BERKELEY, CA — When Steely Dan resumed touring after decades off the road, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker carried their devotion to audio quality with them from the studio to the stage. For their current Heavy Rollers Tour 2007, the band retained Taylor, Mich.-based Thunder Audio to provide a system built around Meyer Sound’s self-powered MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.
“It is a huge honor to work with Steely Dan,” says Thunder Audio VP Paul Owen. “Everybody that comes to the show — band members, associates, fans — expects the sound to be A-1, the audio quality that Steely Dan is known for. There is no gray area, which is one reason why we went with Meyer Sound gear across the board.”
For the main system, Head Audio Systems Technician Keith Jex employs left and right arrays consisting of nine MILO cabinets and one MILO 120 high-power expanded coverage curvilinear array loudspeaker each. Two 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers per side handle bottom end, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system provides processing and drive for the whole system.
Jex sets up loudspeaker deployment for each arena using Meyer Sound’s MAPP Online Pro acoustical prediction software. “I come in before they unload the trucks, measure distances and heights, and plug the numbers into the computer. The resulting configuration is always correct,” says Jex. “Plus, I love that I can use MAPP to make sure my weight loads are correct, so that I don’t exceed the capacity of the facility.”
Jex uses a SIM 3 audio analyzer to identify problem areas that may surface in a particular venue. “I don’t have to hunt around for things,” he says. “I can determine almost immediately if there’s a problem in the room and zip it out (with Galileo’s EQ) right away.” Jex runs both the SIM 3 system and the Galileo system’s Compass control software from a wireless tablet PC.
Jex configures the system to split the house into three zones, much like a theatrical sound design. “That ensures that I’m not hurting people’s ears up front, or giving the people in the back a weak show,” says Jex. “Plus, it makes time-aligning the system and the subs a snap; with other programs we’ve used there was a lot of guesswork, but with these tools I can actually see where to put the alignment.”
Monitor Engineer Peter Thompson delivers mixes for Fagen, Becker, and their 10-piece band through 14 MJF-212A high-power stage monitors, along with two UM-1P narrow coverage stage monitors for the horn section. “Right from the get-go, the band liked how the monitors sounded,” Thompson says. “With the Meyer wedges, you have amazing vocal clarity; it’s basically like using a studio monitor. And because they are self-powered, my footprint is half the size it would be if I had amp racks on the stage.”
Thunder Audio has kept their Meyer Sound systems steadily busy working with a variety of high-profile acts. “We’ve now done Steely Dan, Robert Plant and the White Stripes with this system, as well as heavy acts like Slipknot and Stone Sour,” says Owen. “The fact that it can handle all of these acts with ease just shows that our investment was a wise one.”
Adds Jex, “Our Meyer Sound speakers, especially the wedges, get used hard, and they’re still in great shape. I haven’t had one cabinet break down.”
Steely Dan’s “Heavy Rollers Tour 2007” kicked off its 28-date U.S. leg in May. For more than 35 years, Fagen and Becker have produced the smooth amalgam of rock, jazz, blues and soul that constitutes the sound of Steely Dan. Their patented blend of complex layered melodies and distinct rhythms has always placed a premium on musicianship, innovative instrumentation and pristine production.
ACTION ITEM:
For information, please visit www.meyersound.com/.
