Over the past year, Neon Trees has cemented its reputation as one of the top up-and-coming indie rock acts in the U.S.
With a number of one-off fly dates punctuating the tour, stage manager and monitor engineer Mike Bangs and FOH engineer Neal Duffy selected a pair of Allen & Heath iLive T112 consoles to meet the band’s needs.
Neon Trees is a rock band, with two guitars, bass, keyboard and drums along with four vocals. “We are using 24 inputs,” Bangs notes.
“We are sharing preamps between monitors and FOH and doing a digital split from the Monitor console’s iDR-32, so our FOH snake is just one CAT5 cable. The second iDR-32 MixRack is currently being used for the FOH console’s DSP.”
“That will change when we start headlining on our next tour. We will go with more stereo instruments for Neon Trees, and we will use the second iDR-32 to handle support band inputs without having to unpatch anything.”
Bangs, whose recent gigs include Kid Rock, Tom Petty, Aerosmith and Katy Perry, knew exactly what he was looking for in choosing his mixing desks. “We had limited trailer space and some fly dates, so I was looking for a compact mixing system with lots of power,” he notes.
“I needed something I could get into a case at under 50 pounds and put in the belly of a plane as checked baggage. The iDR-32 MixRack, racked in a Pelican case, comes in at 48.9 pounds. That was something that no one else could offer.”
“Since the iDR-32 is basically the brains of the console, it’s all I need for a fly date,” says Bangs. “Everything else goes in my carry-on bag. I did the first couple shows with just the laptop and iPad, using the Allen & Heath iPad App. Then I added the PL-6 so I could have some physical faders.”
“That gives me hands-on control of the channels I’m constantly massaging – the crowd mics and vocal. The PL-6 is the perfect solution.” The Allen & Heath PL-6 fader panel puts eight faders and 16 programmable function switches in a compact panel measuring less than 7×9 inches.
For remote control of the iDR-32, Mike Bangs uses a Belkin dual-band wireless router to provide Wi-Fi access for both his laptop and iPad. “I use the iPad app on every show, not just fly dates,” he notes.
“It lets me stand on stage with the artist and hear what they’re hearing. I was amazed with the lack of latency on the iPad App. When I touch the screen and push the fader, I hear the change in real time. A great tool.”
On a tour that relies on house PA systems while carrying consoles, both the sonic performance and its operations are critical factors, and Mike Bangs and Neal Duffy have found the iLive-T112 equally impressive.
“It’s an intelligently laid out console, really user friendly,” Bangs states. “In fact, the iLive is actually easier to operate than some of the bigger brand desks I’ve used on major tours. The sound quality is great, too. I’m very happy with the preamps.”
“They have really nice warmth and plenty of headroom, so I can run them as hot as I like. Some digital desks don’t handle that very well, but the iLive does.”
Mike Bangs finds that, the more he uses the iLive-T112, the more he likes it. “I have been very happy with the channel DSP and the EQ, both sound and operation” he says. “I really like how they’re laid out, especially the channel processing strip.”
“The controls for the EQ are large and well spaced, which is much easier to use than a little 4 by 4 inch space that some other consoles have. Also, the effects look like rackmount units on the screen, showing the front and back panels. So if you’ve ever patched an analog rack before, you can do this. It just makes sense.”
“One of the coolest things on the iLive is having the sub knobs on the surface. You just hold down a button and the pan knob becomes a Sub Send. It’s really convenient, and no other desk I know of has it.”
For their next tour, Neon Trees will be headlining the House of Blues circuit, and Mike Bangs plans to bring his iLive-T112 consoles along. “What sold me on the iLive originally was the modular design, but as I’ve used it every day, I have to say that it’s more than that,” he concludes.
“It’s really intelligently laid out and user friendly, and has a nice, warm sound. This is my first time touring with the iLive and I’ve got to say, these consoles have really impressed me.”
