Mixing Bon Jovi’s “Because We Can – The Tour”

Definitely one of the hardest working bands in the business, quintessential American rockers Bon Jovi kicked off their 2013 “Because We Can” tour to a long string of packed SRO arenas, starting Feb. 10 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Named for the main single pull from the band’s current What About Now CD, “Because We Can” is perhaps Bon Jovi’s most ambitious live undertaking to date. The tour is appearing on five continents, including two early May dates in South Africa, as the band leaps up to a extended series of summer stadium shows, including a brief return to the States for five stadium shows in July before heading to Brazil and Australia later this year.

That enough should be big news, but of course the Bon Jovi headlines in 2013 were dominated by gossip about the sudden departure of longtime lead guitarist Richie Sambora. In mid-tour, Sambora was replaced by “Phil X” (Theofilios Xenidis), a noted session rock guitarist who had previously stepped in for Sambora on Bon Jovi’s 2011 tour. But as they say, “the show must go on” and “Because We Can — The Tour” continues unabated.

» On the Road

At the helm at front of house is veteran Bill Sheppell, who applied his 28-plus years of experience to the task. Long associated as the FOH engineer with John Mellencamp, Sheppell is one of those guys who cannot be typecast into a single genre of music, having worked for artists such as ZZ Top, Prince, Michael Jackson, J-Lo, Ministry, Korn, Green Day and others.

Like a lot of sound reinforcement pros, Sheppell started off as a musician. “I was a guitar player and ended up having a job and paying for all the band’s audio gear,” he says. “So when the band broke up, I ended up having a sound company at 17. By the time I was 18, I figured out I was a better sound guy than a guitar player and when I was young, I ended up mixing Jeff Beck and Bill Gibbons with ZZ Top.”

Sheppell hadn’t toured with Bon Jovi before, although he had a pretty good idea of what to expect. “I did all their promo stuff last year, but it was all on random sound systems every six weeks or so, yet I kept some continuity by using the same console,” he explains. And from the time that rehearsals for this tour started in January, Sheppell felt right at home. “It’s a good gig, and I like working for the organization. I have some friends who’ve been with them for 20 years, and its feels good. I haven’t been here a long time, but I’ve been buds with many of the crew for a long time, including some of the riggers I knew back from my ZZ Top days. I’ve also worked with the production manager, Jesse Sandler, who was out with me on Michael Jackson.”

» The System

Clair is the sound company on the tour, which, to no surprise, features an all-Clair system. “The speakers are i5’s — 14 in the main hang; 10 on the side hang and we’ve got  Clair i5B’s in the air as subs,” adds Sheppell. “I’ve used the d&b [audiotechnik] rig a lot, and I have a way of getting good low-end through the room with that. I can approximate that with the Clair rig, but we may switch to Clair BT-218’s in the air, because it’s a big rock show and there isn’t much room beneath the stage — we can only put three subs per side on the ground. Also, there are some high-dollar money seats up close. I can’t pummel those people, so I need to get the meat of the P.A. from the air. This is why we have the subs in the air between the mains and the side hang.” The upstage and rear fills are comprised of four hangs, each with ten Clair i3’s. All amplifiers are Lab.gruppen.

» On the Board

From a console standpoint, Sheppell is definitely in the DiGiCo camp. “I’m a SD7 fan at this point. I mixed on the Avid Profile when I was with Mellencamp, and I might switch to an SD10 when I go back to that. On this tour, I’m tracking all the inputs and audience mics because there is no separate recording rig, and I’m up to about 75 inputs. This seems like a lot for what’s essentially a 5-piece rock band, but the studio guys like having everything for Jon’s records, so I’m giving them everything they want and everything they’ve used so far in post has worked out well for them. And this way I can also have the virtual sound check and make sure everything sounds great. The SD just sounds good.”

» Inside and Outboard

For this tour, Sheppell has found the right balance of in-the-box and outboard devices to give him the sound he wants. “Before we went into the one-offs last year, I had an SD7 at my house, so I could work on mixes. I set up a mix the normal way I do with an SD7 and some analog stuff I always use,” he says. “I also tried some of the Waves stuff, but didn’t need it so much with all the multiband compression and stuff the console already has — realistically, there’s a C6 on every channel. Also, this tour doesn’t have any crazy effects, so I’m happy with the console with a few analog things, like the Summit TLA 100’s. I’m as fan of those — it’s a great compressor. I have an old [Eventide] H3000D/se, which I use for background vocal widening. I also have a couple TC Electronic M-2000’s — I use one for snare ‘verb and the other as an autopanner. That’s pretty much it — nothing crazy.”

In terms of reverbs, Sheppell he also uses the SD7’s onboard effects, “but not too much. You really don’t need a lot of vocal reverb when you’re working arenas. So it’s the M-2000 on snare and the onboard reverb on toms.”

But there are no high-tech outboard preamps in use, even for the money channel. “The preamps in the new SD racks are pretty good. I could go with something outboard, but in big arenas are people really going to hear that much of a difference? The TLA-100 warms the channel a bit and the preamps are good in the new 192 SD racks.”

» Mics

“We’ve been using the Shure Axient for Jon’s vocal, which in terms of RF, has been bulletproof. The wireless mics have Beta 58a capsules, and all the hardwired vocal mics are Beta 58a’s. We have the normal Shure kick drum setup, with an SM 91 and Beta 52. The snare has a Heil PR 31 on top and a PR 22 on the bottom,” says Sheppell. “The studio guys didn’t want a condenser on hi-hat, so there’s a PR 31 on that. The toms have Beta 98 AMP’s  — these are great with the new hardware, more solid gooseneck and no separate transformer. I’m using a Shure KSM 137 on ride and KSM 32’s on the overhead channels. Jon and Bobby’s [tour guitarist Bobby Bandiera] electric guitars are SM57’s; and the Richie/Phil X iso cab has a Heil PR 30 and a Shure KSM 313 [ribbon mic]. It’s not a Shure endorsement, but the stuff works well.”

Selection of a direct box for bass can be key to the sound on any tour. “When we were in rehearsals, we listened to a lot of direct boxes, then finally settled on a Countryman Type 85. The bass sits in there well. He [Hugh McDonald] is a very smooth player and plays with fingers, so we chose the one that gave us the most presence to let it sit out a bit.”

» Loud or Louder?

Unlike a lot of tours, Sheppell tries to keep the SPL’s under control. “It’s not really loud,” he says. “The fans are my age or older, and nobody wants to get beat up. The louder stuff is peaking around 103 dBA; and I try to sit around 99 to 101 dBA for most of the show. For the ballads, I try to bring it down and make the crowd have to listen in to make it feel more intimate. I try to mix with enough bottom-end so it seems like a big rock show, but without brutalizing anyone.”

» Monitorworld: It’s Complicated

The main monitor engineer on the tour is Glen Collett, who’s been working with Bon Jovi since 2005. Like Sheppell, Collett is also a seasoned pro. He began mixing monitors for Bryan Adams in 1983 and had been with it since then. Some of Collett’s other long-term clients include Paul Simon, James Taylor and Bette Midler.

One might think that monitor mixing for a straightforward rock band like Bon Jovi might be simple, but, as they say on Facebook, “It’s complicated.” The tour has two monitor engineers: Collett handles Jon and the band —who are all on in-ears; and Andy Hill does Richie/Phil-X, who’s on wedges and fills.

So how did this come about? “Ever since I began here, I realized the need for having a monitor engineer that just took care of Richie Sambora, because his requirements were so vastly different than everybody else’s,” explains Collett. “The entire band was on in-ears, except for Richie, who was on an open-earpiece that I developed for him, plus side fills and wedges. Plus, the monitor engineer also generates Richie’s effects on stage, which change from song to song. There’s a lot going on with that and it was better to have one guy [dedicated monitor engineer] taking care of that.”

After Richie left and Phil came in, there was a shift in the monitoring requirements. “Phil is a studio guitarist who’s played on tons of records. He didn’t wander all over the arena needing coverage everywhere and didn’t need anyone to generate effects for him. Working with Phil got a lot easier for Andy,” Collett says. “Richie, like Pete Townshend, developed considerable hearing loss over the years, which makes on-stage monitoring much more of a challenge. Phil, having good ears, makes it much easier. Since Phil essentially parachuted into handling Richie’s position, we started with wedges, adjusting the mix for him, but now he’s entirely on in-ears and the wedges went away.”

» The Monitor Position

While Andy Hill works on a digital Avid VENUE, Collett’s console of choice is a Midas Heritage 3000. “It’s good old analog, Collett explains. “People — especially younger people — always ask me why I prefer mixing analog, although on some shows, such as when I was working with Mariah Carey, digital was the perfect way to go, with its link to time code for their Pro Tools guy. She’s also someone that you don’t have to constantly be mixing to and changing EQs for. It’s a whole different requirement for an analog rock ‘n’ roll band, or even for Paul Simon, who I used to mix with two H3000’s, which worked really well. On one of his tours, which I didn’t do, the monitor engineer was using a digital board and was constantly looking down at the board, rather than at Paul, who was frustrated because he’d want to make quick changes in midstream and they’d take too long to implement. Monitor mixing is all about making the artist feel comfortable and secure when they’re on stage. But analog or digital, they both still have their place.”

On the subject of analog, “I also use Summit tube compressors on Jon’s vocals and acoustic guitars,” says Collett, “and he loves the sound and warmth of that. I’m using a TC Electronic M-5000, which to me is one of the best reverbs out there. There really is not a lot of outboard gear in the mixes, but I do use an Aphex Dominator broadcast limiter on the in-ears, just to tickle it a little and keep a hard-driving mix — like Jon Bon Jovi’s — under control.”

» Wireless Issues

Handling wireless coordination —a job that’s growing increasingly complex — is Ken McDowell, who’s new to the Bon Jovi crew but most recently was out with Van Halen. “For me, not having to worry about RF is heaven sent,” says Collett, “especially after the FCC sold all the 700 MHz band to Verizon, and wireless coordination became more and more difficult. Having a good, dedicated person handling RF used to be a luxury, but these days, it’s a necessity — you’re lost without it.”

Bon Jovi “Because We Can — The Tour”

Sound Company

Clair

Audio Crew

FOH Engineer: Bill Sheppell

Systems Engineer: Frank Principato

Monitor Engineers: Glen Collett, Andy Hill

RF Tech: Ken “Cubby” McDowell

Monitor Tech: Dustin Ponscheck

PA Tech: Thomas Morris

Production Manager: Jesse Sandler

PA System

Main PA Hang: (14) Clair i5’s/side

Side PA Hang: (10) Clair i5’s/side

Subs: Clair i5B’s (two columns of 12/side)

Upstage/Rear Fills: Clair i3’s

Amplification: Lab.gruppen

FOH Gear

Console: DiGiCo SD7

Outboard: Summit TLA-100 tube compressors; Eventide H3000D/se UltraHarmonizer; TC Electronic M-2000 reverbs

Monitor Gear

Consoles: Midas Heritage 3000; Avid VENUE

Outboard: TC Electronic M-5000 reverb; Summit TLA-100 tube compressors; Aphex Dominator limiter

Wireless: Shure Axient

Mics: see stage input list below

FOH Input List