Australian indie-folk band Boy and Bear has been touring the country for their Harlequin Dream 10-Year Celebration Tour. Mixing FOH is Adam Hignett who has been doing so since early 2022 as well as acting as Tour Manager and Production Manager.
The band has worked incredibly hard as a live touring act for over 10 years so they put a lot of emphasis and care into putting on the best possible show for their loyal audiences. As FOH, Adam spends a lot of effort translating their live energy into the mix whilst staying true to the intention of the songs. This means balancing the rhythm section carefully whilst ensuring the important melodies and hooks are exciting and not just blended.
“The band are a band in the true and original sense of the word,” said Adam. “They also like their tones to be raw and one example of this is Killian’s guitar tones. When I came on board, I wanted to decrease their stage volume. In doing this we eliminated wedges for those who were up for it. We were also carting around a Fender Princeton and a Vox AC15, even checking them in as heavy excess luggage pieces. The band didn’t want to compromise their tube amplifier sound but we didn’t want the excessive bleed of running amps on stage. I then removed the amp modules from their cabinets and housed them in custom ply racks with load boxes and spring reverbs housed within. This now means we have the ultimate flyable analogue tube guitar amps that fly in Pelicans with no stage sound! What a dream.”
The band almost always use house PA systems although Adam’s preference is the d&b SL series.
For control, Adam runs a DiGiCo SD11i with a Waves Server at FOH sharing a D Rack with monitors. The main reason for this is consistency.
“I always record rehearsals pre-tour and take the multi-track record into a virtual sound check in my studio for a few days to work on tones, dynamics and fx to ensure the mix is where it needs to be so I can spend the limited time on the day getting the PA to translate and reproduce the mix,” added Adam. “Days on the road can be long and taxing for the band and the crew. If we can save time setting up, sound checking and packing down it simply means everyone is getting the appropriate rest and eating well which is crucial for putting on the best possible performance.
“Touring the SD control package, IEMs and Mics means wherever we go we spend less time tweaking files, sound checking the band and setting up. We are set up and sound checked normally within three hours of arriving at a venue. The band hired the package from “10PM” in Sydney which specialises in high-end compact audio packages that are packaged in a way that minimises piece count, weight and time spent setting up and packing down. Tidy patch panels, custom cable lengths, lightweight cases etc.”
Adam notes that effects are an important part of the band’s performance and that they don’t like a dry mix. He chooses H Verbs and R Verbs from Waves saying that the H Verb has lots of great emulations that sound pretty close to the original units, such as SPX990, Lexicons and Yamaha. The mix has to be immersive and exciting.
The microphone setup is pretty standard stuff including 902 and 91 on Kick. Adam chose to use an AT650 on Snare due to its punchy low mid and terrific rejection from the hats.
“I also use a “crash guard” on the snare top to help with cymbal bleed into the snare mic,” he said. “I have 904s on toms (classic), at450 on hats and 414s as overheads. Beta58As on most vocals however I use an OM7 on the drummer’s vocal because it has amazing rejection and suits the tonality of Tim’s voice. I use a KSM9 on Sarah Blasko when she takes the stage as a guest vocalist in one song. A DPA 4099 clipped onto the sax means the guest sax player can wander the stage wirelessly and still sound terrific.”
Bernard Gandy mixed monitors for this tour using a DiGiCo SD11i with five sends of Sennheiser G4 IEM racks and three sends of wedges. The band has experimented with IEMs in the past and most of the band love them. However, Dave (vocals, guitar) prefers the open vibe of wedges, as does Dave Symes on bass.
“The Harlequin Dream 10-Year Anniversary tour has been incredible,” remarked Adam. “All shows have completely sold out. We have done 2-3 shows in the same theatre in all cities on the run which is nice because everybody can settle in and get comfortable. Each room and PA has been dramatically different which forces you to rethink the way you approach your tuning and mix in each venue. Trying to reproduce the record in its entirety live whilst allowing the songs to breathe and excite has been very satisfying. The band are playing so well and the audience is loving the experience.”
