Florida vocalist Jason Derulo has built his reputation as a prolific soul and rap songwriter.
This past year, Derulo has been riding high with three smash hit singles, “Whatcha Say,” “In My Head,” and “Ridin’ Solo,” off his self-titled debut album.
Completing his first leg of his North American tour in mid-November, Derulo, needing a monitor engineer/audio crew chief for the tour, enlisted the assistance of Billy Flores, ME to pop stars such as Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu, and Taio Cruz. Flores, who mixes monitors using only a Yamaha PM5D, said the tour had already been using a PM5D internationally as requested by Derulo.
“The tour manager needed someone with a good grasp of the desk for the U.S. leg,” states Flores.
The tour, with production support by Clair Bros., carries its own snake and mic package as well as stage boxes, power, and Sennheiser, Neumann and Shure RF systems with Derulo using 37 inputs on the mic selections.
Jason sings half the show on a Crown 311 head set mic into a Shure UR belt pack and receiver.
The other half of the show, he’s on a Shure UR SM87. “Everyone is on ears in the band including Jason,” says Flores.
“The full band includes drums, guitar, key/bass and keys as well as two background singers, and Jason sings on top of eight channels of Pro Tools (track), so I use about 40 channels of the PM5D when all said and done.”
“The Yamaha PM5D is like second nature to me,” adds Flores. “The console has a quick response, clean digital mixes and all the feel of a analog desk.”
“You don’t get lost looking at the console saying to yourself ‘where do I start.’ My point is that some of the other digital consoles on the market have multiple screens and confusing desks tops.”
“The 5D keeps things simple, and the lay out easy to navigate.”
Derulo uses the PM5D’s onboard Rev Hall effect. “The 5D is the perfect desk for this breakout artist,” Flores says. “It’s a great show to mix with a solid hard-driving band, tracks, and strong vocals.”
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