Since 1999, front-of-house engineer Snake Newton has toured with the Pet Shop Boys, Craig David and Duran Duran. He has also worked on many TV award shows mixing FOH, and has supervised the band mix at dozens of TV and radio performances. Currently, he’s mixing front of house for The Sugababes.
The effects and dynamics onboard my Yamaha desk are excellent, but there were times in the set when I felt the vocals weren’t sitting correctly. I tried Focusrite’s Liquid Channel on Heidi [Range’s] vocal, set on a combination that I was convinced would work from previous experience in the studio with them, and it worked. The next day, I deployed two more Liquids on Mutya [Buena] and Keisha [Buchanan]. All three were now on the Liquid transformer pre and 1176 emulation. Keisha has a very dynamic style — from a whisper to a phrase of swooping vocal gymnastics, then back to a whisper in the space of a few bars. I settled on the mic pre modeled on the Tube-Tech MEC1A. The three girls sit in the mix in a much more controlled manner without sounding too squashed.
