So, how it works:
Although more sets were provided, only accordion player James Fearnley used in-ears on the tour, the rest of the band preferring the more ‘traditional’ approach of the wedges and sidefills.
With an eight-piece band, plus brass section, Guerin had a number of mixes to keep under control, all of which, of course, had to satisfy the different requirements of the musicians.
“Nobody really hears everybody else,” he smiles. “Those on one side of the stage don’t really hear anybody from the other side and vice versa. For example, Jem Finer’s wedge mix just comprises his banjo and vocal, which is what he wants. He hears the rest of the stage from the ambient sound, the bass, whistle and drums tend to cut through naturally, but he doesn’t really hear anybody else individually.
“On the other hand, Terry Woods has his mandolin, vocals, his cittern and the accordion is very loud in his mix. When it comes to monitors, all that matters with the sound is that it’s high quality, it’s the speed of how quick you can be with the desk that’s the main thing. That’s the beauty of a digital desk, you can do everything so much quicker.
“On Fairytale Of New Yor k , Ella Finer sings the part originally sung by Kirsty MacColl. Guitarist James Walbourne has a full mix of drums, accordion, banjo, and main vocal, plus his vocal and acoustic. Ella uses the same wedges but with a totally different mix of just her vocal plus a bit of the main vocal. On the D5, with one fader I can change between the mix for James and the mix for Ella in the same set of wedges. On an analogue desk there would be lots of buttons having to be turned off. I also have plenty of channels if somebody wanted a different sound for an instrument, I could do it and not worry about it.
Effects-wise, Guerin was solely using the D5’s internal effects. “I mostly use reverbs and graphics,” he says. “There’s reverb on Shane[MacGowan]’s vocal, reverb on the whistle and graphics on everything. It’s another big advantage of using digital - if we had to do this with an analogue desk there would be loads of outboard graphics, five reverbs, ten compressors and God knows what else - plus another desk for the support band, whereas the support band’s monitors are also done on this console.”
With an eight-piece band, plus brass section, Guerin had a number of mixes to keep under control, all of which, of course, had to satisfy the different requirements of the musicians.
“Nobody really hears everybody else,” he smiles. “Those on one side of the stage don’t really hear anybody from the other side and vice versa. For example, Jem Finer’s wedge mix just comprises his banjo and vocal, which is what he wants. He hears the rest of the stage from the ambient sound, the bass, whistle and drums tend to cut through naturally, but he doesn’t really hear anybody else individually.
“On the other hand, Terry Woods has his mandolin, vocals, his cittern and the accordion is very loud in his mix. When it comes to monitors, all that matters with the sound is that it’s high quality, it’s the speed of how quick you can be with the desk that’s the main thing. That’s the beauty of a digital desk, you can do everything so much quicker.
“On Fairytale Of New Yor k , Ella Finer sings the part originally sung by Kirsty MacColl. Guitarist James Walbourne has a full mix of drums, accordion, banjo, and main vocal, plus his vocal and acoustic. Ella uses the same wedges but with a totally different mix of just her vocal plus a bit of the main vocal. On the D5, with one fader I can change between the mix for James and the mix for Ella in the same set of wedges. On an analogue desk there would be lots of buttons having to be turned off. I also have plenty of channels if somebody wanted a different sound for an instrument, I could do it and not worry about it.
Effects-wise, Guerin was solely using the D5’s internal effects. “I mostly use reverbs and graphics,” he says. “There’s reverb on Shane[MacGowan]’s vocal, reverb on the whistle and graphics on everything. It’s another big advantage of using digital - if we had to do this with an analogue desk there would be loads of outboard graphics, five reverbs, ten compressors and God knows what else - plus another desk for the support band, whereas the support band’s monitors are also done on this console.”
