Current four-time CMA nominee Dierks Bentley is out on the Somewhere On A Beach Tour in support of his album Black. His current tour, named after the Platinum multi-week Number one summer anthem has been a success, not only due to the entertaining stage presence and musicality of Bentley, but also due to the talent backstage.
James “Pugsley” McDermott, front of house engineer for Bentley and system engineer for VER, has chosen to outfit Bentley’s show with Meyer Sound LEO and LYON arrays.
McDermott spoke about the sound on tour at Bentley’s recent show at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. McDermott has been doing sound professionally for almost 27 years, and has been with Bentley for 11 years.
During one of Bentley’s annual “Miles & Music For Kids” celebrity motorcycle ride and concerts, McDermott was exposed to Meyer for the first time. He was skeptical at first, “but immediately at the down beat I sat there and saw through everything I had been doing,” he said. “I heard things I’d never heard before on my rig, on my console that I had been using for two and a half years.”
He thought at first that perhaps it was just a fluke, but upon further use, he was continuously blown away.
“It was incredibly transparent and it was effortless in what it was doing,” he says. McDermott was also impressed by the horizontal sub coverage. The system has given him the versatility to cover arenas ranging from 5,000 seats to over 17,000.
At the Shoreline Amphitheatre show, McDermott was particularly satisfied with the rig’s reach. “I could very easily leave the long delays off because it has that reach that I can throw it 500 feet plus without really losing a whole lot of gain,” he explains.
“People shouldn’t just hear the show or see the lights. They should be experiencing the show for what it is,” explains McDermott. The LEO and LYON sound system allows him to capture and amplify that energy.
The system includes a main hang of 12 LEO with four LYON-Ms underhung and six flown subs in cardioid. There are two stacks of two on the ground per side, 1100s in cardioid, and then a dozen LYON-M’s for side hangs. Eight UPA’s and eight UPJ’s round out the package.
“I’m able to accomplish dynamically much more effectively than I have with previous rigs,” he continues. With its consistency and range, the rig is a perfect marriage with Bentley’s show – a reliable counterpart to the singer’s vivacious country spirit.”
