Apr 1, 2011 9:00 AM, Photos and Text By Steve Jennings

Vocalist Ben Mount sings through a Shure UR2 radio mic with an SM58 capsule. The rest of the band’s vocal mics are Shure SM58s.

This Australian drum ’n’ bass/electronic five-piece band straddles between electronic and rock music, finding a happy medium for an increasing fan base. The band is out supporting their latest, Immersion, on which they collaborated with Prodigy. Mix caught up with the band and crew at San Francisco’s Fillmore.

Vocalist Ben Mount sings through a Shure UR2 radio mic with an SM58 capsule. The rest of the band’s vocal mics are Shure SM58s.

According to front-of-house engineer Antony King, he mixes on an Avid VENUE, whether the tour is carrying production or relying on house-provided gear.

According to front-of-house engineer Antony King, he mixes on an Avid VENUE, whether the tour is carrying production or relying on house-provided gear. “All you need is two iLoks and a USB stick, and everything recalls,” he explains. “For plug-ins, I use [TC Electronic] VSS3 and Waves. Outboard rack gear includes the TC D2 delay, TC System 6000 and Smart [Research] C2 compressor.”

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King’s preferred P.A. for this band is an L-Acoustics V-DOSC, with 15 a side and three dV-DOSCs underneath. The rest of the system comprises 20 SB28 subs stacked per side with three ARCs on top. Four dV-DOSCs are spread along the downstage edge; Lake processing is also employed.

Monitor engineer Colin Burrell mans a Yamaha DM2000, using external A8R preamp/A/D converters for extra inputs into the board, and Aviom A16R and Squirrel Labs Defibrillator. “The band is on in-ears, with no wedges or sidefills,” Burrell says. “We’re using a Sennheiser IEM system that is great-sounding and very reliable. Some of the band is on ACS ears; others are on Ultimate Ears. I stuck with which models they were using when I started as everyone was happy already.”

Bassist Gareth McGrillen uses a Boss GT-8 foot controller unit for its onboard FX and an Ampeg SVT Pro II bass head (miked with a Neumann U87) into an Ampeg SVT-810E bass speaker cabinet, with the front grille removed. Both McGrillen and Gwynedd use Sennheiser UHF radio transmitter and receiver systems as the primary inputs to their rigs.

Guitarist Peredur ap Gwynedd plays through Hughes & Kettner CC 412 A 30s miked with Shure SM57s. According to guitar/bass tech Adey Wilson, at the core of Gwynedd’s electric guitar rig is a TC Electronic G System. “The ‘brain’ is separately rackmounted and connects to the foot controller via a Cat-5 link,” Wilson says. “It switches the Hughes & Kettner preamp channel-select to the desired sound/recall settings and interfaces.”

Drum tech Martin Gavrilovic breaks down Kevin Sawka’s drum-miking scheme: Shure SM91 (kick), Beta 52 (kick), SM57 (snare top/bottom, Tama Octobans), Beta 56 (toms), KSM 137 (hi-hat) and Earthworks SR25s (overheads).

When Rob Swire plays keyboards (he’s also vocalist, guitarist and producer), he uses three MIDI controllers to trigger his sounds: Korg K49, a CME UF70 and a Starr Labs Z6S custom Ztar MIDI controller guitar. He also has a Novation Launchpad used for locates and transport control while at the keyboards. “The K49, UF70 and Z6S MIDI outputs are merged into two Muse Research Receptor 1 Pros: one as a main and one as a backup,” says keyboard tech Ben Adams (inset). “Rob uses a vast array of plug-ins inside the Receptors. Some of the most used and abused synth/samplers are rgc audio z3ta, Lennar Digital Sylenth, NI Kontakt and Absynth, and Novation VStation. These are only two out of the eight Receptors we use. Each bandmember has their ‘own’ unit that is exploited heavily.”

Adams uses two MacBook Pros with 266GHz Intel dual-core processors running Ableton Live V. 8.02. These are each connected to MOTU 828 Mk3 audio interfaces via FireWire and MOTU MIDI Express MIDI interfaces via bus-powered USB 2. The audio from the 828 Mk3s runs through a Radial SW8 audio switcher, and both the MIDI interface outputs are merged accordingly. 

“Upfront, Rob uses a Roland FC-1 foot controller that allows him to modulate certain sounds with the two foot pedals and sustain with the foot switches while playing the Ztar,” Adams explains. “I’ve been a keyboard tech for 16 years and this is without question the most challenging gig I’ve had to deal with.” 

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