Sound reinforcement for a rap artist like Nelly requires some of the same gear as for a rock show, plus some extra gear and some unique mixing talent to get the job done. FOH caught up with Nelly's four-man sound crew at the Northrup Auditorium in Minneapolis, which seats 4,800 and is the smallest venue on the tour of arenas and theaters this spring. The crew is headed by Demetrius Blanton at the FOH console, who has toured with Nelly for the last three years. In taking out a Stanco Audio Systems rig this tour, Stanco veterans Brennan Houser (system engineer), Chris Lightcap (monitor engineer) and Glen Medlin (audio tech) round out the crew, making it happen night after night. What are you flying for line arrays, and which subs are you using?
Demetrius Blanton: Martin Audio W8LC tops with 12 tops on a side, plus 12 tops and 12 subs per side. For subs, we've got Turbosound TSW-721 subs with 21-inch drivers.
Brennan, what controllers are you using?
Brennan Houser: The crossovers are XTA DP226s. One does the main hang line array (left and right), one does the side hangs for arenas (left and right), one does subs and front-fill, and one is just a spare in case one takes a dump.
What specific things do you do to handle this genre of music?
DB: Basically, the key for me is to make the vocals sound good, because it's just the DJs and vocals. We know the rappers cup their mics. That's the reason I try to use good compressors, and some kind of parametrics inserted on their lines on their vocals.
Is intelligibility a key for this kind of event?
DB: As far as the way I am, yeah. A lot of people come to a rap show and just expect that the sound will be, like, like nothing. But that ain't me; I try to get the best sound I can out of these guys. I have been to a lot of rap shows, and I have done a lot. You can actually understand these guys. Even with the way they cup their mics, you can still sit back here and understand what they say.
Do agree with Brennan about emphasizing 100Hz and down and a lot of presence band and up?
DB: Yeah, that's pretty much rap. You got the low end, then you got top end for us to track. But then you still got to get that presence out of their vocals. It's gotta cut through, and you got to have that presence where it's not so muffled so you can't actually hear/understand what these guys are saying. That's pretty much it with the music.
But with vocals it is a little bit more as you can see the cuts (points to the Varicurve parametrics), certain cuts, certain frequencies like to breath. Air flows through the mics.
Are the mics SM-58s or Beta 58s?
DB: They are straight 58s. If I use something else I don't get that proper air flow when they cup them like that.
Does the wide pattern of the SM-58 cause you trouble?
DB: I roll my high pass filter up to, like, 160Hz on the guys. All the way up, and still end up pulling the 200, 300 area … still pulling mud out, and it cleans the mics up. It really does. Almost going to the extreme, but it works.
What are your impressions of this Martin rig?
BH: I have been using the Martin stuff since the early '90s. It's my first choice. I'll put this rig up against anything that's out there.
BH: I can agree with that. Now that I have heard the rig, and used the rig, I'd put it up against anything too. Most definitely my first choice. It's what I am looking for, for overseas (the next leg of the tour in the summer).
Other than the vocal mic, any other open mics onstage?
DB: Nah, that's just it. With Nelly and the other back-up artists, it's just four mics. And the DJ provides all the tracks.
Do the vocalists stay near the downstage monitors?
DB: They actually like to be on the subs, they are hardly ever onstage. They spend 85% of time out in the crowd.
What loudness levels do you typically aim for?
DB: My mixing level is about anywhere from 103 to 107dB at Front of House. About 105dB average.
Are the tracks pretty well squashed from the DJ?
DB: Some of the tracks are pretty much squashed, and you can tell even without compression, but some of them aren't.
Are you squashing the tracks more, or using a compressor more as a limiter?
DB: I'm squashing them when I'm getting them too, because the DJ changes his level up there.
So how are you hitting him? 4:1? 10:1?
DB: I'm hitting it at about 7:1, and the threshold is -10.
Is it pretty common to have constant gain reduction throughout the show on these tracks?
DB: Yeah, very common. Probably 3 to 6dB when we set it.
Does the DJ use his mixer into clipping?
DB: He does that anyway. Whether he's looking to do that, or just doesn't know, it's just a natural thing. What I usually try to do, I get his monitor so loud, then I put the DJ mixer at the level I want it. I give him so much level back there, when he does turn it up, even a little bit, it is painful. That way he will keep the level down.
BH: (Laughing) I didn't know about that; that is pretty good.
So there is a minor amount of psychological warfare going on?
DB: That's a matter of playing a trick on him. You get that monitor loud up there. If he turns it up, I'm tryin' to take his head off. Because, he can make the show sound good, or he can make the show sound really bad, if the mixer is really clippin' up there. Then I would have to actually go up there and tell him "turn that f***in' mixer down"… That's the key… That's how I keep my signal clean.
Do you get the amplifiers limiting during the shows?
BH: Not really. We experimented a lot in the beginning with limiting settings of the amplifiers. We got some preliminary information from Martin, and it wasn't quite right, and we experimented some more to the point where the amps were right at clip at the gain structure that D was providing from the console. So then I just backed it off a click or two, and it's been really great.
You seem pretty fair on gain structure?
DB: I pretty much try to watch my gain structure. Because I try to get everything out of the rig, but still keep it clean. I think I'm pretty good about getting the max out of the rig without beating it up too bad.
You guys side stack the subs for every venue?
BH: The TSW-721s couple when you get the horn sides together… And if you can get the subs up, get 'em up. Because inevitably, if the subs are on the ground and the crowd stands up on the floor, your subs are gone.
DB: I always go with towers.
BH: Plus it gets it up into the balcony as well.
With all the touring, and the backup gear you carry, do you have a lot of road failures?
BH: You try to stay ahead of it, you know. Invariably something's gonna break every day. Today it happened to be the motor control on stage right. So as things fall into disrepair, you either repair them or have someone send another out.
Stanco/Nelly Connections Hit Close to Home
By Kevin M. Mitchell
Enjoying his 20th year since he "hung out his shingle," Stan Nickens of Stanco Systems is celebrating by being on the road with one of today's biggest music stars: Nelly.
But while both Nelly and Nickens happen to be St. Louis-based, this is certainly not a case of a star merely supporting "the home team." Nickens brings a lot to the table. A former professional guitarist, he says that he put his guitar down and focused on this business full time when he noticed that the bigger acts his band was opening for had ulterior motives. "They were like, 'Hey, Stan's band can open and we can use his monitor rig,'" he laughs.
With Stanco, at first he handled audio for bands, but his client list grew to include theme parks, television, and corporate theatre. Today Stanco is a full-service operation also handling lighting, scenic, staging, outdoor roofs, and even pre- and post-production. For Nelly's current tour, they are handling "pretty much everything."
"We sat down to the table with his people and chiseled everything out," Nickens tells. "But it's all ultimately Nelly's decision down to the color scheme on the set." Stanco is currently in talks to handle Nelly's tour beyond the States, relying on his experience overseas to set up a continuation of the tour to Europe, Japan and Australia.
Nickens definitely appreciates a good rig. For this tour he's added the new Martin W8LC line array to his inventory. "It rigs beautifully, simply and quickly, and it's lighter than others. But listening to it is what really sold me. We put it up against everything else out there and are very pleased."
