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On the Road: Machine Head

Machine Head Tour manager/FOH engineer Ted Kistner is once again out with Machine Head; he originally toured with the band in May 2004 and is back on

Machine Head

Tour manager/FOH engineer Ted Kistner is once again out with Machine Head; he originally toured with the band in May 2004 and is back on the road for their current co-headlining jaunt with Lamb of God, Trivium and Gojira. After this, the band will be on the Heaven and Hell tour with Black Sabbath (where Ronnie James Dio will lend his vocal stylings) and then off with Megadeth.

How much gear are you carrying?
I’m carrying mics, cables, I’ve got a split sub-snake and that’s pretty much it.

What are you requesting on your rider?
Lamb of God is handling all of that, but I don’t ask for a whole lot: A [Yamaha] 3k or PM5D, but I’m totally happy with a Crest Century, too.

Are you using any effects?
The only effect I use is a [TC Electronic] D-Two for the lead vocal; other than that, I run everything straight. Once in a great while, I’ll throw a little reverb on the vocal depending on the venue. But a lot of the time, the hall has enough in it that it’s not really necessary.

Do you have a specific mixing style?
My goal is to get everything as close to unity and have it be loud enough for the room as possible. I might ride the vocals a little bit hotter than anything else, but I generally keep my mix straight across. I try to run through the board as little as possible to keep it clean. Being the second band on this bill, there’s a lot of work really fast: I basically have about six minutes during the change-over to get all my line check done and hope that during the first song, everything is as it should be. It’s guerrilla-style every day.

Where can we find you when you’re not on the road?
I live in Atlanta and work for Atlanta Sound & Lighting and I’m the production manager for a club called Atlanta Live. They still keep me busy when I’m out here, too!

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