London, U.K. (May 29, 2025)—Godsmack’s explosive sonic impact is the stuff of legend, but keeping the sound in-your-face when the venues change radically from day-to-day on tour is no simple task. The band’s recent European jaunt was a perfect example of this, as the group would play an intimate theater one night and a sold-out arena the next. Ensuring it all sounded consistent at every show was the band’s longtime FOH engineer and production manager Scott Tkachuk, who has worked with Godsmack for 15 years.
Helping maintain consistency, the group toured with audio gear provided by Denmark-based Victory Touring, and Tkachuk had the added support of systems tech Mads Nørgaard and longtime FOH Tech Aaron Lauzier, whom he credited with helping achieve the band’s signature sound. “Godsmack is straight-ahead, no-tracks rock and roll,” said Tkachuk. “My guitars are basically flat, my vocals are fat but natural, and the drums are tuned for feel, not just punch. The goal is for it to sound like a conversation—human, not hyped.”
Helping make that happen, Victory Touring fielded a Meyer Sound Panther large-format linear line array loudspeaker system, marking the band’s first tour with a Panther rig. “This was a big leap for us,” said Tkachuk. “The scalability of the Panther system let us carry one rig that could handle it all.”
The Meyer Sound system centered around 72 Panther loudspeakers, supported by two-dozen 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements, along with eight Leopard compact linear line array loudspeakers as front fills. The system was driven by three Galileo Galaxy 816 and two Galileo Galaxy 408 network platforms and ran over a Milan AVB network with analog backup.
Godsmack Tour Serves Up ‘Legends’ Live
Tkachuk mixed the tour on a Midas Pro X console with an analog front end and outboard gear, bypassing plug-ins entirely. Fortunately, he found that moving to a Panther rig didn’t create a lot of housework for him at the desk: “My show file transferred over with barely any changes, and the system kept all the punch and clarity I’m after without ever getting harsh. It’s loud, but it’s still comfortable—and that’s always what I’m trying to hit.”
The engineer found he was a fan of the system’s digital network infrastructure. “We ran AVB right into the boxes, and the imaging was just next level. We even A/B’d between analog and AVB during setup, and you could hear the added definition,” he said, comparing the difference to switching from 1080p to 4K visuals with enhanced detail, space, and precision. “You get that energy that you expect, but you don’t get fatigued. When you’re out there every night, it can’t just be loud—it has to feel good. And with this rig, it did.”
