The original dates for the Tim Minchin “Back” tour started from late 2019 to early 2020. The majority of the shows, including Sydney Enmore, were postponed and moved numerous times due to Covid restrictions between states. Finally, the Enmore shows took place in January 2022.
Sound engineer Chris Pyne works with JPJ Audio and he was originally asked to cover the four Brisbane dates at the Fortitude Valley Music Hall in August last year, due to the QLD border shutdown restricting crew travel. Since then, he has done the recent Elevate event with Tim as well as two rescheduled Newcastle dates and five Sydney dates in January 2022.
“The Enmore has an installed L’Acoustics Line array VDosc, which was the original line source PA for touring, which certainly changed the audio touring world forever,” said Chris.
The install design is a split to avoid the mid balcony fence between the upstairs section with 4 VDosc enclosures per side plus 3 DVdosc down fills and additional rear delays of e smaller DVdosc enclosures at the rear. The downstairs audience has 5 VDosc cabinets per side plus a front fill section of 4 DVdosc along the front of the stage area. It also includes 12 x L-Acoustics SB218 sub-bass cabinets – 6 per side. It was professionally designed and installed by the JPJ Audio team of Bob Daniels, Mats Frankl and Wayne Mulder who have provided excellent tech support and advice when needed. The Enmore in-house chief engineer Gary Maddox provides show support and system operation.
Chris typically uses DiGiCo consoles which have been part of his touring career since 2003. This performance was an SD5 console with Chris saying that the operational workflow and control is very familiar for him with many inbuilt perfect needs like FX and dynamic controls.
“I work with the musicians to develop the best sound source and variation of performance dynamics, speech and on-stage volume, sometimes I vary the levels of loud onstage instruments like brass section or drums to develop a more 3D feel in the quieter songs,” he added. “I also added an external Neve Portico II master buss compressor for control of full mix dynamics when needed. It has a stereo field adjustment and the really neat Silk & Texture circuit which allows you to add or fine-tune the amount of HF or LF harmonic content in the output stage.”
The original channel list was 56 inputs and all instruments are mic’ed or DI’ed with the brass section using an attached DPA 4099. The piano is mic’ed with Audix SCX24a, DPA 4099 and Midi piano section, and they use the typical classic microphone brands like Shure 57, b58, 91A – AKG 414 – 451, Sennheiser E904 and Shure RF system with 4 DPA Defacto II handheld vocal mics.
Rod Matheson looked after monitors at The Enmore, but the majority of the tour dates due to Covid restrictions was Matt Whitehead who did a great job. Rod uses a DiGiCo SD5 as well and Chris was pleased to work with his long-time touring friend – they both looked after Kylie and Il Divo internationally for over a decade.
The three brass section players use IEMs but the rest of the band and Tim have ten d&b M4 wedges plus two Q7 d&b side fills and small separate d&b E8 solo speakers at the piano. Tim has a special arrangement with two d&b M4 in a stereo feed plus two small d&b E8 for remote feeds when performing while standing on top of the piano.
Chris commented that the main challenge is the typical balance between stage volume and the out-front audio mix for the audience in the smaller theatre type venues.
“Rod and I work together to integrate the balance between both by adjusting phase and time alignment, and of course volume and tone balance between stage and venue PA system.
“Last, I just want to express my greatest gratitude to Tim and his management team also JPJ Audio for supporting many crew and our industry during these challenging times – it has given huge relief to many of us.”
