Engineers use Resolution software to tell the Anya arrays about the venue they wish to cover and their sonic goals, and it determines the optimal wave front shape and processing to achieve those goals.
As a result, the only day-to-day changes are done in the software, not with the system, and if something changes last minute, new parameters can be entered to modify the coverage.
“The system hasn’t changed from rehearsals. It’s small, it hangs in a very sexy, very straight column, and there’s never a height issue,” Ebdon says. “We hang it the same height every day and it seamlessly covers each room. From a production point of view, that’s fantastic. Never having to worry about how many boxes if there is a low trim? It’s so small that it fits anywhere with an output that is astonishing.”
The SB2001 dual 21-inch subwoofers provide low end that adds a “juicy liquid low,” he adds. The subs are ground stacked, left and right in front of the stage, each stack made up of nine units stacked three over three, with another group of two at the inner sides. Power is delivered by Powersoft K Series amplifiers rack-mounted next to each stack.
“I always give credit to the Powersoft amplifiers because I can almost forget they are there – we fire them up every day and never have to touch them again,” Dowling says. “Rock solid, a ton of power and never have to worry about them. That’s what everyone wants to work with.”
Choices On Stage
As noted, Ebdon focuses first on the drum kit with his mix, and he starts his miking process there as well. After trying out a couple of different drum kits during rehearsals as well as several drum mikes and positions, he’s pretty pleased with the end result.
“I put a (Shure) SM57 on the snare drum, which may not work for everyone but works great for our drummer,” he says. “Then I put a AKG C 414 under it to get the quality of the snare rattle. The toms have Sennheiser e 904s, which really work on this kit.
:Neumann KSM 105s takes care of hi-hat and ride cymbal, with Mojave MA-101fet condensers overheads,” he continues. “I wrap it up with a Sennheiser e 902 on the kick drum outside the hole and a Shure SM91 inside, which provides super low end. An SSL stereo bus comp applied over the group tightens it up.”
Guitars are covered with an assortment of Royer 121s, Shure SM7s and newer TUL G12 purpose-designed dynamic guitar amp mics. “The G12s are really fantastic. They look very retro and sound quite natural,” notes Ebdon. “Very clever in that they don’t color the sound at all, and they’re not expensive. It’s a new find that I’m quite pleased with.”
Vocalists sing through hard-wired Audio-Technica AE6100 hypercardioid dynamics, while Levine goes wireless with a Shure UHF-R system, with the transmitter outfitted with an SM58 element. All band members except the bass player wear JF Audio Roxanne custom in-ear monitors fed by Shure PSM 1000 personal monitoring systems.
Going From Here
The tour kicked off in Dallas and is currently making its way through North America before moving along to Europe, Africa and Asia through at least October of this year. To Ebdon, the primary story to this point has been the Anya main system.
“I think it’s important to take new technology out on the road, try it out and pass on information to our peers,” he concludes. “Anya is exciting, bringing to the table technology we’ve never had before, which is really quite remarkable. I’m learning more and more about it every day, and I’m going to be intrigued to see where EAW takes it from here.”