Sound Company
Solotech
Venue
Various (Tour)
Crew
- FOH Engineer: Pete Bartlett
- Monitor Engineer: Callum Bate
- Monitor Tech: Dean Bellamy
- Tour Manager: Jeri Genaro
- Backline Techs: Sam Jones, Guitars (Chrissie) and Bass; Gaz Fail, James Walbourne (Guitar), Andy Dimmack (Drums)
Gear
FOH
- Speakers: House P.A. systems used on this theatre run
- Console: Avid Venue S3L-X
- In-console Effects/Plugins: Sonnox and Empirical Labs Arouser
- Outboard Rack Effects/Plugins: 2 x Yamaha SPX 900’s
MON
- Console: DiGiCo Quantum 225
- Effects/Plugins: De Esser, Bricasti M7 Reverb, (2) Neve 5045, Neve Shelford
- IEM’s, Transmitters & Recievers: Shure PSM1000’s & P10R+ diversity bodypack receivers; Shure Spectrum Manager, Sennheiser 6000 Vocal Transmitter, Shure Axient for Guitars
- Vocal Mics: Sennheiser 945
Mastering the Mix
For FRONT of HOUSE’s “Showtime,” photojournalist Steve Jennings caught up with FOH engineer Pete Bartlett, who has been mixing for The Pretenders for 10 years, and monitor engineer Callum Bate.
Pete Bartlett, FOH Engineer:
“Things haven’t really changed that much over the last 40 years I’ve been mixing, just the same tricks on newer toys,” Bartlett says. “I’ve developed a bit of a ‘Modus’, mostly learned or stolen from producers I worked with in the 1980’s as a musician. As far as The Pretenders are concerned, I’ve kept them on my favorite Avid surfaces all the way. I’ve used the same Sennheiser mics in the same places for 20 years! Chrissie’s voice is a force of nature, it has of course developed over 45 years of recording, especially in the mid-range, but she still nails the early songs and the latest material, no key changes or dipping out of the high notes here!”
After the band lineup changed a few times in the last 10 years – they’ve previously toured with keyboards and pedal steel players – now The Pretenders are back to the classic “two guitars, bass and drums” lineup of the 1970’s – and Bartlett’s specialty. “This is a pop-punk band that likes to rock n’ roll, lean and mean, tight and full of energy, so I keep things as simple as I can, its “1978” at the ‘100 Club’ if you know what I mean. Less is always more.”
Bartlett first used a Digidesign Venue in 2005 and says he loved it instantly, so he stuck with them for tours with Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats among others and now The Pretenders. “I’ve always liked the “two touch” to get to any item policy. For me it’s all about speed and ease of use in a show. I can’t be scrolling through endless pages or stabbing at a touch scene that I can’t see, or doesn’t work the first time. Over the last 19 years The Venues, Profiles and SC48’s have been brilliant and very robust.”
Bartlett has had only two real problems in all that time – one was a virus ridden Hire Profile [which he was able to fix with a reinstall], and the other was a DSP card fell out in transit. “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen monitor engineers on the phone as the ‘competitors’ desks fall over,” Bartlett said, adding that the “others” also all failed to get their “show file” compatibility sorted.
“I can load a 2005 show onto an S6L today, and it’ll work,” Bartlett says. “I got to A/B the S3LX and the S6L at London’s O2 Arena, and although the S6L had sweeter highs and more detail, the S3L was strong and in your face, in no way inferior, just different. Yes, I love Avid, the S6L is a wonderful desk.”
Taking 24 inputs from FOH, with added bass and guitar Di’s for FOH only, Bartlett then runs these through the ‘Eleven’ Amp Simulator to give him more control [using an amp of his own] to add what might be lacking – bite, drive, etc. For outputs, Bartlett always likes to run into the classic gang of four, L-R, sub and fills.
Chrissie Hynde wanted to get back to basics, so in 2022, Bartlett says they started playing tiny 150 capacity clubs in the U.K., slowly getting bigger. “Then in 2023 came the ‘Guns N’ Roses’ stadium supports and larger theater shows on the side, and this year we’ve been with Foo Fighters in arenas and theater shows on the side. The flexibility of my tiny S3L surface and my 4U case set up meant I could fit into any of these spaces easily with exactly the same show. I also carry two Yamaha SPX 900’s [I own five], that still do some classic stuff really well. A sympathetic shout out to our Lighting Engineer, Tom Wagstaff who has to listen to me extolling the virtues and History of Avid at FOH every day!”
Callum Bate, Monitor Engineer
Callum Bate is mixing The Pretenders on a DiGiCo Quantum 225, having mixed on DiGiCo pretty much all his career and feeling most comfortable on their desks more than any other. “Coming onto new gigs, I always want to make sure I’m comfortable with the desk I’m on, and quick,” he says. “For the way I mix, the DiGiCo boards have the cleanest and most versatile sounds. I always find I get the most transparent mixes for a band and artists using these consoles.”
Bate says the use of macros is massive for him. “I can have all the access to very quick actions – for example, TB’s on and off, spare mixes at the touch of a button, all the matrix routing and everything in between that. Snapshots are so easy to use on the board and keep my mixes roughly where I need them per song.” The new Quantum consoles were a huge game-changer for Bate when DiGiCo released them. “The new processing on them makes my job so much better. The nodal processing means I can EQ and compress differently for each member of the band, which means I have much less faders on my console and can really get around to mixes a lot faster than before when I would have duplicate faders and channels doing this job.”
Bate adds that DiGiCo’s Spice rack is a great addition. “I have the multiband over some of the mixes, and it really helps glue everything together, especially with music which is so dynamic, it keeps everything in the ballpark of where I need it at all times. I like to keep as much of my mixing in the box as I possibly can – I don’t like to reinvent the wheel too much unless I feel there are certain tools that can enhance my mixes. This is very artist specific, however.”
With The Pretenders, the stage can get quite loud, especially in the smaller venues with all the amps on and the drum kit pretty close to Chrissie, so Bate relies very heavily on the Neve 5045. “The 5045 is basically a game-changer across the three vocals on stage – it gets rid of all my on stage noise bleeding into the mics. This is so important with Chrissie as it gives her vocal so much clarity and the option to give her as much vocal as she needs, without loads of drums going into her mix as well. I use the Neve Shelford for Chrissie’s vocal processing,” Bate adds, noting that almost all of the vocal processing is done using this, apart from some slight EQ inside the console and a de-esser. “I find the Shelford gives the clarity and sound that really works for her vocal. The compression is really smooth and almost unnoticeable, but still keeps everything under control at all times. The EQ is really transparent, and I can really hear every notch of every frequency when I am using it, which is great for me and the ears, so a big shout out to Neve for their incredible pieces of outboard, which really do stand alone on my tours. The last bit of outboard I use is the Bricasti M7 Reverb. I feel it just really glues everything together. It is very subtle and just sits nicely in the background but sounds great – one of my favorite pieces of outboard out there for sure.”
