ML Executives of Kent, England successfully completed Iron Maiden's 2011 world tour in support of last year's critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning album, The Final Frontier, providing the "universal" package, as well as a complete Eastern Acoustic Works KF760 line array system with the new flown SB1002 subs for the stadium and arena shows in Florida and Europe. Managing Director Gary Marks' production company has been servicing the British metal veterans for the last decade of their three-dozen years on the road.
Rocking the World
The tour's first leg started in February in Moscow before playing the Pacific Rim, South America, Puerto Rico and two Florida shows, where the EAW KF760 system was first provided. Following a 40-day (sea-container) break, the summer European itinerary began in Germany, with ML providing a full system – except for a dozen festivals – winding up in U.K. arenas and culminating with two nights at London's O2 Arena.
Lead singer Bruce Dickinson, who is also a commercial pilot for Britain's Astraeus Airlines, once again flew a "combi" version of a Boeing 757 – providing an oversized cargo door for the hold in the rear and a pressurized cabin in the front for band and crew – specially painted with band mascot "Eddie" on the tail and dubbed "Ed Force One." Dickinson was preparing to land in Tokyo on March 11, when the TÅhoku earthquake hit, and was diverted to Nagoya, canceling that show.
EAW Loyalty
The band had turned to ML Executives 10 years ago when long-serving FOH engineer Doug Hall first set his sights on upgrading to line arrays. ML has remained brand loyal to EAW, having been the first U.K. customer for the classic KF850 and a founding member of the Virtual Array Tour Association (VATA). "Although the band reviewed several other line arrays, they specifically came to us because we already had the new KF760 line array – and that's why we have continued to develop the inventory," says Marks.
In fact, they've amassed a large fleet of six-dozen KF760s as well as two-dozen KF761 down-fills, two-dozen of the new SB1002 flyable subwoofers and 16 BH 760 subs – essential for the outdoor season, when much-larger site coverage was required for audiences up to 80,000.
Originally from Cleveland, OH, Hall has worked extensively in the high-octane genre with bands like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. And with 32 years' experience of piloting Iron Maiden's mix, he had known exactly what he was looking for. Of the systems he reviewed, "some were too polite, or created too much backwash … others simply ran out of gas in the low-mids.
"Then I came across the KF760 after being introduced to it by the late Moray McMillin on the Deep Purple tour," Hall said. (McMillin died last month after a long bout with cancer; see story, page 5). "All frequencies are horn-loaded and near enough the same compression and dispersion angle and everything runs out about the same, with consistent throw of the horn."
"As for the SB1002s, I wanted a full range sound to be heard upstairs and the subs to be overlapping with the horn-loaded BH760 ground stacks down to around 40Hz, without hurting people."
Full Range, Anywhere
The SB1002s were a big factor on the tour. When they were introduced, Marks decided to sell his previous-generation SB1000 subs, knowing their successors could be flown in arrays of up to twelve, offering good vertical directivity in large venues. "Being able to fly the new subs, with the upgraded drivers, meant we could deliver a full range anywhere in the venue – which we had been unable to do with the old ground-stacked SB1000s."
Thus the rig at the O2 Arena for the closing two nights included 18-box mains with 15 KF760 and three KF761 per side, plus a dozen adjacent-flown SB1002 subs, and KF760 side-hangs of a dozen cabinets. Six XTA DP226 and four DP448 digital units handled system processing, with system engineer Mike Hackman employing XTA's AudioCore and the WLAN "Walkabout" for wireless remote EQ. All amplification was Lab.gruppen PLM series amps.
Fine-Tuning
Hackman runs SMAART for alignment and is another advocate of this system design, employing EAW's Resolution software to optimize the low-frequency coverage and working closely with Hall to produce rigging plot predictions. "Using presets we've tailored over the past eight years makes the response predictable," Hackman says, adding that, "with a 10- or 12-box line in the air, we can deliver a punchy sound."
Hackman, who has toured consistently with Iron Maiden for eight years, believes that flown subs are the way forward for tour production. "With Health & Safety legislation becoming so stringent, it will gradually become more difficult to put big stacks on the ground."
FOH and Monitor Consoles
Hall used a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console at Front of House, with a second Vi6 for support bands. Meanwhile, down at the stage, Steve ‘Gonzo' Smith looked after the monitor mix on a DiGiCo D5 console, with a Yamaha M7CL-48 for support acts.
On stage, Maiden still use their own dual-15 TFM-450 Turbosound wedges, six EAW KF850 vocal fills and Turbosound TMS-3s for sidefills and bandfills, all powered by Lab.gruppen fp6400 amps. They also carried Shure PSM900 IEMs and Shure UHF-R wireless with Beta 87C capsules are employed for Dickinson's lead vocal.
Other members of the Iron Maiden sound crew included monitor tech Ian "Squid" Walsh and line array techs Pat Fisher and Richard Trow. Patrick Ledwith served as production manager for the tour. All can reflect with satisfaction on another highly-successful campaign.
Crew for The Who
ML Executives was created in the 1970s to keep The Who's crew and substantial equipment busy when the band wasn't touring. Production manager and sound engineer Gary Marks, whose clients ranged from Black Sabbath, Whitesnake, Mötley Crüe and Judas Priest to Joan Armatrading and disco diva Donna Summer, acquired ML in 1990. Since then, Marks has built ML Executives into one of Europe's premier production companies.
