One of the world’s greatest guitarists, George Benson played headline shows in Melbourne and Sydney on the back of his Bluesfest performance. At 79-years-young, the pop-jazz and R&B legend still has the magic fingers, the moves and the voice. He also has an experienced crew and band who have been with him for years making the show seem effortless.
Sound designer Michael Briggs has mixed for George for thirteen after spending many years working with Al Jarreau.
“Mixing for George is an absolute pleasure, he has such a rich, strong voice,” commented Michael. “Going from Al Jarreau to George was such a difference as Al is nasally and his mic technique made my job very hard! George is smooth as silk and so powerful.”
The incredible band includes Barbara Streisand’s musical director on the keyboard. Unfortunately, the band’s drummer died just before the Covid outbreak and George’s bass player, who has been with him for forty years couldn’t join the tour, so Michael suggested Al Jarreau’s bass player and drummer take their positions.
“They’ve been playing together since they were kids and are locked in so they were a perfect match for the job,” added Michael.
The shows used in-house PA systems and although Michael’s favourite PA is an L’Acoustics, he was impressed by the State Theatres d&b audiotechnik rig.
“It’s not my favourite but it sounds good and I’ve been all over every inch of this theatre during soundchecks and tuning the PA,” he added. “The throw is fantastic, all the way to the very back it sounds clean and clear. I don’t like the d&b stuff because it cuts off at a 100 so then you’ve got to rely on the subs and I don’t like my subs to go above 60, so now I’ve got to hold between 60 and 100.”
However, Michael admits that getting any of the major PA brands means the show is going to sound good as they are all so technologically advanced.
“I’ve been doing this for forty years from when I used to mix big boxes with a lot of paper in them and it was an art to get that to sound good,” he said. “The new technology is so easy and sounds great straight out of the box whereas prior it would take me hours to get a PA to sound decent.”
Out front, Michael was mixing on an Avid Profile as all DiGiCo consoles were busy with the influx of shows around the country.
“It works, it’s tried and true and it’s just like riding a bike!” he accepted. “Mainly I have to ensure the band doesn’t overpower the vocals and I use compressors and such. For George, I only use reverbs on his voice, in the background I have a little more such as harmonisers and delays to fill out. It’s quite straightforward although I do use a tape saturation plugin that makes everything punchier.”
Microphones were fairly standard with Shure 58s and 57s, AKG condenser mics such as 451s for the high hat and 414s for overheads. George’s wireless KSM9 microphone is toured.
Monitor engineer Paul Stenstrom has been with George for twelve years and was mixing on a Yamaha PM5D. Everyone except George and the keyboard player stage right is on Shure PSM900 IEMs carried on the tour.
“George has never liked them, he doesn’t want something in his ears and he likes to hear what’s going on onstage,” said Paul. “We don’t carry any monitors and simply use whatever is provided at the venue.
Paul says it’s not a challenging gig because George and the band know what they want and as long as he can give it to them, they’re happy. His biggest challenge in doing monitors, in general, is not being able to tell what the band wants and they have a hard time explaining it sometimes.
“I always make a mix for myself and I put everything in it so I can hear if something goes wrong or there’s some technical issue – fortunately, it’s a pleasant mix to listen to!” he added.
JPJ Audio supplied the tour.
