Rascal Flatts Continues to Grow, As Do Complications
The phenomenon that is Rascal Flatts is like the universe — it just keeps expanding. And for those out on the road with the trio, there’s a pretty simple reason: The band is listening.
“These are artists who are very fan-oriented,” says Stuart Delk. “They listen to the critics and the fans. They read what both are saying and respond accordingly.” Whether it’s what song they play and where in the set list it’s placed, or what gags and dramatics garner the biggest response, Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney continue to tweak their way into stratospheric stardom.
Their current tour, Still Feels Good, started in June and will run deep into 2008. In some ways, it is a ratcheted-up take on the band’s last tour with a lot of the same behind-the-scenes artisans involved. The music is again trusted to Delk (monitor engineer) and Jon Jon Garber (FOH).
Garber worked for Brad Paisley, Brooks & Dunn and Toby Keith in various positions before becoming assistant engineer, and finally FOH, for Rascal Flatts. He’s been with them now for eight years, and every time he figures it out, they throw new challenges at him — and he wouldn’t have it any other way.“I’m here for the challenges — that’s what I love,” he declares.
Delk, too, has worn different hats with Gary Allan and Tim McGraw, among others, and has been on the Rascal rocket for nearly five years. On this tour, Sound Image supplied the gear, plus five additional crewmembers: Crew Chief Landon Store, System Engineer Pete McDonough, and stage techs Jeremy Moore, Jason Blackburn and Ian Maurer.
The show fills 18 trucks with 90 JBL VerTec 4889s, 32 VerTec 4880s and 12 QSC Widelines. It’s all powered by Crown 8000s. In addition to the core trio, Rascal hits the road with five backup musicians, most of them multi-instrumentalists. All are completely wireless except the drummer and keyboard player, and the band insists on running all over the arenas. Oh yeah, and the band’s audience is one of the most vociferous ones out there.
“They have the loudest fans,” sighs Delk. “Last night in Chicago, we were playing in a wooden arena, and it was the loudest ever.” But he keeps them in line with the volume knob —
not turning it up, but down.
“You have to keep the levels at decent levels and bring them down,” says Garber. “Bring the fans back with the mix, because they want to hear the music.”
On their 11th hour of a 19-hour day, Delk and Garber were comfortable with leaving their post long enough to sit down and talk with FOH.
The instruments, mics and monitors are all wireless — that’s a lot of signals….
Stuart Delk: It’s my biggest challenge. We’re carrying 32 channels of wireless that is inbound and outbound, and 27 are active during the show, plus a couple of backups. With all the digital TVs on the market out there emitting powerful signals, it’s been rough.
Jon Jon Garber: Especially in New York, L.A. — Chicago we played last night…
Delk: But now we’re using the new Shure UHF-R wireless system, which is self-scanning, and able to find its own frequencies. It’s cut the time I need to find frequencies in half. And we’re using high-powered, high-gain antennas that are very directional, which we need as the guys go everywhere. But once it’s locked in, we don’t have to worry about it.
And the personal monitors?
Delk: We are using the new Sennheiser G2 systems that are also self-scanning.
I have to do some antenna positioning — like today, I have antennas in the seats high up clamped on the hand-railing aiming down on the whole floor. It needs to be high up because the signals can’t go through water, and people are basically made of water.
Here’s an idea: Why don’t you just tell the band where they can and can’t go?
[later …. When they finally stop laughing… ]
Garber: [Laughs] You can’t tell these guys anything!
Delk: You try something like that, and they’ll go further just to defy you!
What’s different on this tour for you, Jon Jon, from the past one?
Garber: This tour has different challenges — like now they do a full band on the second stage near FOH. Last tour, just the trio came out and played acoustic behind me. Now it’s a quartet with drums, and they play five numbers and use a Rhodes piano. I’m mixing them, when with the drummer just over my shoulder — I’ve had to ask him to play quieter….
It’s kind of overwhelming because first you’re hearing the real sound, then moments later you’re hearing the delay from the main speakers hanging from the stage. You have to mix accordingly and try not to get too carried away.…
Stuart, is the band challenging to monitor for?
Delk: It’s eight radically different mixes — each musician wants something completely different. During rehearsals, it was tough dialing stuff up, but now I have a sense of it.
Garber: Because of the demands of the set, we have the guitar amps under the stage. But when someone plays a guitar solo, he wants to hear it, feel it, in more than just his ears. So we have “hot spots” with wedges and a guy who just watches where the guitarist lands for the solo; he cranks up the wedge that is closest to him.
Also, we have side fields — three VerTecs on each side — just for vocals and to add some presence. It gives the singers the feeling of air movement, which a lot of guys miss when they go to personal monitors.
So, normally you do shows in the round?
Garber: Yes, and it’s challenging at 360. It just adds so many more reflections to your hearing perspective, and you’re hearing stuff from everywhere. It’s a matter of knowing what level to keep your mixes at.
With the band’s shows getting increasingly complicated, are there ever any conflicts with the lighting and staging people? Seems like toes could get stepped on….
Garber: Not at all. We have a good team out here. We have a great stage manager, and everyone just talks to each other.
Let’s talk boards.
Garber: I’m using my board of choice, the DiGiCo D5. The band has had it for a long time — five years. We’ve added the DiGiCo D5 1-12 EX, so now it goes up to 112 inputs. We run about 68 from the stage, and altogether we have about a total of 110 inputs. And I use a lot of plug-ins. The whole thing is run with HiQnet System Architect configuration and control software.
Delk: I use two Yamaha PM 5000s. I’m a Midas fan, but we need as many outputs as we can get with this gig, and Yamaha has the most outputs. It’s been a solid rig. First Yamaha I’ve really used, and it’s warm sounding.
How involved is the band in the sound?
Garber: Jay [DeMarcus], the bass player, is like the producer of the group. He knows what he wants all the time and coordinates the music. They are always trying to make it better.
Delk: But mostly, they leave it up to us. They trust our opinion. Though, if something sounds weird or is not to their liking, they let us know. Overall, they mostly leave it to us… we like to try different things. For example, we’ve gone through three kick drum mics, experimenting. We have a Shure SM91 inside, but outside we started with an Audio-Technica 450, then tried a Shure SM32, and tonight we’re trying out a Sennheiser E 902, which just came out last year.
With that, and all the running around the band does, especially when you’re in the round, feedback must be an issue.
Garber: It’s always a big issue, and we try to control it as much as we can.
Are you successful?
Garber: About 99% of the time… [he smiles]
