It’s sounds like another teen novelty act — and in time it may turn out that way — but the American rock/indie band Echosmith is doing the work, writing great songs and putting on engaging live performances that seems to point that they are more than that. But they are young. The quartet is made of four L.A.-based Sierota siblings: Graham (drums/16), sister Sydney (singer/18), Noah (bass/19), and Jamie (guitar/22).
The current European leg wrapped up in on May 6 at The Tunnel in Milan, Italy. As the band seems to prefer working to sleeping, two days later, they returned to their native Southern California turf, performing at the Channel 933 Summer Kickoff arena show at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, CA (with Pitbull, David Guetta and others), followed by an opening slot for Kanye West, Justin Bieber (and others) at the KIIS FM Wango Tango, at the StubHub Stadium in Carson, CA. Hey, we did say these kids were on the move…
“It’s a lot of fun working with this band, and they are seasoned players beyond their ages for sure,” says FOH engineer Scott Cannon. “The kids definitely have a certain quality and level of experience that you would make you think they have been doing this much, much longer than they have. They are quite particular about their sound, and for me, it is always refreshing when musicians care about that and are willing to spend the time to get it dialed in.” They work to get an audio consistency day to day, and Cannon rises to occasion of making that happen.
Hailing from York, PA, Cannon has been mixing since 1994, and touring extensively since 1998. He’s previously mixed for Mutemath, Relient K, David Cook, The Milk Carton Kids and Jars of Clay. He’s been with Echosmith since Dec. 2014 and also handles tour manager duties.
“Another exciting thing about this band is that they are still forming opinions about their sound and growing constantly in that respect, so I am really excited to see what they will come up with as they go into the second record.”
Currently on the European leg of the tour, we caught up with Cannon and monitor mixer Daniel Thigpenn at an Autobahnraststätte — one of the many rest stops along Germany’s famed autobahn highway system. Here, Cannon assured us the service plaza had plenty of bier for their nine-hour break for the driver, followed by another eight hours when the bus wouldn’t start — just another of the many joys on the road that, no matter where we are, we can all relate to.
Traveling Light
They are traveling light, using whatever the venue is able to provide from the rider, plus their PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 for monitor mixing and Sennheiser EW300 G3 IEMs. Mics in the mix include some Neumann KK 204 capsules for Sydney’s Sennheiser EM2050 wireless along with a hardwired vintage-looking Shure Super 55, a Shure Beta 58 for Noah’s vox and Sennheiser e835 on Jamie’s vocals. Speaking of Jamie, Cannon packs two Cascade FatHead ribbon mics to capture the sound of his Fender Super Champ and Morgan AC20 Deluxe guitar amps.
At The FOH Position
For this tour, Cannon did not carry an FOH console. “It would have been nice to have that for consistency and be able to do a little more, but I viewed it as a good opportunity to bust out and get more time on various consoles. It is also good to being able to build show files for most of the desks that we will be walking up to as we move into festival season.” On the rider are these “preferred” consoles for the European leg, including Avid Profile, DiGiCo SD9, PRO Series, M32 or X32.
“As long as there is enough time in the day to troubleshoot and build the mix properly, I find it a lot of fun to walk into a new situation daily and make it work and strive for consistency day to day,” he says. “I am always up for that challenge and enjoy from time to time working that way as it definitely helps me to continuously grow and learn which is vital. All that to say, I prefer to have the same bells and whistles nightly of course.”
In addition to those consoles on the rider, in the North America leg he also used Avid SC48 and Soundcraft Vi6 and Vi4s, plus a few Heritage 3000s. “If I were to spec a console to carry at this point in time, I think I would lean towards a DiGiCo SD9, if not that then possibly the PRO2c.”
Maintaining some consistency in his FOH sound — despite whatever console he ends up with on any given night, Cannon travels with a few “money channel” essentials to make sure the odds of a great sound are stacked in his favor. Sydney’s vocal chain consists of a Vintech Audio X73 preamp/equalizer routed into a Universal Audio 1176LN compressor. The combo of the X73 — essentially a modern, updated clone of the classic Neve 1073 module is a Class-A, all-discrete, transformer balanced preamplifier with three-band (variable HF/LF shelving and sweepable mid) equalizer — and the 1176 removes a lot of the “what do I have to use tonight” worries from the mix. Also at FOH is a Vintech 473, which puts four channels of 1073-style preamps (all with two-band EQ) into a two-rackspace chassis. “I use the four channels of the 473 preamp on occasion for the brothers’ background vocals and once or twice on the snare.”
Cannon is pleased to get his hands on a couple of Palmer PDI09 The Junctions, a specialized passive guitar DI box/speaker simulator which “has been a lot of fun to experiment with.”
But otherwise, it’s a straight-up show, with just the four Sierots playing drums, guitar, bass and a little keyboards — and no other musicians than them. The set list is pretty structured but does change from time to time. “They have a few covers that they rotate in and out, but for the most part the set list stays the same,” Cannon says. They averaged 1,000-seat venues in the US, and the European run is a little less than that, though both runs include large festival gigs.
The View from Monitorland
Monitor engineer Daniel Thigpenn has been with the band for 18 months now, and this is his first touring gig. Previously, he worked for three years at Chalice Recording Studios in Hollywood plus some freelance gigging. “So I’ve been mixing for about four years mostly in the studio, but working with Echosmith has been a nice crossover,” he says. “I’ve gotten to learn audio more in-depth, and experienced the differences and similarities between live and studio work.”
There are no boxes cluttering the stage, as it’s all in-ear, specifically Ultimate Ears. “The mixes all vary from musician to musician,” he says. “They each like to hear mostly themselves and the instruments they are playing with the other members more blended into the background of their mix.” The exception is drummer Graham, who requests more of a complex mix, only highlighting the click so he can hear everything and really lock in to what’s going on.
Up Next?
After April, the band is back touring the states and working on a second album. After that, the smart money is that they will be back out on the road on an even bigger tour playing bigger venues. Bet on it.
EchoSmith World Tour
Crew
- FOH Engineer: Scott Cannon
- Monitor Engineer: Daniel Thigpenn
- Production Manager: Jeffrey David
Gear
P.A. System
- Varies by venue
FOH Gear
- Console: Venue-supplied
- Outboard: Vintech Audio X73 preamp/EQ; Universal Audio 1176LN compressor; Vintech 473 4-channel preamp/EQ
Monitor Gear
- Monitor Console: PreSonus 24.4.2
- IEM Earpieces: Ultimate Ears
- IEM Hardware: Sennheiser EW300 G3 IEMs
- Wireless Mic: Sennheiser EM2050 with Neumann KK 204 capsules
- Hardwire Mics: Shure Beta 58 and Super 55; two Cascade FatHead ribbon mics; venue-supplied drum mics with Sennheiser e902’s, e914, Shure SM57 and Beta 57’s available.
