Hip hop trio Bliss n Eso have embarked on their 28-date Party On The Moon Tour with audio engineer Anatole Day at FOH. Anatole first worked with the band at a festival in 2021, and since then, he has mixed them at several festivals and tours, with most tours comprising 30-40 shows.
“I would say we have done over a hundred shows together in that time,” said Anatole. “The band is drums, tracks, a DJ and three vocals, so the tracks form the bed of the mix with the drums sitting in with them. The DJ stuff comes in over the top in parts, and the vocals sit on top of the mix. It should be a big, full sound with the vocals cutting.”
A PA system was not toured, so it comes down to what the house has or what local suppliers provide. Ideally, Anatole would like a d&b or L-Acoustics rig, but that is not always an option.
Anatole also runs monitors from FOH, so he only tours the one control package: an Allen & Heath dLive CTi1500 console.
“The main reason I chose this board is that it is a very lightweight board that packs a lot of punch,” he explained. “I have it at 23kg in a flight case! It easily handles the I/O I need for this act, as well as all the onboard FX and dynamics, and it’s good. I also run a CDM32 and DX168 on stage for the physical I/O.”
Bliss n Eso are a very high-energy act that loves to get the crowd going from the first song, so the mix needs to reflect this high energy.
“That’s not just a case of making it loud, it needs to be at a decent volume, but also needs to pack a punch, hence the drums are quite present in the mix as I find a live drummer (and we have one of the best high energy drummers around – Dan Kerby) adds that impact a show like this needs,” elaborated Anatole. “I can’t say I do anything necessarily unique when mixing them, but I do drive this act a bit harder than some of my other, more subtle artists. I need to translate the energy the boys are putting out on stage to the audience. I think I do that well. One thing I do with these guys is I have a vocal effect that thins the vocals out just a bit, and I use this on the moments of very fast rapping, as I find it helps the vocals cut a bit more than they would if the vocals had more body to them. It’s just a trick I use sparingly on speedy rapping moments.”
Anatole uses all Sennheiser microphones. There are the usual drum kit mics: e901 – kick in, e602 – kick out, e904s – snare bottom, rack, floor, MD421 Kompact – snare top, 8050s – hats and underheads, e914s for audience mics. For the vocals, he is running four channels of Sennheiser EW-DX with 945 capsules.
“The EW-DX is an excellent wireless system in that they are fully digital, so the response is super quick and the RF is always very clean,” added Anatole. “I find the 945 cap handles the SPL of the main guys and also handles the cupping that rappers inevitably do to the capsule …. being a slightly longer cap than the usual means it still has some room to breath even when cupped, so it doesn’t get as ‘bitey’ as most other capsules, such as Shure 58s do.”
All the band members are on IEMs, with Anatole running Sennheiser G4 and G3 systems for the main performers and a hardwired Shure PSM900 for the drums. He notes that the Sennheiser IEMs offer excellent imaging and decent output levels. The guys hadn’t had much time on IEMs before he came on board, but he managed to get them comfortable pretty quickly, so that’s the norm now. There are some side-fills, a DJ monitor and drum sub for some extra vibe on stage.
“My touring package consists of five flight cases … all at 23kg,” said Anatole. “Console, stage racks, RF mics plus receivers, IEMs plus receivers and all hardwired mics, and lastly a case with extra bits like a drum loom, Wi-Fi router, spare capsules, battery chargers, etc. This set-up makes me essentially self-contained, so all we need is the PA and the stage monitors.
“As we tour my package of mics, IEMs, and controls, we eliminate as many variables as possible. So the main challenge when touring is usually a combination of the gear provided by local suppliers (sometimes hard to get good gear in regional areas) and the space itself, often we are performing in beer gardens or in areas that are not a typical venue space, therefore they can be challenging as they are not very acoustically friendly!”
Bliss n Eso’s Party On The Moon Tour continues through to mid-August.
