Armed with a new CD and the buzz of leader Adam Levine’s stint on the hit NBC show “The Voice,” Maroon 5 is currently on a U.S. tour with fellow indie rockers Train.
Veteran mixer Jim Ebdon is once again handling the band’s front of house sound on a DiGiCo SD7, powered by the new DiGiCo SD Rack with the system clocking at 96 kHz.
No stranger to DiGiCo, Ebdon cut his teeth behind the faders of a D5 for many years on global tours with Maroon 5, as well as with Aerosmith, Matchbox Twenty, Annie Lennox and Sting.
He traded up to an SD7 for Aerosmith’s 2007 North American tour and as a self-confessed fan of “less is more” at front of house, he was able to find everything he needed onboard the console. For the current Maroon 5 outing, he decided to add the DiGiCo/Waves SoundGrid bundle for some more color.
“In my opinion, DiGiCo consoles – whether it’s the SD7 or any of the new ones like the SD8, SD9, SD10 – are the best-sounding digital consoles currently available,” Ebdon states. “And I love the extra boost I get in power and sonics now that we’ve upgraded from the DiGiRacks to the new SD192 rack. So with a great sound right off the bat, I was curious to know why anyone would want to taint it by adding plug-ins, or any other outboard gear?
“Nevertheless,” he continues, “being a sucker for trying different stuff, I decided to get my hands on the Waves SoundGrid for this tour and was pleasantly surprised. It’s subtle but noticeable. As Waves has been an industry standard in studios for years, it’s was nice to have access to the plug-ins on the road. The console sounds so good on its own, so I’m not using Waves to make the console better, but rather to achieve a different color, dynamic and depth to my mix. I like being able to hear what the plug-in is actually doing! I went immediately to the SSL Channel EQ and the SSL Stereo Bus Compressor and have used the compressor across my drums quite a bit and love how it just fattens up the drum sound.
“Waves has a proprietary ‘H Compressor’ and the ‘H Delay,’ both of which sound amazing. The delay has some really wacky presets, which can make any sound more interesting. Having used outboard processing for years, these new software-based versions are fantastic and sound equally as timeless.
“Overall, I’ve found the the Waves plug-in bundle has a lot to choose from and can be a useful tool to add a different ambiance to what the console already offers. But fundamentally, I’m a sound engineer and if I can get a balance up without any of that extra stuff – and capture the vibe of what’s happening onstage in that moment – I’ve achieved my goal. Anything else is just icing on an already delicious cake.”
