Fiona Apple is touring to support her new CD, Extraordinary Machine. It’s been more than five years since her last tour, and the sold-out crowd at San Francisco’s Warfield Theater in late November gave the singer/songwriter a loving response to her long overdue return. She goes back on the road at the beginning of 2006, opening for Coldplay. All gear is provided by PRG, with racks and stacks supplied by local companies or house installs. Mix caught up with Apple’s front-of-house engineer/production manager Gordon “Gungi” Paterson, who’s using a Yamaha PM5D.
“The console is new to me but I’m very familiar with the concept and operation of digital consoles, so it’s been a smooth transition,” says Paterson. A peek inside his rack reveals Distressors, a Lexicon 480, an Eventide H3000, Midas XL-42 and TC Electronic 2290.
Font-of-house engineer Gordon “Gungi” Paterson
“We just changed Fiona’s vocal mic to a Shure SM86,” Paterson continues. “We were using Beta 58s. I feel that the SM86 is warmer and has a smoother, less-smeared high end. I’m now using the Midas XL-42 as the mic preamp for Fiona’s vocal, which helps to warm her vocal. She’s not on in-ears; we just use wedges and sidefills.
“We have the XTA DP 428 speaker-management control system. It’s always challenging using the sound system du jour, but the DP 428 has helped with the system EQ process. I love the flexibility of the wireless tablet. The band is doing an amazing job of re-creating the sounds and tone of Fiona’s CD releases.”
On monitors is Kevin Glendinning and the PRG crew guy is Chuck Smith.
