Once again, the call came via ProAudioSpace.com. Would I be interested in coming out to cover the Robin Thicke/Jennifer Hudson tour and The Pearl, the high-end concert venue at the Palms Hotel that was covered in FOH back when they were building it? I really liked the idea of the venue, but the one show I had seen there left me underwhelmed because the room was under subbed, and with an act as great as the Black Crowes, that is well nigh unto a sin.
But rumor had it that the sub issue had been dealt with, and PM/TM/FOH mixer Tim Miller was totally accommodating, so — even though there was a show in town that night that I really wanted to see just because I am a big fan (no one quite like Boz…), I opted to head over to the Palms instead.
On arrival, I called Tim, and he guided me down to the one unlocked door where I could get in, and I walked over to the FOH position to wait for him, where I had a long talk with Brian Taylor, who is the lead audio engineer for the Pearl. Great guy. We talked about adding the d&b subs to the system (which took it to a whole ‘nother level…), how great Albert at Audio Analysts is (he had come out personally to tune the system with the new subs in place) and plans for the future (if I told ya, I’d have to kill ya…).
It was a good 30 minutes before Tim was able to pull away. It’s bad enough when you wear as many hats as he does, but Vegas gigs (especially at a place like the Palms on the first Ditch Friday pool party of the year—also known as “hotties in very small bikinis central”).
The scary thing is that this is really nothing new for Tim, whose resume reads like a list of some of the highest profile tours that feature non-grown ups ever. Going all the way back to 1988, he spent six years as mixer and PM for New Kids On the Block. When that run ended, he spent a few years doing PM and FOH duties for acts ranging from Echo and the Bunnymen to Snoop Dog. In 1998 he took over and production manager and coordinator for Britney Spears and at the same time did the PM/FOH thing for *NSYNCH for their entire run including broadcast events and stadium tours. Oh, and Will Smith from 1999 until 2008. In 2005 he was an associate producer and mixer for the Philly portion of Live 8 and he hooked up with Robin Thicke in 2006 and has been with him since then, working with Kelly Clarkson, Lionel Ritchie, Danity Kane and Will Smith in his “off time.”
I am tired just typing it, but Tim has the kind of even and calm demeanor that this kind of schedule and these kinds of clients demand. Things were a little crazy in Vegas, but I never once saw him lose his cool. Gear quirks, crew quirks (BIG ones), press needs, “taking care” of the talent — whatever. Nothing seemed to faze him.
While Tim dealt with whatever the latest hell was, I talked with monitor mixer Jeremy DuBois about his side of the snake.
In Monitor World
“I got into this business originally as a producer and engineer in 1993 and had some success with rock acts like New Found Glory and Dashboard Confessional,” said DuBois. “Early on, I began supplementing my income doing regional gigs for a sound company in Miami named Beach Sound (for which I still work freelance for when I’m not on tour). Over time I was spending less and less time in the studio and more time in the live side of things.
“Once a got a taste of touring I left the studio life for good around eight years ago. My first big break in live sound came when my friend Howie Lindeman asked me to fill in some dates for him mixing FOH with Roberta Flack — I later mixed monitors for her on and off for several years. I’ve mainly been a monitor guy and I do think that a lot of the studio work I did early on really translates well to mixing IEMs.”
DuBois’ credits run from pop singers like Jon Secada to Ravi Shankar, and you would think that this would be an easy gig as Thicke and Hudson share the same band. Wrong.
“This tour has really been a challenge because my approach to mixing from Robin’s set to Jennifer’s is really like two different bands,” he said. “Robin can go from a loud rock/R&B sound to a quiet a cappella piece then a hip hop number several times a night. Jennifer’s set is a little bit more open, with big ballads and pop/ R&B numbers. We’re running about 67 inputs to the D-Show consoles between the two artists, using snapshots between acts and different segments of the show.”
RF coordination is a big part of the day as well. DuBois and monitor tech Scott Evans have their hands full with 26 channels of IEMs, mics and backline wireless. Everyone is on Ultimate Ear’s UE-7 Pros.
The tour has been using Digidesign’s D-Show with PQ Personal Mixing systems for drums, bass, and horns. “I can’t stress how much that helps me to focus on the artist, since I can’t even see our drummer or horn players at times due to the set design and some of the houses we’ve ended up in,” said DuBois. “There are still a few wedges onstage, but Tim and I really try to work together to keep them from spilling out into the house too much. I try to really use side fills as side fill subs to help fill in the sound for the IEMs. It also helps to have a main PA hang without a ton of volume coming from the rear and sides and the Clair I-3 fits this bill.”
DuBois is a big fan of the D-Show console, both for ease of use and scaleability. “We just did a one-off with Jennifer in a small ballroom in Boston where we only needed 36 channels, so I used one stage rack and a soft patch change and we where off the races. Same session software just less gear, I like!”
Where’s Tim?
After talking with Jeremy I caught up with Tim again, but there was obviously some kind of crisis brewing. So I came up with the idea of “interviewing” Tim via a one-week tour diary that he could email me.
The show that night was great, and if Sin City’s distractions took a toll, no one in the audience ever knew. Which is part of what a great crew does. Here is how the rest of Tim’s week went…
Friday, May 8 — Travel Day
Tim Miller (from his email correspondence with FOH Magazine): Today was a travel day as everyone was flying from their home cities to meet in New Orleans and travel via tour bus to Biloxi, Miss. for tomorrow’s show at the Beau Rivage casino. Everyone has had a few days off as Jennifer Hudson needed a few days rest for her magnificent voice. On this tour I wear a few hats as I am Robin Thicke’s tour manager and The Robin Thicke/Jennifer Hudson Tour production manager, and I am also mixing front of house for both acts. Fortunately, with the help of Andrea and Melody at Air Apparent travel and Dwayne Harper from Hemphill Coaches, we were able to coordinate everyone flying into New Orleans within two hours of each flight to fill up our five tour buses and then drive for a little more than an hour, where we arrived in Biloxi without incident.
Saturday, May 9- Show Day
We had a 9 a.m. load in with our three Upstaging trucks driven by Don, Jim and Mike. It’s a very long push from the casino parking lot to freight elevator — 400-plus feet — but the crew at the Beau Rivage deals with it quite well and the day was pretty much on schedule. We used the house sound system, which was a dozen L-Acoustics V-Dosc cabinets in a 1,800-seat theatre. The system and the production on the whole at Beau Rivage was breath of fresh air, as they truly had it together. My only complaint would have to be directed at the unfriendly slot machines!
Sunday, May 10 — Day Off
We arrived about 7 a.m. for a day off in Memphis. This a rare luxury, as we are generally working five days a week on our seven-week tour, but we are now in the part of the schedule that was added after the tour had already begun. We have had only three or four shows that were not sold out, so an additional week was added to the tour, and then we get into the make-up dates due to the earlier cancellations.
This night turned out to be truly memorable as Robin Thicke treated the entire touring party to an awesome dinner and drinks at the Majestic Grille. After dinner, I arranged for a fleet of horse-drawn carriages to take the band, crew and bus drivers back to the hotel. Some of us did find our way to the Rum Boogie Café, where Robin and guitarist Joe Augello’s version of Al Green’s “ Let’s Stay Together” with the house band received a wild response from the crowd.
Monday, May 11 — Show Day
Another 9 a.m. load-in, this time it is the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis. The load-in was easy and Reevo and the house guys were awesome, especially since they had loaded out a big Broadway show the night before until 3 a.m.
We used our PA today, which is awesome. I have always been a huge Clair/Showco fan, and it’s a perfect match with ML Procise, Robert Drewes and Troy Clair providing support from the office and being fortunate enough to be reunited with David Moncreiffe as my Clair crew chief. Dave and I worked together for five years while I was mixing and PM-ing *NSYNC. Moncreiffe is simply the best. The day was pretty much routine, but the Orpheum is well documented for being haunted, and we did have an eventful day in that respect…we needed Ghostbusters on several occasions!
Tuesday, May 12 — Show Day
We did the short overnight trip to Nashville, where we woke up on the bus for our 9 a.m. load-in into the ground zero of country music, The Ryman Auditorium. I grew up with country music being played in our house, and I really appreciate the history of the Ryman. The load-in into the Ryman is a little tricky, as you dump the trucks in the parking lot and push through the front doors of the place down a hallway and onto the stage. You also cannot make noise until after 4 p.m., when the tourists leave the building, which isn’t nearly as painful as it sounds, because the rest of the day is nice and the Ryman has one of the most experienced house crews around. They were great. Our lighting crew with Rob Kerwath, Jason Bowman and Sport Waldie, the LD, did a great job of making our Peter Morse-designed rig fit into the Ryman.
Wednesday, May 13 — Show Day
Once again we wake up on the bus. This morning we are parked on the street, which would normally not be so bad, but it is raining, and a healthy hike to the venue. Today we are at the historic Palace Theatre in Louisville, Ky. The mix position is under the balcony, but with the Claire i3’s it was no problem as we had another great sounding show.
Speaking of sound, a couple of notes would be in order to detail what’s going on here on tour. Jennifer Hudson and Robin Thicke are touring together as co-headliners. They are sharing the same band pretty much, except pianist Big Jim Wright joins the band for Jennifer’s set.
The band lineup has Ronnie Breaux on drums, Greg Malone on bass, Joe Augello on guitar, Larry Cox is the MD and plays keys, Lemar Guillary plays trombone, Keschia Potter plays sax, Josef Leimberg is on the trumpet and we have Kim Johnson and Dee Foster singing backgrounds.
For Robin’s set, we have a Yamaha grand piano, and for Jennifer’s set, we lose the piano, re-position the risers and add a scenic staircase. Monitor-wise, we have Jeremy DuBois doing monitors for both groups. Jeremy does a great job as there is an awful lot going on his world. There is a ton of RF and boatload of mixes. He is capably assisted by Scott Evans from Claire Audio.
Thursday, May 14
Today is the end of the diary, so why not finish the way we started the week…. At the airport. The crew is flying to New York for Jennifer’s appearance on the Today show. Alex and the gang at the Today show are always great, I’ve done the outdoor concert series a half dozen times in all types of weather — light rain, hard rain, sideways rain and drizzle — but the folks at the show always make the best of it.
See you on the road —Tim Miller
GEAR
PA Speakers: 24 Clair i3s with 8 Prism subs.
Personal Monitors: Ultimate Ears
Wedge Monitors: 8 Clair SRMs
IEM: 12 Sennheiser EW 300 G2s
Wireless Helical Antenna System: Clair Helical
FOH Console: Digidesign D-Show Venue (2 Stage Racks)
Monitor Console: Digidesign D-Show Venue (2 Stage Racks); 5 PQ units
House Amps and Processing: Lab.gruppen/Dolby PLM 14000Q/10000Q
Monitor Amps and Processing: Lab.gruppen/Dolby PLM 10000Q
Mics for Robin Thicke: 8 Shure UHF-Rs, 8 SM-58 Capsules.
Mics for Jennifer Hudson: All BGVs; Sennheiser EM 3731 MD 5232 Capsule
Other Mics: All Shure mics on stage, plus Kick Beyer M-88
Software: Shure Wireless Workbench, Sennheiser SIFM Pro, SMAART Live
Drum Sub: Clair ML-18
Sidefills: Clair Prism Sub with R4 Top
