Production Profile

Spoiler alert to Kevin Glendinning: You’re about to find out just how loud that screaming is.

“Right from the beginning, there’s this big reveal, and the crowd just starts screaming,” says Maroon 5’s monitor engineer Glendinning. “I haven’t measured it because I don’t want to know how loud it is.”

“It’s 108 dB of screaming — I’ve measured it,” says FOH engineer Jim Ebdon, in a separate interview.

The English trio Muse — comprised of Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar, keys), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, vocals, keys, rhythm guitar) and drummer/percussionist/synthesist Dominic Howard, with the addition of keyboardist/percussionist Morgan Nicholls on their live performances — offer an engaging blend of electronica, metal, classical and space rock. So it’s little surprise that “no matter how many shows I mix for Muse, I never get bored!” declares the band’s front of house engineer Marc Carolan. “It’s a very involved mix, and you can jump genres quickly, sometimes within a song.”

Live/lip sync debate aside, everyone in this business noticed Beyoncé pulling out her IEM in the middle of her rendition of the national anthem before President Barack Obama was sworn in for a second term. Bob Goldstein, owner of Maryland Sound International (MSI), has an opinion as to why: “She preferred the MSI HEX12 Monitor at her feet to the IEM!” MSI once again participated in the historic day, and their contribution to everything involved with the event, held Jan. 21, 2013, was certainly very real and very live.

Engineer Rick Camp is a man with plenty of frequent flyer miles. When your list of FOH mixing credits includes the likes of Madonna, Beyoncé, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Destiny’s Child, Chris Brown and Burt Bacharach, you’ve been around the block a few times. We recently caught up with Rick in Australia during Jennifer Lopez’s Dance Again World Tour. Camp, who had previously worked FOH with J-Lo, was brought in again to mix the European, Australian and Asian legs of the tour last September, which — possibly just for additional airline miles — concluded with two dates in San Juan, Puerto Rico, followed by hopping back to central Asia for a couple shows in Turkmenistan on December 28.

Hailing from the quaint, sleepy village of Las Vegas, NV, The Killers formed their rocking sound in 2001 and have since gone on become an international success, selling more than 16 million albums in the process. The band consists of frontman/lead singer/keyboardist Brandon Flowers, guitarist Dave Keuning, bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr., although they perform live as a six-piece ensemble, adding two multi-instrumentalist keyboard/guitar players to complete their sound.

No matter your musical predilection, there’s no denying that Barbra Streisand is one of the biggest talents in show biz. She is the epitome of élan and elegance, bringing a level of detail and sophistication to every aspect of her professional presence, from motion pictures to Broadway to concerts. As for the latter, the notoriously stage-shy artist’s performances have been few and far between; the beginning of her 2012 Back To Brooklyn tour marked only her 82nd performance in a six-decade career.

A Conversation with FOH Mixer Kevin Madigan

More than four decades after their first concert as a trio (auspiciously at the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash are back out on the road again, with a hot backing band. After doing Australia, New Zealand, and South America, this leg of the tour — simply called CSN 2012 — kicked off June 7 at Philadelphia’s Tower Theatre, with more than 50 stops along the way at venues including The Wang Theater in Boston, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, The Greek Theatre in L.A. and ending up with a string of shows in late October at The Beacon Theatre in New York.

Imagine you’re a tour/production manager and share audio duties with another. You’re having to choose the sound gear for a 10-person revue. And the entire rig you go out with — including a 48-channel console — needs to fit in your wife’s 2004 Hyundai Elantra GT. Such is the case for one Bill Girdwood, who adds, “and that leaves room for me — I’m seven feet tall and weigh almost 300 pounds!” However, he is quick to add that he’s not recommending the Hyundai as an alternative to the traditional tour bus.

For three wild days and nights June 14 to 16, BamaJam 2012 fired up the area just north of Enterprise, AL, with lights, video displays, music and sound… plenty of sound. Located on the 1,600-acre grounds of BamaJam Farms, 35,000-plus music enthusiasts from all over the Southeastern U.S. converged and revelled to the sounds of Tim McGraw, Eric Church, the Zac Brown Band, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock and a long list of additional artists. With three stages spread across the area — one of which was a double stage that alternated acts on each half — along with a wealth of lighting and video displays, the logistical and technical aspects of bringing BamaJam 2012 to life were nothing short of massive.