It’s been more than 30 years, but they’re back: Iggy Pop & The Stooges played two sold-out shows at San Francisco’s Warfield Theater in mid-April. Audiences were not only excited to see the band back on tour, but they were also treated to Iggys’s seemingly random stage-diving and some members were even invited onstage for a tune. Mix checks in with front-of-house engineer Rik Hart, who has been mixing for Iggy since 2000.
Front-of-house engineer Rik Hart
“When I was first given the opportunity to do FOH for him seven years ago, I couldn’t believe my lucky stars,” Hart recalls. “He’s a very interesting and experienced character, and one of the greatest things about Iggy is that he still loves doing live shows and loves going to places to play that aren’t on the usual international gig circuit. We’re using local production for all of these shows, which can be a little hit-and-miss sometimes. My FOH system of choice is the d&b J Series; it’s truly amazing. Unfortunately, there isn’t very much of it in the U.S. yet. My other choice is the JBL VerTec system, which as far as line array systems go does rock ‘n’ roll very well.” Hart’s preferred board is a Midas XL4.
All mics onstage are Shure, including Iggy’s vocal mic: “Iggy has a tendency to throw things — other than himself — around the stage from time to time,” Hart says. “The only mod we do is to replace the standard grille with one from the Beta 58 as it’s much stronger. As for a mixing style, Hart says, “EQ the system well and do what you can to ensure that the audience is hearing the same mix by making sure you have enough speakers and that they’re covering all the places they need to. Democracy for listeners.”
