Multi-platinum-selling superstar Michael Bublé is touring the country with his Higher Tour performing selections from his Grammy-nominated, 11th studio album Higher and a selection of his original smash hits alongside his trade-mark innovative takes on the great classics.
His long-term sound engineer Craig Doubet is with him but without his usual Meyer system! The Meyer Panther system he used for the rest of the world has been appropriated by Metallica and he is using an L-Acoustics K1/K2 system for Australia and New Zealand.
“It’s the only time I’ve had to do this with the main show rig!” he said. “I’ve done it with the B-rig when we went to South America and played mostly outdoors. Last summer we did a whole series of outdoor shows in England where I used six different PAs in 15 shows. I got to try all of them! It’s a good experience to try new things and compare, but I’m still sold on the Panther.
“The difficult part with doing it this way of course is not having a powered speaker so we’re flying amp racks underneath the trusses. It’s a little more tedious than we’re used to. We build it, test it and get it up there out of sight which is quite a bit of work every day. Consequently, we’re starting an hour earlier just to get it all done but JPJ Audio has been fantastic and the crew is great.”
Craig’s L-Acoustics rig comprises 48 x K1 in four hangs with 4 x K2 underneath each. Additionally, 48 x K2 and 24 x KARA are flown for the B-stage. The main PA and side array is K1/K2 with eight KS28 subs in a steered array flown directly behind it. Along the front of the stage are KARA for front fills with SB18 subs down on the floor as well as a few ARC. For the B-stage, the centre cluster, which is part of the main PA again, is 16 x K2. The four surrounds around the stage are 8 x K2 over 6 KARA each, and there are another four KS28 per side in the air.
“Panther is a very interesting system to mix in,” remarked Craig. “I compare it to mixing when you first tried digital recording and it was “Oh that’s different”, like you don’t have this tape to compress everything. That’s a bit of what the Panther is like – it’s got a little more instant dynamic in it which makes me work more. However, the mix I’ve been doing is translating here.”
The main PA left and right, side arrays and a cluster down at the end of the B-stage are the main PA that’s on all the time. When Michael moves to the B-stage, his vocal tracks into just the B-stage PA. The idea is that to the listener, his audio is moving with him.
“We’ve been doing this now for four years, so it’s kind of second nature,” added Craig. “Fred, who is my system guy, changes presets over and follows him up and down the ramp, hopefully seamlessly. Then we do a B-stage section where part of the band comes out and plays with him and we re-time the whole system. It’s a very efficient use of everything as we use the B-stage system for the whole show as it would be scary to put all this up for four songs!”
On stage with Michael is his touring orchestra of a five-piece rhythm section, a conductor, musical director, nine horns and, picked up locally, twelve strings.
The majority of the microphones used onstage are dpa mics that are used on the piano, all the brass, the strings, the kick drum and the background singers. Michael is on a Neumann capsule on a Sennheiser 6000 RF. The drums are a mix of Audix, Sennheiser and Neumann.
At FOH, Craig mixed on a Solid State Logic Live L550 console that he has used since 2016.
“It’s my favourite toy,” he said. “It’s so flexible, and I can grow and subtract as our show grows and subtracts. Last year we did a residency in Las Vegas with an L-ISA system so I went deep and full-on into mixing with immersive sound and the SSL lived up to it. It did a great job of being able to provide all the outputs, the tracking and everything you need to do.
“For me, it’s mostly the user interface I like about it particularly the big faders and big buttons. Some consoles have so many tiny little buttons and I’m getting old, I can’t see them! It sounds great and the support is fantastic from them, from SSL always. So, why change?”
Craig says that when mixing Michael you always have to have one finger on his fader at all times as he’s wildly dynamic.
“The show is Michael,” he said. “All the rest of it is cool and fun, but it’s always about him. He’s got to be clear and present and right on top of everything. Michael once said to me that a lot of this big band music is already mixed for vocals because the brass doesn’t play when he’s singing. It’s a challenge to not make him too big, but keep him part of the band and always him. I have only four things on his vocal; a parametric EQ, dynamic EQ, a de-esser and a compressor. That’s all I need – a good mic, good preamp and a good voice.”
Live show photos: Aaron Leslie
