Sound Company
Sound Image/Clair Global
Venue
Various (Tour)
Crew
- FOH Engineer: Gary Hartung
- Tour Manager: Rusty Hooker
- Production Manager: Michael Richter
- Guitar / Bass Tech: Tyler Sweet
- Drum Tech: Adrian Marchi
Gear
FOH
- Console: Yamaha QL-5
- In-console effects: Rupert Neve designed Yamaha Portico 5043 plugins, Yamaha MyLake8 card for Lake EQ
MON
- Vocal Mics: Shure SM-58, Audix i5
- IEM’s: JH Audio JH13v.2, Shure PSM 1000
Tour Details
Rockabilly master Brian Setzer has changed it up over the years — first with his massive Stray Cats success the 1980s, which led to 13 solo albums over the years and 11 albums from his swing revival band the Brian Setzer Orchestra. In his various Rockabilly Riot band formations, it’s back to a trio on this tour where we caught a great rockin’ set from the band and spoke with FOH engineer Gary Hartung about mixing the tour… Clair Global’s Sound Image provides the console, IEM rack, mics, cabling, etc. “I used P.A. du jour,” Hartung says. “Brian and the band are consummate pros. He doesn’t soundcheck, nor does the band. He brings a lot of energy to the show, and he’ll hit the stage a couple minutes before showtime because he’s so fired up and ready to go.”
“I’m using the Yamaha QL-5 console at FOH for Brian’s tour, which I’ve used on other tours as well, such as for Ann Wilson (Heart) for years. I also use a CL-5 doing both FOH and Monitors on Don Felder (Eagles) tour and I find the Yamaha format is easy to navigate doing both. It comes down to muscle memory when doing both jobs from one desk. I like the ability to multitrack record off the Dante network and the Yamaha MyLake8 card gives me 8 channels of Lake EQ without having an external Lake processor. The console is compact, reliable, sounds great and easy to navigate. I have about 18 inputs. For this tour it’s a straight-ahead three-piece rockabilly band. I’ve mixed the Brian Setzer Orchestra for years which is a 19-piece rock and roll big band, so this is very much stripped down.”
Setzer started using JH 13 v.2 IEM’s last fall for the first time and is adjusting nicely, says Hartung. “We felt it was essential to lower the overall stage volume, so we ditched the wedges and sidefills. He only gets his vocal and a little bit of the background vocals in his mix, so we decided to try combining both FOH and Monitor positions. It’s worked great. Once we dialed in things in the first soundcheck, I didn’t have to do much adjusting during the shows for the tour. It’s always dicey though being 100 feet away and not being on stage. You really cross your fingers that nothing goes haywire during the show. You sort of feel like you’re on an island.”
Thankfully all has been fine, notes Hartung. “We did put the guitar and drum techs on the Yamaha monitor mix app in case they needed to make any adjustments during the show. I’m very familiar with the app having used it on other tours and It works great. Another reason I chose the QL-5 console.”
Hartung says he’s not that big on plugins. “I say pick a console that sounds good and spend a good amount of time tuning the PA. Then your inputs fall into place. I also don’t use a lot of compression. I do what I call natural compression. If an input is too loud, turn it down, too soft, turn it up… simple. I like subtle fader moves and really tuning in to how a band is playing.”
Clair Global’s Sound Image provides the console, IEM rack, mics, cabling, etc. “I used P.A. du jour, as we like to say. Brian and the band are consummate pros. He doesn’t soundcheck, nor does the band. He brings a lot of energy to the show, and he’ll hit the stage a couple minutes before showtime because he’s so fired up and ready to go. We love that about him. Many of the crew have been around for a long time (such as Production Manager Michael Richter), and we all welcome any opportunity to do Brian’s tours. We’re also very close and consider it a family. We have a lot of fun on both show days and days off. I think that’s really important!”
