Deuces Wild Tour 2024
Married since 2001, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks of blues/rockers Tedeschi Trucks Band started touring together in 2007 in their own respective groups and merged together in 2010. The band’s 2011 debut Revelator album won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album, adding to its four other studio and three live albums.
At FOH
FOH engineer/production manager Brian Speiser has been mixing the Tedeschi Trucks Band the last 13 years. He’s been using the DiGiCo SD12 mixing console to great satisfaction and notes his earliest touring consoles were analog boards. “I started on a Crest VX, then a Midas XL 200 and finally a Midas H3000. I’ve been a DiGiCo user ever since the D1 and made my way through most of the SD series consoles landing on the SD12. I’m all about the small footprint it offers, while not skimping on the features and power.
“I can definitely get pretty far into the weeds utilizing the consoles’ onboard features,” Speiser continues. “I use a small variety of Waves plug-ins and a couple of Empirical Labs Distressors just for a bit of analog love on guitar and vocals. On the Waves server, I utilize the SSL EQ, C6 compressor, L2 Limiter, CLA-2A Compressor, dbx160 compressor and the IR-Live with TC M5000 and Bricasti Impulse responses for my lead vocal reverbs. I also use an H-EQ on my master bus in an M>S setting to clear a nice path in the center image for Derek’s guitar and Susan’s vocal.”
The tour’s console package comes from Bohemia, NY-based SK Systems. Speiser notes both he and monitor engineer Bobby Tis came up in the business working for Tom Heinisch at SK and he’s always toured with their consoles. The P.A. provider is PRG. “We carried a d&b J-series P.A. for many years. A few summers ago, that P.A. wasn’t available, so we tried out an L-Acoustics K2 system. They’re different flavors but both are very enjoyable to mix on. Having to choose between d&b and L-Acoustics is a nice problem to have. The K2 rig has more low energy than the J’s did, which helps push more low-end from the array rather than having to rely as heavily on the subs. It also offers a high-end clarity and evenness of coverage. Another major factor for us has been the amazing support the L-Acoustics team has shown us.”
Speiser always tries to keep the sound as natural as possible. “Bobby [Tis] and I work hard to create ways to isolate sounds as much as possible on a stage with 12 people playing loudly in close quarters. Once we achieve a clean signal with minimal bleed between instruments, we’re able to properly blend them back together so everything can be heard with all 12 musicians often playing full tilt. For the ‘live feel,’ I tend to mix with very minimal compression and hopefully no audible compression.” Speiser says the band has very impressive dynamics. One of his favorite things they do is go from a scream to a whisper to a scream on a moment’s notice. “I try to keep those dynamics as intact as possible.”
A lot of loud wedges on stage creates challenges for Speiser out front. “Mixing bands on IEM’s is a lot easier, but what’s best for me from a sonic perspective is not necessarily what’s best for the musicians from a performance and energy perspective. It’s a delicate balance.” A few band members who made the switch to IEMs have been helpful. “The K2 series has an excellent amount of rejection behind the P.A. and using subs in a cardioid pattern stays out of the band’s way as much as possible,” Speiser says.
“Our systems engineer, Chris Bedry designs the P.A. to create a good compromise of low-end energy while not distracting the band onstage,” Speiser adds. “The band really need to focus in on what every member is playing at all times. Chris is my not-so-secret weapon when it comes to battling oddities in different venues. We’ve worked together for a while, and he has an excellent sense of how I want my mix to sound. He can also navigate what venue-specific compromises need to happen while allowing the show to sound how it needs to sound.”
The Systems Approach
Systems engineer Chris Bedry details the PRG-supplied speaker system. “For the main P.A., we use 16 L-Acoustics K2 per side, with eight Kara II side hangs / side and six KS28 ground subs per side, in stacks of three with the bottom sub in each stack reversed for a cardioid configuration. Front fills are six Kara II. All are powered on LA12x amplifiers receiving signal over AVB Milan. Onstage, we have a mixture of d&b audiotechnik M2 and M4 wedges powered on D80 amplifiers.”
As always, Bedry’s goal is to obtain the highest possible fidelity with an even sonic experience for everyone in the venue. “The L-Acoustics system lets me get a lot of the work done beforehand in Soundvision, giving me accurate results when I turn on the system after it’s deployed. Despite playing many venues ranging in size, the K2 rig we’re carrying allows me to achieve an even frequency response and SPL target throughout these venues without having to push the system too hard or compromise to achieve the result we’re looking for.”
This is Bedry’s tenth year working for the band. “After so many years of working with Brian [Speiser], we share the same goal of how we want the show to sound. And having a relationship with the band and an understanding of how much they care about sound quality facilitates an overall sonic goal between us all.”
Monitor World
Monitor engineer Bobby Tis has been mixing on DiGiCo consoles since the early 2000’s and moved to a DiGiCo Quantum 338 console earlier this year. “I’ve always really appreciated how customizable and open the layout of a DiGiCo console is,” says Tis, who’s also a big fan of the console’s macro functions, snapshot and recall scoping capabilities.
“These functions have made it possible for me to have highly customized, song-based, mix settings for each member of the 12-piece band. That, and the lack of a need for much outboard kit, is what makes this desk the perfect choice for me on this tour. The new Mustard processing on the DiGiCo Quantum range consoles is very effective at adding live, analog style saturation, and vibe to the signals that need it. The Quantum 338 has been a really great tool for us.”
Tis is using nearly all onboard effects and processing on this tour. “For effects, I’m just using a handful of reverbs, a mono delay and a stereo delay. There’s a stereo room reverb for the drums; plate-style reverbs for backing vocals, horns and lead vocal; and a lush, hall-style reverb I call ‘extra sauce.’ The outputs of my delays hit this reverb, many of the DI inputs like keyboards and acoustic guitar and also the audience mics are sprinkled in here as well.” For dynamics, Tis uses a combination of onboard SD and Mustard processing, while he’s really enjoying all four of the Mustard compressor options for different sources. “All of my IEM mixes also employ KLANG immersive mixing via the DMI slots in the Quantum 338. Klang has been an amazing tool to help the musicians onstage maintain a spatially familiar connection to their bandmates.”
Tis is only carrying a few outboard pieces. “We have three API 500-style modules, an API 512c preamp for Susan’s vocal mic and a BAE 312 Preamp for Derek’s main guitar amp mic.” Also in that rack is a Pro Tools multitrack rig that connects to and from his console at 96k. “We use this record system to multi-track record and archive almost every show TTB plays. We’ve sometimes used them for live album releases.”
Up until last year the band was completely on wedges. “With growing production and bigger venues, we decided we should survey the band and see which members would want to be on IEM’s in order to maintain a reasonable stage volume. We now have a mixture of monitoring situations on stage. We have d&b wedges and Shure PSM1000 IEM transmitters. I have six band members always on IEM’s and two others that wear IEM’s if we are in particularly challenging acoustic environments. There are 11 total wedges on stage, each on their own send and amp channel.” Susan and Derek do not wear IEM’s and have never really been interested enough to give them a shot, adds Tis. “We’ve had discussions about it and they much prefer to have their ears open to their guitar amps, and hear the natural space they are in.” Both drummer’s wedges, and the wedge on the keyboard riser are on custom fabricated to get them closer to the player. “The wedges in these positions are d&b M4, and are tuned with near field settings in the d&b D80 amplifier. This positioning allows for a high fidelity mix at a lower volume.”
Susan Tedeschi sings through a wired Shure Beta 58a mic and keyboardist Gabe Dixon and the background singers all sing through wired Shure Beta 57a’s.
The Team/Family Approach
In the past seven years, Michael Concannon has grown from audio intern to stage manager / monitor tech. “Other than our new additions, almost all of the crew have been with the band for years now, some for over two decades. The band’s commitment to building a rock-solid touring crew is inextricably linked to their commitment to putting on a consistently excellent show at every gig and this attitude is shared by all of us.”
Concannon wears many hats throughout the day and during the show, he acts as a second set of eyes and ears for [Bobby] Tis. Concannon also runs the recording rig used to make archival Pro Tools recordings of every show. Bobby can then use the recording from any show to do virtual sound checks the following day. A huge additional benefit to running this rig is I have instantaneous metering for every input on the stage right in front of me. This can be very useful to inform potential troubleshooting during shows or sound checks. On another computer Bobby and I can both use control software R1 to keep tabs on all the wedges and Wireless Workbench for the IEM’s.”
The long-term success of the tour comes from a group effort from all concerned, according to FOH engineer Brian Speiser. “I have to credit the success of our shows to the 12 amazing musicians onstage along with incredibly hard-working crew we have out. It’s such a great team to work with.”
Tedeschi Trucks Band Deuces Wild Tour
AUDIO CREW
- Sound Company: PRG
- Console Package Supplier: SK Systems
- FOH Engineer & Production Mgr: Brian Speiser
- Systems Engineer: Chris Bedry
- Monitor Engineer: Bobby Tis
- Monitor Tech & Stage Mgr: Michael Concannon
- Tour Manager: Kenneth “Skip” Richman
P.A. GEAR
Main P.A.: (16) L-Acoustics K2, (8) Kara II, (6) Kara II
Subwoofers: (6) L-Acoustics KS28
FOH GEAR
FOH Console: DiGiCo SD12
FOH Effects / Plug-ins: Waves plug-ins, Empirical Labs Distressors, SSL EQ, C6 compressor, L2 Limiter, CLA-2A Compressor, dbx 160 Compressor, IR-Live, TC M5000, Bricasti Impulse, H-EQ
MON GEAR
Monitor Console: DiGiCo Quantum 338
Monitor Effects: Reverbs, mono & stereo delay, onboard SD & Mustard processing, KLANG
Monitors: d&b audiotechnik M2 and M4 wedges
Microphones: Shure Beta 58a, Shure Beta 57a, Grundig GDSM200, beyerdynamic M88, Sennheiser 441, Sennheiser 421, Shure Beta 52a, Shure Beta 56a, Shure Beta 181c, AKG 451, Sennheiser 904, Sennheiser 421, Neumann KM184, Shure VP88
