Had you asked me six months ago who Justin Bieber was, I couldn't have given you an honest answer. Seriously, I had zero knowledge of this 16-year-old Canadian phenom.
I rarely follow the pop charts, nor do I keep stats on Twitter, both of which the young Mr. Bieber pretty much owns these days. This talented young man has been the center of a blitzkrieg of media attention and shows no signs of letting up any time soon. So what does that have to do with pro audio? I have to be the first to admit, this one caught me by surprise also.
"A Walking Wikipedia"
Initially, I called Antonio "Tony" Luna in January to get his opinions and thoughts on the FCCs' wireless mandates. Luna is a walking Wikipedia of information on wireless systems. He's been neck-deep in wireless with his past tours – KISS, Aerosmith and Trans Siberian Orchestra. While on the topic of his preferences of scanners and wireless software, he mentioned he was gearing up for a tour with Justin Bieber.
This was my first encounter with "Bieber Fever," as many are calling it. I was a little skeptical, but he sounded excited and went on to say this was a new experience versus the rock acts he's been doing. After a couple of calls and e-mails, we decided when the tour came through Minneapolis we'd record a video emphasizing his daily routine of frequency sweeps and procedures.
We hooked up the morning of the show and recorded, in its 35-minute entirety, the meticulous steps Luna takes. It included sweeping the local RF airwaves and sorting the bandwidths he needed for particular mics. "I plot a pair of spare frequencies for every mic, just in case I have one go rogue prior to or during a show," Luna said. After going through his entire wireless rack, he invited me to stay and witness, as he put it, "what a little preparation does to make my day/show easier."
As I mentioned earlier Luna is a walking Wikipedia of audio knowledge, and he's not shy when it comes to giving good advice. He's "the working man's monitor guy," no white-glover here. He's full throttle, 100 percent of the time. More on Luna later….
The Bieber Crew
Clair Global provided a versatile touring rig and also a well-rounded and veteran crew. Personally, I don't think you could've selected a "better fit" for a tour that's going to appear at a multitude of venues and be faced with about every obstacle that a modern major tour can encounter.
This was the fifth stop of the North American tour, and they were already looking down the road at 72 more sold-out shows going through December.
Driving FOH is Gordon Mack, who's mixed folks like John Legend, Usher and Chris Brown. I developed a whole new respect for his mixing talents and finesse. His title should be pilot, not FOH engineer, because each night he has to get over thousands of screaming young ladies as young Mr. Bieber hits the stage. The night I was present, I witnessed a dB meter hit 113.7dBs, and the band hadn't struck a note. To Gordon and crew, "this is just another day at the office."
Camped on the stage left is Tony Luna. As mentioned, he's the working man's monitor guy. You almost get the impression that this is Luna's show because of his tenacity and attention to detail. His involvement encompasses about every aspect of this gig, and he's up to his eyeballs into everything. Whether it's monitors for the three opening acts or rolling the stage into place, Luna's there. Even on the load-out, he's in the trucks calling the pack.
Luna's work ethic is second to none. If there's a Hall of Fame for monitor guys, Luna has a plaque reserved for himself.
Rob Rankin (system crew chief) and Nathan McBee and Jerrell Evans (techs) round out the Clair Global support team. Noticeably on this tour, everyone's jobs overlapped. It wasn't departmentalized as many tours tend to be these days.
The Rig
The rig resembled a standard Clair arena rig, but on closer examination, there was some custom contouring happening. An Avid Profile at FOH, DiGiCo SD8/24 in monitor world, 24 Clair i-5s, 24 Clair i-5bs, 16 Clair i-3s, 10 SRM wedges, six P2s, 16 Clair subs, two P4s and subs on the stage. It's the fine details that separate a good show from a great show. UE-18s for IEMs, 8 channel Sennheiser 2000 IEM w/24 belt-packs, 10 channel Shure UHF-R using Heil RC-22 vocal caps and Crown CM 311 headset and an assortment of Heil Mics used throughout stage.
"Bob Heil has been great," Luna said. "When I needed help, he was there to help me, and he was enthusiastic about it. The PR 22 we're using on Justin's vocal sounds great and doesn't need any EQ. Same thing for the guitar mics. The PR 30s we're using sound amazing. I'm able to layer things in the mix now with more detail than ever before.
"Have you ever found it hard to find a good volume for guitars in a vocal mix? Not with this mic. You can sit the guitars in the pocket without the fear of having them mask all those other bits you are trying to get through. They are really great mics, and the support from Heil has been awesome."
Finally, a special thanks to James "Scrappy" Stacey and the entire Justin Bieber tour management for the hospitality they provided. The entire staff and crew of the Justin Bieber tour are on a path of rewriting the old adage, "Motivation Breeds Success."
