DALY CITY, CA–Hot on the heels of her chart-busting single, "Hips Don't Lie," Latin pop superstar Shakira is on tour in support of 2005's Oral Fixation CD. Not only is she bringing her sizzling live show to audiences worldwide, but also has a pair of industry veterans in tow in control of her sound. FOH mixer Brad Madix has mixed sound for a star-studded roster of talent including Def Leppard, Queensryche, Psychedelic Furs and more recently, Marilyn Manson and Rush. Celebrated monitor engineer Vish Wadi has also worked with some of the biggest artists in the business ranging from Sting and Mariah Carey to Madonna. As newly anointed converts to Digidesign's VENUE live sound environment, they're continuing the tradition of utilizing Digidesign products in every aspect of production–from the recording studio to the stage. In fact, Oral Fixation was mixed on Digidesign's ICON integrated console. Now the two are bringing that studio sound to Shakira's live shows with their VENUE consoles and Pro Tools. Madix is using VENUE in tandem with one side car on his right for all his FOH requirements. "I made it Bus ID #1, which makes inputs 1-16 on my right… weird! It just made sense this way because it put all of the drums on one bank and all of the percussion on the next, and it put Shakira's vocal fader at my right hand where I can get to it quickly. This puts the output faders in the middle, the selected channel section is just to my left, and the guitar channels appear down on the left end as well. I only have one analog insert, a Lake IO for the vocals. Everything else happens onboard. As for inputs… I stopped counting at 72! Seriously, it's something just north of that, if you add in all of the talkback from the MD and monitor guy and so on. I'm not counting effects returns or CD playback lines in that count, mind you. I know we were fishing for snake lines the other day, and there are 80 in the split!"
The VENUE console made its debut with Shakira at the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal at the end of May. Madix found the VENUE system's snapshot automation invaluable. "Having written one-hundred-and-fifty cues in the rehearsals in Barcelona, stepping into Rock in Rio was a big test. I strapped a graphic EQ across the mix, EQ'd the PA to the multitrack of the last run through, and away we went. It was the first show with no production rehearsals and we nailed it." Madix is also a fan of virtual soundcheck, which he uses via the VENUE system's HDx Pro Tools Record option. "Being able to sit with the artist and tweak the mix is invaluable," says Madix. "Being able to listen to the same thing at the same time, and actually affect the mix has allowed us to communicate ideas and try things in ways that just handing her a CD wouldn't. I think that helped establish a working relationship more quickly."
For handling Shakira's monitor mixes, Wadi's setup is also one VENUE with sidecar, and he's using 78 inputs, 24 discrete monitors mixes (six mono and eight stereo), and four direct-out mixes going to the stage manager and for lighting cues. Wadi's plug-in racks are filling fast with a wide variety of third-party reverbs, vintage EQs, and compressor emulations.
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