The Artist and Solotech Push the Limits with Unparalleled Sonic Transparency
Five-time Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer Céline Dion, who brought the curtain down on her residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas after more than 1,100 sold-out performances, is currently on a 12-month tour in support of her Courage album. The trek is Dion’s first world tour in 10 years — her last was the Taking Chances tour, which ended in 2009.
This one-year/122-show outing began with the North American leg on Sept 19, 2019 in Quebec City’s Videotron Centre and plays through April 27 at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg. But there’s little time for rest here as the European leg kicks off at the O2 Arena in Prague, May 21, playing 22 countries plus two Middle East dates, in Cypress and Israel) before wrapping up with two shows at London’s O2 Center Sept 17-18, 2020.
Global entertainment technology services provider Solotech is providing sound, lighting, video and rigging — everything except the stage — for the artist’s 14th concert tour, including multiple Solid State Logic Live L550 digital mixing consoles, one at front of house and two at monitors — one for Celine, the other for the band.
Making Changes
Denis Savage, who has been Dion’s tour manager and FOH engineer for several decades, began using SSL’s Live series desk at Caesars Palace in 2013. But this tour has provided the opportunity to implement some changes that have further enhanced the performance of all three consoles on the production, notes Savage. “Just before Christmas, we switched everything to 96 kHz, and the difference was incredible. Everything got lighter and smoother and brighter.”
The production also switched band monitor engineer Martin Paré and Jean-Sébastien Boucher, Dion’s engineer, to L550 consoles at the end of last year. “Everybody in the band was very happy about it,” reports Savage. Boucher has been using an early version of L550 software that enables him to control an analog SSL Sigma Delta summing mixer to eliminate latency in Dion’s in-ear monitor signal chain. That control functionality is now standard in the recent SSL Live V4.10 release.
Francois “Frankie” Desjardins, systems engineer for Savage and Dion for the past 27 years, is also VP of R&D and technological solutions for Solotech, which is headquartered in Montréal with offices across North America and the UK. Desjardins’ design for the latest touring rig supports up to 128 lines from the stage.
Those inputs pass via DirectOut Technologies’ Prodigy.MC analog-to-MADI converters over fiber at 96 kHz to a main router, which feeds a second DirectOut Technologies’ router. This second router feeds DirectOut splitters that output to two SSL Blacklight II MADI systems, one for the L550 at FOH and the other for the two desks at the monitor position.
A third split allows RF engineer Marc Theriault to monitor the Shure Axient wireless microphone system and other channels. “It looks complex, but it isn’t,” says Desjardins. “We just integrated some redundancy into the design.”
Big Show, Big Sound
The tour is also carrying a new L-Acoustics speaker system comprising left and right hangs each with 14 K1 over six K2 arrays with side hangs each having 18 K2 modules. The low-frequency side is well appointed, with 12 flown L-Acoustics K1-SB dual-15 subs per side are augmented by 40 KS21 21-inch subs, in cardioid configuration, below the stage deck. Additional L-Acoustics K2, Kara, 5XT and X8 speakers handle delays and front fill duties.
Every show is recorded into Avid Pro Tools systems at FOH and monitors. “We have the possibility to record 128 inputs at 96k,” says Desjardins. The exact number of channels varies, depending on whether Dion is performing the French or English language version of her show, he reports. In addition to Dion, the 16-piece onstage band includes drums, percussion, bass, two guitars, a keyboard player/band leader, three background singers, a string quartet and a three-piece brass section. “There are also some crowd mics,” he says.
The Pro Tools recorder at FOH also feeds the second router. “That way we can do a global virtual sound check,” explains Desjardins. “We flip to playback and can rehearse when there’s no band. Céline can sing with the tracks and fix any issues, if she has them.”
Savage also takes a personal Pro Tools rig on tour with him. “I record stems into Pro Tools,” he says, “so it’s easy to add a bit of crowd and make a quick mix for TV or something like that. If I come in during the afternoon and the video people give me some video, I can remix it in no time at all. My setup is incredible; I use it all the time.”
Keeping it Real
Savage began using Solid State Logic mixers for Dion’s live show in 2003 when she began her first (“A New Day”) residency at the Colosseum, where an Axiom MTP digital studio production console was installed at FOH. The L550 is a small desk in comparison to a studio desk, he observes. “That makes things really fast. Once you have a proper layout, things are never more than a pushbutton away, and that’s great.”
It also means that Savage occupies a very small footprint at the FOH position on tour. “I have the console and one double 14U rack next to me that has all my routing, my Bricasti and TC Electronics System 6000 reverbs, and my Pro Tools rig,” he says. The racks also currently house an outboard dynamic EQ for Dion’s vocal. But with the new upgrades in the V4.10 release, says Savage, he plans to transition to the console’s software dynamic EQ: “I’m very excited about that.”
Dion’s most recent residency at the Colosseum, simply entitled “Celine,” spanned nine years. “So the legacy of the Caesar’s show is in this console for touring,” says Desjardins. “Of course, we had to adapt to the new environment, but what is great about the SSL is that you are able to add or remove channels and change configurations without losing anything. If they add two extra violin players next week there are enough features in the console to be able to integrate them really fast, without losing what we did in the past. That’s really important for us.”
The L550 offers other features that Savage uses all the time to make his job easier, he says. For example, “My solos — guitar, or violin — are always on the same fader on the console, so I never have to look for them. It’s very important to have the primary elements close to me. With this console that’s super easy to do.”
Having has such a long working relationship with Solid State Logic, it should come as no surprise to learn that the company consulted with Desjardins and Savage when the design process for the Live console was launched. “We really liked the sound of it, especially the top end, which was outstanding,” Desjardins recalls. When it became commercially available, the production switched to the new desk, and for good reason, he says. “Overall, it was a better sounding product than what we used to encounter. It was pleasing to our ears and had a lot of nice features.”
Nearly six years later, Desjardins’ opinion is unchanged. “Everything sounds more real, I would say, than any other console. There’s less harshness. For me, the transparency of the audio was a major factor in preferring this console over others on the market at that time — and even today.”
Céline Dion Courage World Tour
CREW
- Sound Company: Solotech
- FOH Engineer/Tour Manager: Denis Savage
- System Engineer: Frankie Desjardins
- Celine Monitor Engineer: Jean Sebastien Boucher
- Band Monitor Engineer: Martin Paré
- Audio Crew Chief/System Engineer: Jonathan Trudeau
- P.A. Techs: Adam Harris, Simon Bédard, Antoine Lebrun
- RF Engineer: Marc Theriault
P.A. SYSTEM
- Main Speakers: (14) L-Acoustics K1 over (6) K2 in left/right hangs
- Subwoofers: (12) L-Acoustics K1-SB/side, flown; (40) KS21 ground in cardioid arrays
- Side Hangs: (18) L-Acoustics K2/side
- Delays/Frontfills: L-Acoustics KARA, A15, X8, 5XT
- Amplifiers: L-Acoustics LA12x, LA4X
FOH GEAR
- House Console: SSL L550+, Allen & Heath SQ5
- Outboard: Waves Rack, TC Electronics System 6000, Bricasti M7, Eventide Eclipse
- Recording Software: Avid Pro Tools
MON GEAR
- Monitor Console: SSL L550+ (Band), SSL L550+ (Celine)
- Monitor Equipment/plug-ins: TC Electronics System 6000, Bricasti M7, GML 8200, SPL 2800, SSL Sigma, Bettermaker EQ 232P, Klang Fabrik
- Monitor Speakers: none
- IEM Hardware: Shure PSM-1000 systems
- Monitor Amplifiers: Grace Design M920
- Hardwired Mics: Shure, Sennheiser, Neumann, DPA
- Wireless Mics: Shure Axient system with a selection of Shure, DPA, Earthworks, Neumann heads
