FOH Engineer Clinton Kraus has worked with Paul Dempsey and Something For Kate since 2001, but this is the first time mixing with Bernard. He describes both as wonderfully professional.
“The wonderful yet terrifying aspect of FDNP and this tour is that they had never played live before,” he noted. “There wasn’t even a band before this tour, so everyone was working out what this creative union would be with a map drawn on the back of a drink coaster!
“Of course, the album had been recorded, but this was different; the band was playing live, and we were about to do sold-out shows. We had a couple of production rehearsal days in Brisbane before the tour, and it was like … this is it, here we go.”
Clinton purposefully didn’t listen to the album more than twice before the production days as he wanted the sound the band was making to tell him what to do. He would never make the band sound like the record, and he believed Paul and Bernard wanted the live sound to be more dangerous.
“I am not the guy to get if you want the gig to sound like the album,” he added. “I was aware of their trust in me and am grateful.”
The tour utilised in-house boxes, amps and processing at all shows. Clinton admits that he has never worked at an audio company, so he is somewhat inept at speaker boxes, brands, model numbers, and everything else related to rigging a PA.
“This is why I greatly value and trust my in-house audio techs,” he said. “I lean on them heavily and always ask them how a mix sounds. Is it good? Is it shit? They know the rooms, and I ask them to be honest. I don’t know what PA was at the venue, but it sounded great. Full, loud, but not pointy.”
At FOH, Clinton ran an Avid S6L, commenting that it sounded great and that he was more familiar with Avid’s workflow and platform.
“I requested that desk as I felt I needed to know the insides better, and the only way to do that is hands on the desk,” continued Clinton. “We were teching our desks, so this was a great learning opportunity.”
When mixing an act, Clinton makes it sound like he thinks it is asking to sound. Obviously, the vocals are essential, and Bernard and Paul’s faces are on the poster, so they are up in the front of the mix, but the blending is critical. Not so much making sure they are both at even dB SPL levels but blending tonally.
“The timbres of the two voices are very different, so I need to find the correct balance so that the two become one. Paul’s voice is like a Royer, and Bernard’s voice is like a 57; they come in and out of parts but then join to sing together, and it needs to be a combined sound, not two voices.
“I love mixing drums, and they are always prominent in my mixes; however, I am pushing the envelope at these shows. And LOVING IT! Everything is massive; the kick, the snare, and the four toms are probably the hero of the kit. It’s good fun.
“The synths are the cake of the mix, and I have five synths in stereo, all spitting out blips, bleeps and blops at different times and of varying importance to the song, so I have them on a group that I process with harmonic seasoning and then compress. I use that group as my synth fader and rarely touch individual channels. The bass is essential but more for filling that low mid-section, so I will high pass to about 100hertz and push 200-400 octaves to fill that gap. Then, the guitars are the icing. In some songs, they are barely audible; in others, they are the face of the mix. My effects are enormous and bombastic. It is ridiculous and so much fun.”
Clinton has a lot of harmonic seasoning on channels, groups and masters. He uses the Waves NLS desk emulator plug-in for this task and has an alarming amount of drive on most of them, but it is just dirtying the things that wish for it. He remarks that it brings the mongrel into the mix. Paul and Bernard play in rock and roll bands and want that energy to break up in the sound of FDNP.
“The bass guitar I am using differently. I am getting more of the sub-bass from the synths; the four strings bring more warmth and support. It is working well.”
The mic setup is pretty much stock standard, with little surprise. Paul uses a Telefunken M80 and Bernard uses a Shure KSM8.
Hugh Webb mixes monitors on an Allen and Heath D-Live S-5000 V2 surface + DM 48 Mixrack. IEMs are 10 x Shure PSM1000s with P10R+ Bodypacks. Mixes are 6 x Band members (Stereo), 2 x Tech mixes (Mono), 1 x Cue (Stereo), and 2 x Spare Matrix sends (Stereo for backup and Guest use).
The IEMs are networked and split over 2 x combiners with 2 x RF Venue CP Beam antennae positioned DSL for Paul and Bernard, USL, to cover the band, techs and Clinton.
Two pairs of passive d&b Max-15 wedges (powered by a d&b D12 amplifier) are located downstage on 2 x mono sends. The wedges also serve as a redundancy if the IEMs fail; they also provide a barrier to stop any shoe gazing from the front row.
Both mixes contain kick, snare and hi-hats, giving Bernard and Paul some amplified focus and feel, putting the drums front and centre instead of hearing the drums disappearing in the room.
“I take a straightforward approach to monitors and always aim to get by with minimal processing,” commented Hugh Webb. “The drum shells are gated with the console’s default on-board dynamics, and all inputs have a 16T compressor with a soft knee inserted. This is essentially used to grab anything that jumps out, and that’s about it, apart from some minimal PEQ.
“The D-Live console is new to me on this tour, and I enjoyed it. It is very intuitive and a great sounding board. We are only seven shows in, and I feel very comfortable with it. Effects-wise, I am running 8 x SMR Reverbs (6 x Vocals, 1 x Drums, I x Instruments).”
Brisbane’s IJS Productions supplied audio, consoles, a line system, power distribution, and risers.
Paul and Bernard had an excellent vision of how they wanted the show to sound, so ensuring that the band members were comfortable and sorted before performing their first show in Brisbane was essential. A series of production rehearsals achieved this.
There were three days in Melbourne with a C1500T, DM32, 6 x IEMs and a full mic kit to get the band into a great starting position. Then, two days of full production rehearsals were held at The Tivoli in Brisbane.
“This was a great space for the band to get a feel for the show conditions and Clinton, Kait and me to set up the touring audio and lighting packages,” added Hugh. “It was here when things started to take great shape.”
“We have done a pretty good job meeting their expectations. Paul and Bernard are great friends with a very long history. The show has a real comedy element, as the two guys are hilarious in their interaction and banter. When it comes down to the music, the band continues to deliver, and as a result, they have delivered a fantastic show night after night.”
