Colbie Caillat sings into a Shure UR2 wireless mic with an SM58 capsule.
Out in support of her latest, All of You, singer/songwriter Colbie Caillat brought out a stellar backing band at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. Mix caught up with the crew, who are relying on house-provided gear.
Front-of-house engineer Jonathan Loeser is relying on house-provided consoles, using a Yamaha PM5D at the S.F. date. “I prefer to mix on analog, but with Colbie, I’m using 44 channels, so when it comes to most analog consoles, it doesn’t leave room for our support, Andy Grammar, whom I also mix,” says Loeser. “If we get a digital console, it makes it easy to recall the show and not have a second console.”
Onboard, Loeser employs Waves plug-ins, and Avid C6, Doubler, Renaissance Reverb and the Q10. “I don’t have them consistently on this tour, but I plan to put together a small MixRack system that would replace my current outboard rack,” he says. “When I found out that I wouldn’t carry a console on this tour, I at least wanted to have some consistent effects and vocal comps. For the effects, I have an Eventide H3000, TC Electronic D2 and M2000, and a good-old Yamaha SPX-990. I have two dbx 376 tube channel strips for the main vocal and spare. I use all this for days with PM5Ds; for analog days, I add the BSS 404 comps for BGVs and the dbx 1046 and 1076 for the kick and snare. On days that I have an Avid console with the Waves plug-ins, I don’t use the rack at all.”
Front-of-house engineer Jonathan Loeser
Monitor engineer Monte Carlo is also mixing on a Yamaha PM5D at the Regency, using onboard Waves Compact Soundgrid Server and such plug-ins as C6 multiband comp, Kramer PIE bus comp, Bass Rider, TruVerb and Doubler. The eight monitor mixes are being sent via Sennheiser G3 Series transmitters to the musicians, who are wearing a collection of Ultimate Ears UE11s and UE7s, and Sensaphonics 3Max/3D systems.
Monitor engineer Monte Carlo
Donald Barrett’s drum kit is miked with a Beta 91 (kick), Beta 52 (sub-kick), SM57 (snare top, bottom), Beta 181 (hi-hat, rider), Beta 98 (rack, floor 1 and 2) and KSM 137 (overheads). Next to the Aphex Headpod 454 is a shaker amplifier for his drum throne. “It’s similar to a Buttkicker, except the driver is built directly into the seat and delivers tremendous low end without needing a large amp,” says monitor engineer Monte Carlo.
Dory Lobel’s (stage-right) guitar amps are Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special 1×12 and a Transatlantic 30 2×12, both miked with Shure SM57s off the center of the cone. Effects pedals comprise Piggy FX, Visual Sound, Line 6, Xotic Effect, Voodoo Lab and Maxon
According to backline tech/stage manager Terry Staley, Caillat uses all custom guitars, including a Gibson Songwriter Standard, Dove and Coco.
Keyboardist Daniel Mandelman’s setup includes a Nord Stage 88 ES and Electro 3, Yamaha Motif ES7 and a M-Audio Axiom, the latter controlling the Electro 3 and allowing physical freedom when playing the organ without having to cross hands. Logic and M-Audio ProFire are running the tracks.
Bassist Josh Nyback also plays a small keyboard—Moog Little Phatty Stage 2—on a couple of songs. His Aguilar DB751 amp and DB412 cab are miked with a Shure Beta 52.
