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Rush Tour Gets SpectraFoo-ed

New York (May 7, 2007)--Engineer Brad Madix will handle FOH duties once again for Canadian rock legends Rush this summer. Following rehearsals throughout May, Rush begins its latest world tour in Atlanta, in mid-June, supporting a brand new full-length release, Snakes & Arrows. Much as he did last time, Madix will be bringing along Metric Halo's SpectraFoo analysis software for use on the tour.

New York (May 7, 2007)–Engineer Brad Madix will handle FOH duties once again for Canadian rock legends Rush this summer. Following rehearsals throughout May, Rush begins its latest world tour in Atlanta, in mid-June, supporting a brand new full-length release, Snakes & Arrows. Much as he did last time, Madix will be bringing along Metric Halo’s SpectraFoo analysis software for use on the tour.

FOH engineer Brad Madix, who is going out with Rush, is taking Metric Halo’s SpectraFoo along for the tour. Madix, who is returning to front-of-house for Rush after first mixing the band for part of the Roll the Bones Tour, puts SpectraFoo to good use, not only during system setup but, also throughout the show. “I use it mainly for tuning the PA–that’s the big job that it does–but also for stuff in the mix. Even though I’m mixing live, I do use it for ‘mastering,’ metering and looking at phase.”

In order to replicate their studio recordings, each member of the three-piece band often plays or triggers other sounds in addition to their primary instrument onstage. That can be a challenge, notes Madix, especially in the low frequencies. “For a band like Rush, where there are multiple bass inputs, SpectraFoo has come in handy a few times for correlating the phase of three or four different bass inputs. It can be hard to hear. You know it’s not quite right, but when things are close but not quite right, it’s really tempting to start twiddling the EQ. It’s nice to have the computer sitting off to the side and be able to pull up a phase scope and see what is not right.”

“One of the first tours I did with SpectraFoo was with Marilyn Manson in 1999 or 2000,” recalled Madix, who adopted SpectraFoo after discovering the fast Fourier transfer-based tool set at an industry trade show. “The funny thing about that music, which I like a lot, is that sometimes it’s hard to tell when something is ‘broken.’ There’s a lot of stuff that’s intentionally distorted. It was useful to go in and find the things that actually were not working correctly, as opposed to the stuff that was supposed to sound like that. With a band like Manson, who knows what someone is doing up there! It may not be a matter of equalizing the PA.”

Metric Halo
www.mhlabs.com

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