Drake is one of the few artists who successfully bridged the gap from acting to becoming a major musical artist. Born Aubrey Drake Graham, this Toronto native originally achieved critical acclaim in the role of Jimmy Brooks, a student on the popular Degrassi: The Next Generation TV series, with his poignant portrayal of a promising high school athlete whose career was cut short when the character became paraplegic after being shot by a fellow student.
Moving into his first love of music, his mix tapes and rapping caught the attention of industry heavyweights and in 2009, he signed to Lil Wayne‘s Young Money Entertainment. His So Far Gone EP had heavy chart action (peaking at #2) and garnered a Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year in 2010. The hits continued, and his 2012 Club Paradise outing was the top grossing Hip-Hop tour the year.
Drake is currently completing the North American leg of his current arena tour supporting his latest Nothing Was the Same studio release, which wraps up at the Palace of Auburn Hills (Auburn Hills, MI) Dec. 16 and then continues internationally in 2014, moving on to Europe and Australia.
We caught up with Drake’s FOH mixer Demetrius Moore and monitor engineer Sean Sturge for an update on the current tour, which is supported by Eighth Day Sound.
At FOH
Now veteran of many jobs on many tours, Moore thanks his mentor and fellow FOH mixer Tim Colvard for helping him along the way, as he began working as the “fifth man” for Eighth Day Sound, touring with 50 Cent and Jay Z; then moved to stage patching for Prince’s Musicology tour; sound tech for Madonna; systems engineering for Third Day, Lil Wayne and Drake; and now handling FOH for Drake.
Asked what’s different about this Drake tour, Moore says, “Before this tour, the programmer (Matt Davis) and I spent nights in the studio moving audio [backing and stem] tracks around and mixing them for a big room and not just a studio environment. Once we set a template of how we’d do this tour, we decided to do the stems for all of Drake albums — including the mixtape stuff — so, if one day he called an audible, we would be in the general ballpark of where we needed to go.”
Another change came when Drake’s producer, Noah “40” Shebib, called Moore, saying they wanted to do with a larger system for the tour. Moore replied it was “Easy — no problem. I stuck with the d&b audiotechnik system this tour because it gives me the warmth and musical sound I go after. I wanted people to come to a Drake show thinking they just heard a vinyl 45 record side A and B.”
The solution came from a large all-d&b rig based around 44 J8 line arrays in the main hang, with 16 flown JSUBs and 24 B2 ground subs, along with d&b fills and side hangs (see sidebar for more details). And having lived with it for some time, Moore feels the decision was spot-on. “The main system is amazing,” he adds. “I have the power that I need and the musical sounds of Sade’s ‘Smooth Operator.’”
Another plus comes from keeping the system mostly in the digital domain. “The entire system is driven digitally at 96k Hz with a full analog backup,” notes Eighth Day Sound’s chief technology officer Jason Kirschnick. “The signal flow hits the A-to-D converter off the stage to 96k into the DiGiCo system and then never gets converted back to the analog domain until the output stage of the amplifier. The entire signal flow stays digital at 96k Hz through Dolby processors to the amplifier.”
The Mix
Moore has been working on a DiGiCo SD7, his mixer of choice. “I love that console. I get around that console as fast as [NASCAR racer] Jeff Gordon can get around his home track. With the sound of the console and what it lets me do, I can’t see myself spec’ing another console. There’s nothing out there with that sound and flexibility,” Moore notes.
“My base mix is to make it sound like the record, because that’s what Drake and the producer 40 want it to sound like. But they do let me alter things so we get a studio mix but with a live feel and here, panning is the key.” Effects-wise, Moore is using “a lot of plug-ins on my computer via Ableton, along with a complete Waves package of live and studio plug-ins. It’s all synched to tempo, which is a very important part to the sound of the tour.”
Another key part of Drake’s live vocal sound is Avalon’s VT737 analog channel. “That unit and I have developed a relationship this tour which puts Drake’s vocal right there in the mix. In every seat in the house he is right in front of you. As one engineer told me on this tour, Drake’s vocal is so clear that Windex can’t compete with that clarity.”
But on this tour, transparency is combined with power. “It’s a loud show but I promise you that you won’t leave with you ears ringing,” Moore explains. “It’s a very dynamic show, as Drake has those heavy-hitting 808 songs as well as the ballad R&B songs mixed with one pop record.”
Monitorworld
Monitor engineer Sean Sturge has seen it all. His career began as a studio engineer at the famed Caribbean Sound Basin studio complex in Trinidad back in 1991, but soon after he turned to touring, which he finds more interesting. “I love doing live work,” he explains. “You have three hours to get it right, as compared to working on a hi-hat sound for 20 hours!”
And during his live career, he’s done FOH and monitor mixing for a number of top acts, among them being Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent and now Drake.
On this tour, Sturge is mixing on a DiGiCo SD10 linked with a Waveserver. “I’m not using all the effects that the producer used on Drake’s vocals in the studio, but I get it fairly close and Drake likes his mix to sound pretty much like the record and he’s been very happy with the mix.”
He also has no problems tying into his DAW. “I record to my laptop Pro Tools and can do a Virtual Sound Check and link my desk with the new DigiGrid MGB-P. It’s basically a MADI interface from my laptop to the console. It’s very handy.”
One thing that really sets this tour apart from most is a low-SPL stage. “There are absolutely no speakers at all on stage — not even a guitar cabinet,” Sturge notes. “I do five different mixes [plus two guest performer mixes] — all to in-ears: keys, drums, DJ, Pro Tools (operator) and Drake. The drummer and keyboard player are using their own Ultimate Ears; Drake and everyone else is on JH Audio earpieces. I monitor on JH-16’s and occasionally switch to UE Reference Monitors.”
Sturge does have a few secrets he learned over the years, especially in terms of vocal mics. “In the Hip-Hop world I’ve been in, it’s always been [Sennheiser] SKM 5000’s since I first used them at Woodstock ‘99 and a few Puff Daddy one-offs I tried them on,” he reveals. “Now we’re using them with the 5005e capsule, which they don’t make anymore, so I keep collecting them from anywhere I can find them. Considering the high SPL’s that rappers do, they keep their dynamic sound, no matter how much screaming goes into them. And rappers do yell once in a while — or continually,” he laughs.
For many live sound engineers, the chore of RF coordination has become more difficult, and it’s no different for Sturge, who handles that duty along with monitor tech Drew Marvar. “Actually on this tour, there are no particular challenges, except getting all the open channels you need when going from city to city,” Sturge says. “Our saving grace every day is Sennheiser System Manager. I love that software. We set up the wireless rack first thing in the morning, do some scans, and that’s it for the rest of the day.”
