“What’s important to Adam (Levine) and the rest of the band is providing the audience with an incredible, bigger than life experience,” states Jim Ebdon, front of house engineer for Maroon 5, currently on the “V” world tour. “You can tell when you’re in the audience that the guys are having fun – they really, really enjoy playing together and it comes across in their performance. They are excellent musicians, which makes my job a bit easier.”
Ebdon has held his current role with Maroon 5 for the past seven years, and prior to that he worked with a host of top artists, including Aerosmith, Sting, Annie Lennox, Matchbox Twenty and the Pet Shop Boys.
A live sound professional who started in the studio, he absorbed a great deal about microphone placement, drum miking and signal flow in his early years that translates nicely to the present.
“I was a drummer many, many years ago and my mix always starts there,” he notes. “If I get a great drum sound, it all pulls together naturally, with everything else just finding its way in the mix.”
The tour marks Maroon 5’s first outing with Sound Image (Escondido, CA and Nashville), which is supplying the systems and support, including system tech Andrew Dowling riding herd over an EAW Anya main system.
Ebdon heard the system when it was out with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers last year (read about it here) and was intrigued with both the coverage and size aspects. After some initial testing, the sound team decided to give a it try during rehearsals, where the final decision was made.
“I like to embrace new technology, and Anya is something quite clever – almost a smart PA,” Ebdon explains. “I’ve had a ton of calls from my peers in the industry asking me about it, and I do think it’s the next thing. If you remember, we were all equally intrigued when L-Acoustics came out with V-DOSC many years ago, and this seems to be like that – the next step in live sound reinforcement.”
Exciting Modern Sound
“When on the road, Maroon 5 transitions from studio pop-rock to a slightly more serious rock band,” Ebdon states. “The music is definitely louder, punchier with a very full range, more of an exciting modern sound.”
He mans a DiGiCo SD7 digital console with redundant Waves SoundGrid Extreme Servers located about 90 feet from the stage for each show, which have been in arenas to this point of the tour. From there that he continues his goal of keeping the sound natural while also loud and energetic.
“I try not to overcomplicate the mix, representing what’s really going on rather than an over-polished, flat sound,” he says. “Adam wants it roughened up a bit, too – if it’s too perfect, it doesn’t seem live. With a little help from Waves plug-ins, I’m good to go.”