The Right Combo
Input from the stage starts at the drum kit with a Shure Beta 91A in the kick drum, a device kept company by an AKG D12.
Shure SM7s stand-in at high-hat and ride cymbal, while toms rely on supercardioid Shure Beta 181s and overheads get Royer SF-24s.
“There aren’t a lot of mics onstage given the size of this production,” Abraham notes. “We’ve deployed a lot of DI boxes. Guitars, bass guitar, they use Palmer DIs. In terms of mics for these instruments, there are only four ribbons—sE Electronics X1Rs—and they’re on Keith’s rig.”
For backing vocals, venerable SM58s and Beta 87s are utilized in hardwired form. Out front for Urban, the choice was Shure UHF-R wireless transmitters using Heil Sound RC 22 screw-on capsules mounted on top.
“We tried a whole bunch of mics on Keith and they all just sounded bad until we got to this combination,” Abraham says. “We tried everything you’d normally try and it all failed to work. There is no real rhyme or reason to what we settled upon, other than it just sounds right.
“This mic perfectly represents our entire stage plot—it’s a hybrid design chosen for what works the best and never fails,” he continues. “It’s remarkable how many shows we’ve done with zero percent failure, and that’s really important. When the guys look over at me and Phil (Phil Wilkey, the band’s monitor engineer), they always are fully confident. We’ve all seen and heard shows that are absolutely Spinal Tap. I’m very pleased to report that this is not one of them.”
Right From The Start
Light the Fuse breaks the traditional Nashville-based tour mold in terms of size, complexity, and personnel. Drawing upon production talent from all walks of life in the industry, its approach is global in scope, more like that of a large-scale pop rock show.
Along with Abraham, monitor engineer Wilkey made a crossover journey from the world of hard rock to this show. An Englishman who lays claim to the original “SidePhil” nickname, he’s called the U.S. home for years and first dipped his toe into country-fied audio waters with Brooks and Dunn a few years back.
“I kind of liked it right from the start,” he notes. “Most everyone is really nice. It’s very unusual to get along with 100 percent of the people you work with on any tour let alone one this size. Even though this is a huge production, we still have that family feeling.”
While Wilkey has done many tours from behind a digital desk and claims it’s all good as far as technology goes, he unabashedly admits that he has been a Midas fan forever, and that when it comes down to vocals and drums he prefers old-fashioned warmth and fullness of the classic medium.