Chris Cornell performing
Former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell is taking his solo
gig on the road, backed by an A-list band comprising drummer Jason
Sutter, bassist Corey McCormick, and guitarists Yogi Lonich and
Peter Thorn — all of whom create a massive wall of sound.
Touring in support of his latest, Scream
— the cover of which shows Cornell about to smash his
six-string guitar, an interesting message considering that the
album’s executive producer is hip-hop heavyweight Timbaland —
Cornell and crew gave a stellar rock ‘n’ roll performance, with
just a subtle rock-dance undertone. Mix caught up with the
act at San Francisco’s Grand Ballroom at Regency Center.
Front-of-house engineer Ted Keedick
For the past five years, front-of-house engineer/tour manager
Ted Keedick has relied on a Yamaha PM5D. He says the PM5D has
“just enough analog character with the benefits of the
digital world to suit my needs. For all but three of my 37 inputs,
I am using the onboard gates, comps and effects engines.”
Keedick runs Chris Cornell’s vocals first through an Avalon 737
and then adds an Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor as an insert, giving
him two stages of compression. He also uses a Summit Audio DCL-200
on Jason Sutter’s cymbal mics.
Monitor engineer James Bump
“We were using the house P.A. — a JBL system that
responded pretty well in a not-so-forgiving room,” Keedick
says. He uses a Clair IO for system tuning. “I actually was
using only one channel as an EQ for my main vocal. Chris plays for
a long time each night, but I rarely tire of the set. The guy
switches up night after night, choosing from a vast selection of
his works from previous bands, solo work and a few very well-done
covers. The band delivers consistently, and my crew
rocks!”
Monitor engineer James Bump mixes on a Digidesign Profile, using
very few onboard plug-ins including Smack!, Echo Farm and ReVibe.
“The band is on in-ears — Ultimate Ears model UE7; no
wedges. We are using a Shure UR4D wireless with a Shure SM58
capsule for Chris’ vocal mic.”
