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All Access: Green Day

Green Day is back! And Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool put on a stellar show at the Greek Theater in their hometown of Berkeley, Calif., which is located not more than two miles from their storied roots at punk rock club 924 Gilman.

Photo: Steve Jennings

Green Day is back! And Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool put on a stellar show at the Greek Theater in their hometown of Berkeley, Calif., which is located not more than two miles from their storied roots at punk rock club 924 Gilman.

Front-of-house engineer Kevin Lemoine (pictured at right, with Clair system tech Brett Stec) is mixing on a 32-channel Midas XL200 that he found in France and had reconditioned by Jim Sawyer in Minnesota. “Great desk with awesome EQ,” Lemoine says. “We do lots of fly dates and festivals where a desk of this size makes a lot more sense. I have around 46 inputs, so I had to use a couple of smaller 8-channel rackmount mixers ahead of the Midas to get everything to fit on there—the BAE 8CM, loaded with BAE 1028s, sees the seven electric guitar mics first and a JDK Audio 8MX2 handles the four crashes, ride and overheads—again, busing back in to two XL200 channels.

From left: Brett Stec and Kevin Lemoine

photo: Steve Jennings

“Even though the Midas mic preamps are awesome, Billie’s vocal is a Telefunken M80 wireless on a Shure transmitter, into a John Hardy 990 preamp, then a Maselec MPL2, a Lake EQ and then a Distressor before hitting the Midas,” Lemoine continues. “The backing vocals all sing through Telefunken M 80 microphones. They all have API 3124 preamps on them, as well as the phenomenal Chandler Limited LTD-2 limiters. For Green Day, audience interaction is essential, to be able to feel like Billie is speaking directly to them. They’re a very dynamic band.”

The main P.A. hang comprises 20x Clair I3 per side, 12x Clair I3 per side for side hang, 9x BT-218 HP subs per side, and 2x I3s for front fill.

Monitor engineer Kevin Dennis

Photo: Steve Jennings

Monitor engineer Kevin Dennis is mixing on an Avid Profile. “I have always liked the ease of use and workflow of the console,” he says. “The only plug-in I am using is a Waves C6 on all the vocals. The band is all in-ears with a thumper for Tré. Billie Joe, Tré and Jason White are on UE-18s, while Mike, Jason Freese and Jeff Matika are on UE-11s. We are using Shure PSM 1000 transmitters. All of the guys except Billie Joe are on hardwired Telefunken M80s. Billie Joe is using Shure UHF-R transmitters with Telefunken M80 capsules.”

Mike Dirnt

Photo: Steve Jennings

“Mike uses the Fender Mike Dirnt Precision bass for most of the set,” says bass tech Eden Galindo. “Then for the older songs in E-flat he uses a ‘58 Fender Precision called Ruby Mae. His amp is a Super Bassman 300-watt tube head. Bass DI is a Radial and miked with a Neumann TLM 103. These both get compressed with Distressors.”

“Billie plays through two modded 100-watt Marshall JMP heads,” says guitar tech Hans Buscher. “There’s a switching system based on a RJM RG-16 Audio Looper and a CAE 3+ preamp for the clean and midrange tones. The main tone is both Marshalls. Billie’s lead tone comes from the addition of a Boss Blues Driver. He uses Shure UR4D+ wireless receivers and an RJM IS-8 input switcher to select which guitar is going into the rig. One of these 4×12 cabinets gets a Neumann TLM 103 and a Shure 313, and the other cabinet gets a Neumann TLM 103 and a super old and minty RCA BK5 with factory windscreen and shock-mount.”

Tré Cool

Photo: Steve Jennings

“For the drums, I mike the kick with a Shure Beta 91 and an old AKG D-12,” says Lemoine, who is assisted by drum tech Kenny Butler. “Snare top is a Telefunken M80 and snare bottom is an AKG 451. All of these see API 3124 mic preamps and also SSL XR618 gate/comp modules from the SSL X-Logic. Hi-hat is a Neumann 185. Rack tom gets a Shure Beta 98, and floor toms each get a Josephson E22S. Again, these toms see the API/SSL combo. Cymbals are individually miked with DPA 4062s and Telefunken ELA M 260s for side heads.”

“Jason White has a two-amp, two-cabinet setup,” says FOH engineer Lemoine, with a nod to guitar tech Chris Schleyer and keys/ accordion/sax tech Hugo Marcotte. “His first cabinet gets a Shure 313, second cabinet gets a Neumann TLM 103 and another old and minty RCA BK5. All of these guitar mics go to the BAE 8CM out front and get preamped and EQ’d by the 1028s before returning in to two channels of the XL200 that have the Chandler Limited LTD-2s inserted in the channel strip. Jeff Matikka’s 4×12 gets an old Shure SM 56 that sounds killer.

“Jason Freese’s keyboard gets a stereo Radial DI, and the Leslie cabinet for the Hammond B3 is miked up with a Shure Beta 91 on top and an old AKG D-12 on the low,” he continues. “Leslie cabinet insert is a UA 1176×2. The sax mic is a sweet-sounding DPA 4099 with another Chandler Limited LTD-2 on it. Acoustic guitars are all direct inputs on Radial DIs and have the LTD-2s on them.”

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