Seger’s Crew Details How They Handle Working with an Old-School Rock ‘n’ Roll Legend.
Last November, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band launched their first concert tour in 10 years at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. They kept on trucking right on through spring, when FOH caught up with crewmembers Brad Divens (FOH), Peter Thompson (monitors) and Paul Jump (systems engineer/crew chief). The three talked to us about their equipment, their experiences, and what it takes to produce a tour of this magnitude.
FOH: Any interesting stories about how you got into the business?
Brad: By coincidence, it was 10 years ago — in 1996 — that I first started mixing. While living in L.A., I took a gig to pay the rent as a musician trying to get my next record deal. One gig led to another, and I thought, “Maybe this is where I’m supposed to be.” In addition to working with Bob Seger, I’ve worked with Linkin Park, HIM, Cyndi Lauper, Counting Crows and Kid Rock.
What was your pre-tour prep schedule like?
Brad: When I was brought into rehearsal, they had a Midas XL4 and some outboard gear set up. I sat there for three days mixing on headphones and nearfields. It all came together very quickly. Punch, Bob’s manager, would come by and I’d hand him the headphones. He would listen a while, hand back the headphones and smile. I knew it was going to be a lot of fun. The band rehearsed for a few more weeks, and then we went to full production rehearsals for about two weeks. We spent the first week at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich., and then went to Grand Rapids where the tour kicked off.
What special adjustments do you make to accommodate each particular venue?
Paul: We walk every section of the arena to make sure that the coverage was the best it could be for each venue.
Brad: Specifically, we pink noise the rig and adjust the components with the Showco Prism Drive and smooth out the peaks with the EQ. Then we each have our music that we like to hear through the rig. After that, we walk the arena. We also have the Clair I/O running on a wireless tablet that we take to different spots in the room and tweak some more. We want to make sure that every seat in the house has a great listening experience.
What equipment do you consider standard for a tour like this?
Peter: For my rack gear, the equalization is dbx DriveRack. I’ve got 16 channels of 1/3 octave (4 by 442 units in eight rack spaces) and a 480R remote interface that fits conveniently on the matrix section of the desk. There’s just a thin foam pad between the two to keep their parts from rubbing. No compression, gates or FX — old school! I’ve used the DriveRack system before for other applications but never for EQ inserts. It’s working well. I also like the RTA feature on the 480R. I feed the RTA from my solo/cue.
Brad: My rack gear consists of Alan Smart C2, 2 Manley ELOPs, TC 2290, TC M5000, TC M3000, Lexicon 480L, Clair I/0s, Showco Prism Drive, a CD recorder and CD player. It’s pretty much the same gear that I always use. The Showconsole has comps and gates on every channel, so there is no need for the extra outboard dynamics.
Paul: We’re using the Showco Prism System for tour. We’re hanging 11 columns per side to cover more than 270 degrees. There are three Prism White cabinets per side that are on the top of the array for the high arenas and 16 Prism Sub cabinets and six Clair FF2 on the ground for front fill. Since we are covering about 270 degrees, we have two Clair P2 cabinets as fills on the sides next to our wings on both sides to cover the lower seating.
How do you satisfy the audio needs, yet still manage to keep the sight lines clear?
Peter: For this show, I’ve got 14 wedges and two PM mixes. The wedges are Showco SRM 12×2 on Crown Macro-tech 36×12. Twenty-four wedges in all. We use Shure PSM 600 for the PMs. For the better part of the tour, we have a flown pair of Showco Prisms side fills. They obstructed too much, so we got rid of them and replaced them with a second pair of wedges down center for Bob. This cleared up the look of the lighting rig and opened up sight lines on the side of the stage — not to mention lightening up the work load for Myles Hayle, our monitor tech. Oh, and I received a big kiss from Bob’s LD Chris Stuba for removing the big fuzzy boxes from the look of the show.
What were the mic needs for the tour? Did Bob have any special requirements?
Peter: For all the wireless mics, we’re using Audio-Technica’s AEW R5200 receivers with ATW-A64P antennas. Bob’s mic is AT’s AE3300, and the remaining vox are AE5400. From rehearsals to the present, we tried a variety of mics for Bob. We started rehearsals with a wireless Shure KSM 9. When Bob arrived, he walked up to the mic stand, motioned his hand up and down behind the mic as if he was missing the XLR sticking out the back. He immediately asked, “Do you have a 58?” We were able to provide this for him. It worked fine for rehearsals, but when it came to rehearsing the show on the big stage, we switched him over to the AT system. That seemed to work better.
Any new toys?
Peter: I ordered up a Midas Heritage 3000 for the tour. This is the same desk I used for the rehearsals. It’s fast, reliable — and it’s purple with pretty colored knobs.
Brad: The new toy for the tour is Smaart Live running with the Clair I/O. It allows you to have both the analyzer and the EQ running on the same page of the tablet — a real nice addition.
What can you share about working with Bob Seger?
Brad: Bob is old school, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. It was said to me that Bob didn’t like the banana P.A., which is in reference to a line array. He used the Showco Prism on his last tour, which he liked, so that was chosen for this tour as well. We did get him to try some different vocal mics. He was very open to suggestions, the approach was kept simple.
Peter: As far as introducing Bob to something new — I asked Bob if he would like to try PMs. He responded with an emphatic, “No way!” As Brad said, he’s strictly old school.
What has been your overall impression of this tour?
Brad: I feel like this tour was a very special experience for everyone involved. Bob, the band, the crew, the gear and the production staff were all great to work with, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to be a part of it. This is a show full of hits, great musicians, sold-out arenas and roaring crowds. It’s rock ‘n’ roll at its finest. Definitely a high point of my mixing career.
Peter: I’m sorry this tour will come to an end — it’s been the best tour ever! The band, production staff and technical crew have been an absolute pleasure to work with. And working with Bob, a living legend — and a fellow Ann Arborite. What a nice guy! This has been the best thing ever to come my way.
