FOH Engineer Michael ‘Smasha’ Pollard has mixed audio for seven of the eight Apia Good Times Tours. Indeed for the past five tours, most of the crew has been the same, which brings unity to the production, as they all understand the show brief, the venues and importantly, each other!
The variety of acts on the bill bring both challenge and reward to Smasha who says that there is a developed trust that is hard-earned with the artists that allow him to do his thing regarding the mix of the show.
“We typically do tour rehearsals at the excellent Wick Studios in Melbourne and this allows some critical show-prep for the audio side,” he said. “A big advantage for me is to record the show run-through, then share it back to band and artists. This allows a fairly transparent understanding of what my mix approach is for each song and if required, conversations can be had as to specific expectations or changes to elements in the mix. Mostly I am left to do my thing.”
The tour uses house systems where available, which is generally a pleasure as most venues on the run feature decent installs. According to Smasha, an example and highlight this year were mixing on the new L-Acoustics K2 system in Adelaide’s Thebarton Theatre.
“The mix detail and coverage of seats from front to back were fabulous, indeed a real treat and served this style show very well with vocal detail in particular,” said Smasha. “For the two venues that require the full tour package, Howard Sound provides a Nexo Alpha system. This forms part of the agreed production package that the tour is built and cost around. Pending venue requirements the PA in the truck includes Triple Nexo Alpha per side featuring six Alpha S2, six Alpha B1, four Alpha M3, two Alpha M8, powered by 10 Lab Gruppen 6300 – 2300w into 4 ohms x 20 channels. Processors are 242 Nexos.”
For reasons attached to the tour logistics and production agreements, the FOH console is an AVID SC-48 and a bunch of typical plug-ins.
“The classic AVID desks are just reliable and of course familiar, though, with the 2021 tour the number of stage signals and the nature of the show content has pretty much maxed out this desk at my end of the multicore,” added Smasha. “However these restrictions have forced my hand to be stricter in my desk layout, processing decisions and overall approach – I have to embrace that and turn it into a positive. You know that whole ‘less is more’ headspace can be healthy as opposed to having a console that you can throw many inputs at with lots of processing and busses. Sure, the current products out there to mix with are naturally a step up in so many ways, but this is what I have and does the job well if I work to its available strengths. I trust that for most of the tickets buyers, a good song is a good song and my job is to reinforce that song and performance with the tools I have in a given room that night.”
Smasha reports that he likes to build a show dynamic like a journey from the start to the end of the show with moments that push and pull the mix, this is tied to the songs and how they work in the setlist. That might be using FX to create complimentary drama between wetter and drier ambience for example.
“My snapshots manage the details within each song’s character, allowing me to push faders in real-time to follow the on-stage cues like solos and ride main mix elements like vocals and fx,” he explained. “With an audience that is seated and often right up to the stage lip, I need to be mindful of coverage and SPL. Audiences are there to hear classic songs that they love so it is a vocal focused mix plus the backing vocals get a lot of love in the mix. By the end of the show there are 15 open vocal mics with trading lines, so plenty to keep me busy within the mix.”
Smasha reveals that having such a capable house band helps him as they give him fabulous sound under the direction of MD Paul Cecchinelli.
“But for sure, with a show that changes principle artists to artists between nearly every song, I am seeking to bring out the features that help each song shine and that may be a signature phrase, hook or solo which defines the song in the memory,” he remarked. “The real pleasure of working with the “Countdown generation” of artists is that these songs benefited from great production decisions back in the studio creation so more often than not, the arrangement has some signature moments that I just need to ensure sit proudly in the mix.”
The mic set-up is pretty standard although over the years Smasha has explored options to compliment the band on that tour. This year is very typical Shure, Sennheiser, Audix, Beyer choices. Drums and percussion are typical, except he is using underheads on both kit and the percussion tree, not an uncommon choice for a tighter sound, and keeps the video screens free of stands which benefit Rohan’s lighting design, so a cleaner look to the upstage risers. Guitars are all SM57, DIs are Radial passives, band vocals are wired B58 and principal singers are all on Shure ULXD B58s.
Josh Baker mixes monitors and handles the production management side of the tour. Josh has steered the ship for all but one APIA Tour, so he has a firm understanding of how to best roll out this style of production for a smooth show. Josh is using his DiGiCo SD11i and this choice was made for several reasons. On the technical side of things, the SD11i enables him to do pretty much anything required to keep on top of the stage requirements bearing in mind there are 15 artists on stage to look after at any given time.
Josh utilises features including layer customisation, macro possibilities, channel processing capabilities, powerful snapshot automation, record and playback integration and sonic quality – this and more make for an easy choice in selecting his SD11i for monitor duties. Josh has certainly raised some eyebrows from some of his peers for mixing such a large show (56 inputs, 25 outputs) on such a compact console.
This very small footprint of the SD11i has benefits not only by saving on truck space but it saves space stage-left for RF prep (IEMS and Mics) in a Covid safe manner, RF coordination and monitoring space for 20 radio channels, drawers cases and all the other bits and pieces that form his workspace. A lot is going on at the stage end of the show and it is integral that Josh can not only monitor but access all the moving parts he needs to and not take up too much real estate.
“On stage is a combination of 8 x Stereo IEM mixes, 22 x PS15s on 11 mixes and a drum sub,” explained Josh. “The approach for creating the stage balance is simple; the band are all on wedges to give them what they need to interact with each other and create the vibe. The principal artists are either on wedges or IEMs. I had the pleasure of introducing three of the principal artists to IEMs for the first time and they have enjoyed and embraced the experience. These are the moments I most enjoy in my work.”
Besides the constant set changes (rolling keyboards, flying saxophones and numerous guitar changes) masterfully handled by the stage manager and tech Brett Millican, this year the biggest challenge came from outside the production world!
As with any tour lucky enough to happen in recent times, it was more about staying ahead of the ever-changing border announcements and restrictions that vary so greatly in each state, and ensuring that everything was adhered to for the health and safety of the whole tour party.
There were a lot of times where they would get to the day before a show and not know whether they would be able to do it, based on the constant government announcements. However, they were lucky to have an amazing team behind the tour that wasn’t willing to give up when it got tough.
“It is a huge credit to our Promoter Frank Stivala, Creative Director Lisa Palermo and Tour Manager Mahalia Swinfield, and the team at APIA that we were able to do the shows we have so far, AND we were kept safe in the process,” said Smasha. “The shows that have been able to run were great – the band is so tight with great tones and energy that offers extra entertainment to the audience on top of the stars down-stage.
“The engine room is the dynamic duo of Tony Floyd on drums and Travis Clarke on bass. Paul Cecchinelli on keys and percussion, guitars are stage left James Ryan, Pete Robinson stage right. All sing and that just adds to the thickness of the songs. Add to that the weight of talent in the principal singers and the sheer quantity of historically significant Australian music – it’s indeed a pretty good time!”
The last APIA show was in Bendigo the night before Vic Lockdown 4.0. There are shows yet to resume in NSW, ACT, VIC and TAS. Here’s hoping these, plus many other gigs and events across Australia return for the sake of our industry and the enjoyment music bring the ticket holder.
