Danny Hill and Jess Chapman P.O.D. — the four-piece, born-again Christian act that melds hip hop with alt rock — is currently out on a “continuance” run from its Warrior’s Tour that began in 2000. This time around, tour manager Danny Hill (center) is back at FOH and pulling double-duty. Mix caught up with Hill and monitor engineer Jess Chapman (right).
What kind of board are you using?
Hill: I’m using a Midas H3000. I know everyone’s jumping on the digital console train — especially when you’re running four bands a night — but I’m sticking with analog. I like the PM5D and the Showco consoles are great, but the Midas has never let me down. I run 30 inputs for the band and another six for my effects returns.
What kind of P.A. are you out with?
Hill: This tour has been a little different. We didn’t carry anything more than consoles and drum fills. We’ve used house audio every night. We’ve actually been very lucky and had good systems for the run — a lot of VerTec systems, believe it or not. Gone are most of the old 850 rigs or mismatched systems of yesterday.
Are you out with in-ears or wedges?
Chapman: As of right now, the band prefers the wedges to the in-ears; with any luck, I can talk them into another test run on the ears. The latest drum fill I’ve been carrying comprises two double 18-inch Electro-Voice MTL-1X sub cabinets and four X-Array XW12 wedges. All of that is processed and powered by E-V.
How do you battle stage volume?
Chapman: My drummer’s mix is the loudest mix because he requires so much guitar to reach his comfort zone. I would have to gain the guitar mic so loud that it started to pick up everything else onstage, causing feedback. I discovered the Palmer guitar DIs that would take the signal that runs parallel out of the guitar cab. That enabled me to gain as [much] as I needed, while keeping the same tone they like without feeding back.
