We at FRONT of HOUSE checked in recently on Hozier’s Unreal Unearth tour, which included nine exceptional musicians on stage with the gifted Irish singer-songwriter and musician. Hozier (Andrew John Hozier-Byrne) is a mixture of folk, blues and soul — his multi-platinum single “Take Me To Church” reached #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list in 2013. His debut album is 6x platinum in Ireland and multi-platinum in several other countries. He brought a lively show to the stage where we caught up with the tour and spoke to the artist’s FOH engineer Stephen “Pato” Pattison, monitor engineer Hunter Scoggins and systems engineer/crew chief Nick Sage. The sound company is Nashville-based Spectrum Sound.
From the FOH Position
Pattison first met Hozier in 2017 through management and production contacts. He was working for another Irish act called The Script, and Hozier’s management came to see the tour at London’s O2 arena. Hozier’s production manager knew Pattison from a previous tour they’d done together with The Cranberries. Management liked what they heard and approached him for Hozier. “I met up with Andrew (Hozier) and the band in rehearsals in Dublin prior to their Wasteland Baby tour,” Pattison recalls. “We got on great and they also liked that I was a musician and could offer up feedback and ideas for arrangements in the live setting.”
The 2023 tour been an interesting one with Hozier, notes Pattison, as he’s used a number of console brands at FOH. “When we started back in March, we were doing lots of promo, festivals and fan-only events, which meant we could be playing in a TV studio, to 400 people in a club or to 40,000 people at a festival… So I knew every day would be different and I’d have to fit into whatever space was available without sacrificing quality, as Andrew (Hozier) doesn’t really do stripped down versions of songs especially when they’re new or not out yet! Andrew doesn’t use any ‘tracks’ — pre-recorded material live, which means we have a lot of musicians on stage; currently it’s nine people on stage using 60+ inputs. Everyone plays more than one instrument, and everyone sings. So we needed to fit everything in, whether we went from a club to a stadium.”
For the shows in the first half of the year, Pattison chose the Allen & Heath dLive console, which he says are super-scalable. “I actually took a C1500 compact console for the club shows where space was very tight, and an S7000 when space allowed.” Pattison did use a C1500 for the band’s Glastonbury Festival show, where he had plenty of space, but it was just easier to get the smaller console to and from FOH. “I didn’t lose anything other than physical fader count — both handle the same number of inputs (128), have the same number of mix buses (64), same FX, etc. And the exact same show file loads on both without having to put it through a converter or lose anything from my show file, so that was a no-brainer. dLive has almost every type of plug-in you could ask for, great FX and nice sounding preamps. For the rest of the year — after the album was launched in August — we’d mostly be playing arenas, so with more space at FOH, I decided to use a Yamaha Rivage PM7.”
Pattison says the Rivage offers plenty of flexibility and a higher channel and mix bus count along with a more comprehensive way of integrating processing and plug-ins. “Essentially my show file is set up in a very similar fashion: There’s a 64-input stage rack with fantastic-sounding preamps and Neve Silk Texture and a MADI card for digital splits to broadcast. At FOH, I have a Dante card fitted to the surface — once again for recording and virtual sound check.”
Outboard Goes Inboard
Pattison is not carrying any outboard or external equipment for several reasons. “It’s nice to have a fancy valve (tube) preamp or compressor, but honestly, when I was using analog gear back in the day, no one ever turned around from the audience and asked ‘was that a dbx 160s on the second backing vocal?’ All those toys are really just for us ‘engineers,’ as we know how to get the result we want from that piece of gear or in some cases there’s even a placebo effect where because you’re looking at some old rack gear it ‘just sounds warmer.’”
Pattison says all the modern consoles have great features and FX onboard but adds that users do have to spend the time to tweak them, as presets are only a starting point. “I like using specific tools for specific jobs and unless it’s an obvious ‘effect’ — I prefer it when you notice the plug-in when you turn it off and suddenly it’s not quite as ‘nice’ as it was before. I like to use many small gains to make a difference — not one obvious change — but many subtleties combining to give me the result I’m after.”
For Pattison, clean and intelligible vocals are the goal. “I can then choose to either distort or add color to them. You can’t add what isn’t there in the first place, but you can take away what you don’t like about the raw signal. I like having processing in the most useful order, and on the Yamaha, I can move the inserts in the chain to get what I want. Once the signal’s at the console, I like to go in the order of Hi Pass filter, fast attack and release compressor like a modeled 1176, dynamic EQ like a BSS901 model, then static channel EQ, then another dynamic EQ, and then a slow compressor like an LA2A model.”
Capturing that Sound
Hozier’s albums are often sonically dense, and reverb is a major player in the early recordings, notes Pattison. “The new material often features orchestral arrangements, so to keep the live version as rich, I’ll use some modulation FX on instruments and vocals. I always use stereo sends into FX so I can place instruments within the effected “cloud” that I add to the live mix. We have a cellist and violinist on tour, and they have their own pedal boards with FX for overdriven cello sounds, etc., but I also take a clean, dry version that I’ll use for my own reverb sends to build a string section out of a duo. I often use multiple reverbs on the same instrument such as room verbs along with halls and plates too. I’ll sum the instruments to groups and I mostly mix from there.”
Pattison says they’re using Universal Audio OX reactive load boxes with Dynamic Speaker Modeling on Andrew’s guitar amps to control the stage volume as he uses mostly semi-acoustic guitars. “He has a Gibson 330 that would howl near a loud tube amp, especially when he uses fuzz pedals. So I let the P.A. act as his amp and I’ll ride his level when he needs feedback and sustain or not. Me being a guitar player is definitely useful at different points — so do I need to change my EQ or turn the sub down or can we use cardioid subs, or maybe even change the arrangement. If you offer ideas that have a solid foundation and reasoning, and the band is happy on stage, mixing FOH so much easier.”
So far, this tour has been a great experience. “This is such a fantastic camp all around from top to bottom. Andrew is the nicest person, appreciates everything we do and takes any ideas the crew may have if it improves the show in any way. I’m always amazed how he remembers everyone’s name, there’s 50 plus people on the road with this show and he thanks everyone by name every night!”
The Systems Approach
This is Nick Sage’s second Hozier tour as systems engineer and crew chief. Sage started as the general tech with Spectrum Sound, the tour’s audio company since 2018. “The band and crew have always been staffed by incredibly talented, kind people who seem to rally around the music and are at the top of their game, which makes each day that much easier. Pato has been here since I began and fits that exact mold as someone who is absolutely ‘pro’ at their gig, while always looking to make the day a little more light-hearted. This is also the type of gig where the artist genuinely cares about his band and crew and that trickles down and makes people want to stay, which is a huge part of why a good majority of this crew has been together for a while.”
Sage has been with Spectrum for eight years and, similar to company clients, Hozier is one that they have supported almost from the beginning. “Spectrum had a relationship with the Hozier team since ‘Take Me to Church’ first began to chart and it was quickly decided that the original planned 6-week tour for the self-titled album would have to be extended. Bobby George, our Spectrum Sound account rep and PM Duchess Iredale had a small connection that led to a couple consoles being rented. Fast forward to now in what has blossomed into a 10-year-long partnership for his gigs in the U.S. & Canada.”
Up until 2019, Spectrum supplied consoles and then a control package with P.A. of the day. For the Unreal Unearth tour, Sage says they were able to have the consistency of a d&b KSL rig, while truly throwing it through the wringer of different venue types.
“Between Pato, myself and Bobby George, we were able to build a P.A. rig that would fill a large arena but be adaptable for whatever venue size we’d find ourselves in. The KSL system allows us to adapt to each room while being confident that we have the same coverage and sound every night. The 12 KSL Subs across the front gives us nice, smooth low-end coverage while also giving that ‘punch’ that you wouldn’t expect from such a small postage stamp footprint of the KSL. With the system being rear-rejecting along with the band being completely on in-ears, it makes for a quiet stage and as much as a clean template as possible for Hunter (Scoggins) on monitors.”
Sage added that his “drive rack setup is pretty straightforward with our DirectOut Prodigy processor. The Prodigy allows for several inputs, which we use for our opener and then drive the amps via Dante with analog backups. I then time and tune in the d&b D80 amplifiers through R1 remote control software.”
Close friends for many years, Pattison helped show Sage the ropes of touring early on in his career. “Because of this, I owe lots of my personal setup and workflow to him,” Sage says. “He’s always had a simple setup that he will tinker with, as most good FOH engineers seem to do. On this run, he is entirely in the box with a PM7, which not only makes my job much easier but also showcases the benefits of having a Yamaha console out with us.”
Meanwhile, in Monitor World
Hunter Scoggins mixes monitors for the band on an AVID S6L-24D connected to the E6L-192 engine, with 64 inputs from stage and tech worlds. Scoggins is currently running 30 outputs to run the show. “I have 14 stereo outs for my IEMs for the band and the techs. We have nine band member and four tech mixes every day with a dedicated IEM mix for guests.”
Scoggins notes that the guitar players no longer have amps on stage; those are placed stage right in the guitar/string tech world. “We have the cabinets of their choice set up and use Universal Audio’s OX amp attenuator and speaker modeling unit. This lets us get the sound of the chosen amp without the added stage volume. It also allows us to have working amps near stage for emergency purposes.”
With all nine performers on stage who sing and play multiple instruments, with several members moving to different positions to play different instruments, keeps things lively for Scoggins. “We also have a Nord keyboard setup far downstage right that is used by our cellist and one of our backing vocalists with a mic in that position. Because of these position and instrument changes, coupled with the many different instrumentations and arrangements during the show it’s imperative that I use my Snapshots diligently.”
Scoggins doesn’t use very many effects or plug-ins for the show. “Hozier and the band have spent countless hours developing the sounds they want in their music, and leading up to the tour, we spent lots of time working together to get the sounds and mixes they wanted on the road. “Hozier thrives in the live environment and the idea from the start was to have the show reflect that. I will add reverb to vocals and acoustic instruments to give a little more space to the mix and give it a more live feel. Occasionally I use a delay on some inputs, but by and large, I’ve managed to stay away from using many plug-ins — just some the AVID has available onboard.”
Hozier’s vocal mic is the Shure KSM11, which Scoggins says gives the vocal an “in your face” presence that really helps him in monitor world. “Andrew loves a dynamic mix that reflects the live performance environment. The KSM11 lets me keep his vocal present in the mix, while minimizing extemporaneous stage noise and maintaining control of the mix. There is a top-end bite sort of sound that he likes to hear in his vocal and this mic allows me to provide this with minimal effort from the console. He also uses a Shure 520 DX Green Bullet mic, which is designed for capturing harmonica. It has a lo-fi sound quality that he uses for specific lines in a few songs. I throw a little reverb on that to give it that old-school, lo-fi sound for those moments.”
Ultimate Ears IEMs are being used for the tour. Hozier, Scoggins and Alex the musical director and bass player are on the UE LIVE IEMs. The rest of the band are on UE 7 PRO and UE 11 PRO, depending on their personal preference.
“I couldn’t do my job without the techs we have on stage,” says Scoggins. “Murt Murphy is Hozier’s guitar tech and architect of his guitar rig. Our bass and drum tech Fred Burke’s work setting and tuning the drums makes my days so much easier. Bailey Griffith is our keys and strings tech and he covers our other guitars players on stage.”
Good Vibrations
Scroggins added one feeling shared by the entire crew. “Working with and mixing Hozier has been an incredibly rewarding experience. He knows what he wants to hear and is adept in communicating that to me. Hozier and his band are incredibly talented singers and musicians and they make mixing the show easier than I could’ve imagined.”
The tour is currently doing European and U.K. shows, wrapping up in 3Arena (Dublin, Ireland) on Dec. 22, 2023. A South American leg kicks off in March 2023, soon after followed by a return to U.S. dates in April.
AUDIO CREW
- Sound Company: Spectrum Sound
- FOH Engineer: Stephen “Pato” Pattison
- System Engineer/Audio Crew Chief: Nick Sage
- Monitor Engineer: Hunter Scoggins
- Monitor Tech: Gehrig Duncan,
- P.A. Fly Tech: Shane Linderman
- Tour Manager: Samantha Pauly
- Production Managers: Nick Lawrie, Duchess Iredale
- Backline Techs: Murt Murphy, Fred Burke, Bailey Griffith
P.A. GEAR
- P.A. System: d&b audiotechnik KSL
- Main Hangs/Side: (14) KSL8, (2) KSL12
- Side Hangs/Side: (16) KSL8
- Center Hang: (4) d&b T10
- Subs: (12) KSL
- Front Fills: (4) d&b Y10P
- Amps: (42) d&b D80, (6) DS10
- Processor: DirectOut Prodigy
FOH GEAR
- FOH Console: Yamaha Rivage PM7
- In-Console Effects: Eventide SP2016 & Bricasti reverbs; Eventide H3000 Harmonizer; Yamaha e1010 modeled delay; SPX delays and verbs; Tremolo; Autopan; DanSe multiband noise suppression; Rupert EQ773, EQ810, 5045 Primary Source Enhancer; Dynamic EQ; 1176 and LA2A comps
MON GEAR
- Monitor Console: AVID S6L-24D
- In Console Effects: Revibe II; Pro Multiband Dynamics; Tape Echo; EQ III 5 Band EQ
- Vocal Mic: Shure KSM11
- IEM Hardware: Shure PSM1000
- IEMs: Ultimate Ears
- Wireless System: Shure Axient Digital
