We caught up with Santana on tour between his long and successful residency at House of Blues Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay, which goes until November of this year. Carlos Santana is still as strong as ever with the band’s mix of rock, Latin, jazz and rhythm & blues. One of the greatest guitarists around, he has 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards to his credit. We spoke with FOH engineer Kevin Madigan and monitor engineer Brian Montgomery about the current Blessings and Miracles tour, which supports Santana’s most recent album of the same name.
The FOH View
About four years ago, Kevin Madigan took over front of house duties from Rob Mailman, who had mixed Santana for about 16 years. The two had known each other for a long time, so when Mailman went onto a full time role at Sound Image, Madigan took on the position. Madigan had previously mixed for artists such as The Black Crowes, Lana Del Rey, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young), Ray LaMontagne, Lucinda Williams and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Madigan, who is mixing Santana on a DiGiCo SD5, says he’s had DiGiCo consoles for almost every tour he’s done for the last 15 years. “I’ve used all of them, from the D5 onwards at one time or another on various tours. They’ve always sounded great from the start. Their reliability, functionality and workflow is the best for me. The people who work there are good friends. Along the way, there have been many functional updates. Many of those of course have been from user-led suggestions. The SD series of consoles was a real leap forward for DiGiCo in terms of the console surface design, user interface and the sound, especially when they came out with the Stadius 32-bit microphone Pre-Amp. John Stadius is an electronics genius who really understands designing and manufacturing high-quality digital audio gear. Also, by all accounts he’s a decent fisherman.”
Madigan says he uses all of the consoles’ capabilities for dynamics and EQ as well as a selection of Waves plug-ins, since they made that possible with the DiGiCo SD series. “It’s a very dynamic show, so having a broad selection of tools to help control that where necessary is very useful. A few of the things that I always seem to use are the F6 Dynamic EQs, which do a couple of different things for me with vocal channels — taming resonant frequencies and also keeping excess HF content out of the vocal mics when they’re not in use, by using it as a side-chained dynamic expander. Another favorite is the SSL E-Channel on guitars because… well it’s SSL and guitars. I also really like the H-Reverb. It’s one of the best sounding reverb plug-ins. I spent a while listening to it while it was in development. The API 2500 is an excellent modeling of the original hardware and sounds great on the drum bus for some songs. Then I use the Abbey Road plates for some effects and drum reverbs. EMT 140’s are fantastic but not exactly practical on the road. This is the next best thing for me.”
Madigan’s outboard rack has an SSL G Series Stereo Bus compressor and two Bricasti M7’s. “I just can’t give up on a couple of hardware pieces. It’s very hard to beat a Bricasti M7. I love it for vocals. I have a few different presets for various songs,” he explains. “The SSL G compressor is a firm favorite and always has been. I had a SSL XLogic 5.1 Multichannel Bus Compressor out here for a while too. That has a mode where it can work as two separate stereo compressors, so I had a lot of options for bus compression. I’ve become a bit too careful with that one and it lives in the studio now.”
Madigan says they try to have a very consistent sounding system from day to day on tour in the different environments they encounter. “That allows the show to have consistency whether it’s a theater, shed or arena. L-Acoustics enable us to plan for this accurately with their Soundvision software and implement it very successfully with K1’s, K2’s, etc.”
Madigan notes that for the Las Vegas residency, the venue has a JBL VTX 25 system, which was installed at the beginning of the Santana residency. “It was added to extensively in 2019 to make it Dolby Atmos capable. I worked quite a bit with Dolby to help implement live sound mixing in Atmos in a large-scale environment. It’s a unique experience for audiences.”
Sound Image has been a long-term supplier of the Santana camp. On tour they use a system from L-Acoustics, based around main hangs of K1’s with K1SB subs flown behind. K2’s are on the side and rear hangs. KS28 subs are on the ground with LA12x amplifiers powering all that. Then Kara front fills and Arc’s for extra fills. “The system designs that the guys come up with give a very uniform coverage throughout the venues. I really like the sound of the K1’s. Its implementation as a whole system is excellent from the planning with Soundvision following through to its dependable deployment on-site. Because of this, its sound can be amazingly consistent from day to day in every seat in the house.”
Madigan says he’s always interested in new innovations and technology in our industry. If something is really good, he’s going to hear about it from engineer or manufacturer friends. “I took over a running show, so the sound was already established and it was really good. Maintaining that was the key to me taking over and any changes happened slowly. We have ongoing communication regarding the balances of the show as it’s progressed and with new songs added. With the vocals and all the various instruments and percussion up there to fit into a mix, it keeps me busy all the time. But it’s a fun show to mix.”
In Monitorworld
Brian Montgomery began mixing monitors for Carlos Santana in 1998, says he’s been blessed with mixing every Santana band concert, minus two until now. Montgomery has used many different consoles over the years, from Harrison, Ramsa, Yamaha, Soundcraft, Avid, Midas and Studer — in no particular order of appreciation.
“A lot of the times, over the years, I would use the consoles that were available from the audio companies as the tours were being prepped. We didn’t always get our choices, more like ‘hey these consoles are available for this run,’ or ‘we can’t get that one in South America right now.’ I currently use a Solid State Logic SSL L550 plus control surface, with four 32×32 input/output cages. I enjoy mixing on this console as a monitor engineer. Having the ability to deal with multiple issues at once, depending on how you lay out your surface, is a beautiful thing. Kevin and I did not discuss consoles very much. With the way P.A. systems are so quiet on stage, and with the use of IEM’s and separate split system board group setups, an engineer should be able to use whatever tool they feel comfortable with. It only gets tricky when deciding on what microphones work best for both worlds.”
Montgomery’s outboard gear is minimal, saying he doesn’t use any real outboard gear. “Aside from a playback computer, two TASCAM Media Players and a couple of Radial Engineering BT Pro Bluetooth receivers — all for Carlos during rehearsals or sound checks if he wants to hear a song from his catalog off his multiple Bluetooth devices (or a USB device), this is so he can hear and work on things. As for plug-ins, I am a cheese pizza-type engineer. That was a common phrase from the awesome engineers I got to assist over the years. Everything about mixing wedges is about gain structure. Too many things inline can kill your structure. I keep it as simple as I can to control the levels, yet keep the tone as true to form as what the artists are giving me. I use the channel parametric EQs, channel compression and gates as needed. I run several reverbs and delays that are all in the SSL console. I use multi-band compression inserts on say, acoustics and vocals. Since I’m using wedges and IEMs at decent stage volumes, I find it can translate well in both worlds in most situations.”
The entire Santana band is on IEM’s aside from Carlos. Over the years, this has proven to be a good combination for all the musicians, notes Montgomery. “This gives Carlos the ability to change the sound across the entire stage without drastic changes to the other players or singers with what they may require. Carlos is a very dynamic player with the way he may adjust his tones or amp levels and depending on the song or venue acoustics. So the institution of everyone else being on IEMs has made certain factors much easier to deal with on the stage. For Carlos, we have adjusted over the years in an attempt to lower the overall volume levels of the stage. We have gone from 20 wedges and side fills to five or six wedge positions across the downstage with a drum fill. My setup across the front, mix-wise, varies a little, depending on venue and volume required.”
Montgomery says Carlos has a pretty full mix, where everything that he can’t hear acoustically is blended so he can walk across the entire stage and still hear and feel, say, the congas from the other side of the stage. “We are currently using Fir Audio’s Frontier Series XE-6 IEMs with the Atom X filter system. It’s a very natural sounding IEM with the ability to handle plenty of power and dynamics. For transmitters, I use Shure PSM1000 wireless as well as Shure P9 hardware units. I generally use two antenna combiners with helical antenna rigs. I like to be able to split my player into zones with my transmit rigs. For Carlos’ wedges, Sound Image MA 212 boxes are used everywhere as well as a Nexo 15” sub in the drum fill position. All are powered with Crown amplification.”
The band’s mic package is mainly Earthworks microphones, currently on almost everything with a skin, notes Montgomery. “These mics are giving us a huge full sound on all the percussion and drums, and for me, I find the gain to feedback levels to be very pleasant. We still have a multiple of other mics as well. I generally let the FOH engineer choose the majority of microphones. I do, however, get involved with vocal mic selection. Currently we are using a Shure AD4d wireless system with DPA capsules for members Andy Vargas and Ray Greene. For Tommy Anthony, we are using a Shure KSM9 and for Karl Perazzo, we use a good ol’ Shure SM58 with a switch. On Carlos’ guitar amp, I have two Austrian Audio OC 818 mics. There, I just care that it has a really fast response, so I can get every note he plays.”
Montgomery says there is a bit of interaction between him and the band during shows. He says there is no set scripted show, but a large library to choose from as well as just whatever the musicians may be feeling that night… “It’s a ‘hang on and here we go’-type thing. Most of the signals I receive are hand gestures from any of the band members, but it could be a head nod, lip reading or just an eye gesture to tell me things aren’t what they want. I do run a Clear-Com FL-7 flasher to Karl Perazzo’s percussion area so he can get my attention when its hard to see that side of the stage. As for specifics that could be asked for, most things are normal level changes occasionally, or it could be add a reverb to an instrument or a delay to that, but nothing too crazy.”
For Montgomery, it’s eyes up, eyes up!!! Even if their name isn’t on the marquee, he says his job is to help all band members have the best show possible every night. “You have to be able to watch the musicians. My job is to give them what they want to hear in as much of an unadulterated way as possible. They’re the ones making it happen; I just send it back in the way they want to experience it. If you’re looking at your desk all night, you won’t learn the body language.”
Santana Blessings and Miracles Tour 2023
BAND
- Lead Guitar: Carlos Santana
- Drums: Cindy Blackman Santana
- Vocals: Andy Vargas
- Vocals: Ray Greene
- Bass: Benny Rietveld
- Keys: David K Mathews
- Guitar: Tommy Anthony
- Percussion: Karl Perazzo
- Percussion: Paoli Mejías
AUDIO CREW
- Sound Company: Sound Image
- FOH Engineer: Kevin Madigan
- Monitor Engineer: Brian Montgomery
- Carlos’ Guitar Tech: Tim Mech
- Bass & Guitar Tech: Jason Kendall
- Keyboard Tech: Mark Browne
- Drum Tech: Mikey Ledesma
- Percussion Tech: Mike Damish
- Audio A2: Ryan Eldridge
- Audio: A3: Candy Pan
P.A. SYSTEM
- Main Hang: L-Acoustics K1 w/K1SB flown behind
- Side & Rear Hangs: L-Acoustics K2
- Ground Subs: L-Acoustics KS28
- Fills: L-Acoustics Kara, ARC’s
FOH GEAR
- FOH Console: DiGiCo SD5
- In-Console Processing: Waves plug-ins, F6 Dynamic EQ, SSL E-Channel, API 2500, Abbey Road plates
- Outboard Rack Gear: SSL G Series Stereo Bus compressor, (2) Bricasti M7
MON GEAR
- Monitor Console: Solid State Logic L550 Plus
- Wedges: Sound Image MA 212
- IEMs: Fir Audio Frontier Series XE-6 w/Atom X filter system
- IEM Hardware: Shure PSM1000, Shure P9 bodypacks
- Vocal Mics: Audio-Technica AE6100, Shure AD4d wireless w/DPA 2028 capsules, Shure KSM9, Shure SM58
- Carlos’ Guitar Amp Mics: (2) Austrian Audio OC 818
More photos by Steve Jennings:
