I first met David Eisenhauer when he was mixing Paul Simon for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame shows in NYC. We only got to talk for a couple of minutes, and he said he would really like FOH to come out and cover the opening of the new Giant's Stadium with Bon Jovi. Well, cross country travel ain't exactly in the budget these days, but he extracted a promise to come to the show when it was closer to home. We met up when they hit Vegas for a show at the MGM Grand Garden, and everything about the show was huge, from the staging to the lighting to the very loud sold-out crowd and of course, the sound was huge.
FOH: Arena-big, heavy analog Midas desks. Three of ‘em. One at front of house (which I still see a lot) and two in monitor world (which I pretty much never see.) What's up with that? (gotta admit the sound was really "girth-y.")
David Eisenhauer: A lot of people have gotten away from that. I have no idea why. I think the medium that people listen to music in has changed so much in the past few years that MP3s have almost become an acceptable sound anymore. I am just so fortunate to work with artists who know better and who remember the days of big, fat, wide-sounding albums with a big, rich, lush mix happening. You really don't hear it much anymore, and it is great to work for a band that gets that-that wants that-and allows me to use those tools.
And you have worked with artists who can really hear the difference…
Well, between James Taylor and Paul Simon…You know, the thing is, you never really get to A-B between the two, side by side. It has been so interesting out here having an opening act that is using a digital console. You know you listen to that and there have been times when I have come out during their set and thought, "hey that sounds pretty good."
Then we'll get to the first song in our set and I'll be like, "Whoa!"
And it even kind of takes me by surprise, just how big and how full and how rich – and the depth of everything that you really hear – by having really good summing amps in your console.
As long as you're on a tour that can afford to cart it around…
Oh, sure. And I get that. On some of these tours, you know, the production manager chooses the console that the engineer is going to mix on. And I see that so many times, and I see guys who have "Midas envy." They come in and they see my console and all of my tube gear and my Distressers. It's like walking into the Hit Factory. You look at the stuff, and it is literally all stuff you would use when mixing a record. And these guys are like "Oh my God. My production manager rented me a digital console because everything is onboard."
And I get that. There is a place for that and an advantage to having that. But that is one nice thing about being on one of the biggest tours in the world. That is not an issue. You can't tell me, "Oh, we don't have the space for that."
Every once in a while, when they are about to put it on air freight, I have to remind them why I use an XL4, but for the most part they get it.
During soundcheck, I watched you doing what I call "active mixing." You were actively pulling down mics that were not being used and really taking an active role in the sound, which you don't see enough of.
Even from being 12, 13 years old and going to see shows, the shows that really blew me away – I would always see the mixer actually mixing like you would on a record.
In my opinion there are two kinds of people out here doing my job, and those are mixers and sound engineers. And to me, a sound engineer is a guy who can throw up a tuning on the PA, get it to sound okay, and kind of bring things up and maybe get the kick drum to sound good and the guitar to sound okay and get the vocals in and maybe dial in a nice reverb. But then they just kind of sit there. And they kind of just go, "Okay, I'm done. I've done my job. I've got everything up in the PA, it's not feeding back, nothing is mooing." And they'll just kind of sit there and maybe on one song go "Oh, I'll put a delay on that."
Then there are the guys who are actual mixers. I mean, when I would go to shows and I would see guys like Dave Cobb or Clive Franks or Brian Ruggles or Trip Kahlif – and when I first got to Clair, I thought, "These are the guys who are in the know." It's just the layering those guys get in their mix and the fact that they are always mixing.
They're listening for vocal harmonies and going, "Oh, the third isn't loud enough," or "The fifth isn't loud enough." And they know the music. They listen to the records, and they make notes about their mix, and they change the panning on things. And that is what I try to do-to recreate what you hear on the record.
And to do that, you have to be doing things like pulling vocal mics out of the mix when the singer is not using it. Sometimes it is not what you put into the mix but what you take out that makes all the difference.
For more an the art of mixing "heads down vs. heads up," and how David Eisenhauer got the gig in the first place, go to fohonline.com/tv.
