies their UE-5 ambient earpieces for Juanes,
that have the ability to use different levels of reduction
from the outside world in each ear. Juanes’ set is minus
15 dB on one side, and minus 26 on the other. |
“That has been a godsend,” Frapo explained, “no
more ambient mics!” Nico Velasquez, from Colombia,
mans the monitor board.
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Nico Velasquez
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Things accelerated rapidly after
Juanes first hired Frapo – the new record on Zurco/Universal
went to #1 in the Latin charts the first week it was released,
and suddenly, “the tour was changed from promotional
appearances to full blown concerts,” 90% of which were
sold out. Travelling with hardly any outboard equipment, when
the tour stopped for four days in Mexico, Frank went out and
bought some.
“I’m lucky that this guy doesn’t like effects,”
Frank said, explaining that there are none on the records,
either. “He likes the vocal up front and dry, so that
people can understand everything.” |
Frank now carries a compact rack that travels everywhere with
them - it contains a dbx 376
tube channel strip with digital EQ, which “helps me get consistency
night to night, I don’t use the channel EQ.” Frank goes
right into the 376 with the XLR from the snake, and then out of
it into the console, rather than inserting the unit. “Everything
I do is wrong, but it works!”
There is also a dbx 3031 third octave EQ, that is no longer made.
“This saves my life,” Frank told me. “To grab
those feedbacks, this is what I use.” Also, when Juanes speaks
between songs, Frank flips the high pass up, for vocal intelligibility,
and then restores it for the singing.
Frank told me about meeting Cox Audio Engineering’s Jeffrey
Cox in Puerto Rico, giving a class on VDOSC usage. We also discussed
some other speaker manufacturers, whose products could not stand
up to the test of Puerto Rico’s warm, humid environment. “If
equipment will survive there, it will survive anywhere!” he
laughed.
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