Only two years after their first reunion tour in a quarter-century, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young played 40 shows in the U.S. and Canada between early February and late April. Fronting a band that included musical director Booker T. Jones, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn and drummer Steve Potts, the rock veterans performed for over three hours each night, playing a broad selection of familiar and obscure songs from their joint and solo careers.
Maryland Sound Industries (Baltimore) provided a JBL VerTec line array system for the main P.A. Systems engineer and joint FOH mixer Mike Scerra, assisted by Chuck Wells and Kurt Joachimstaler, flew 16 cabinets for main L/R columns and 12 cabinets in the center. For 180° coverage, 14-cabinet columns were added to each side, with additional side hangs of four to eight cabinets for 270° coverage. Subwoofers were proprietary systems from MSI, and the monitor system was provided by Sound Image of Escondido, Calif.
At FOH, Scerra shared mixing duties with Jim Mulligan, both working on Midas consoles. “We’re pretty maxed out on inputs and outputs,” noted Mulligan, who mixed vocals and guitars while Scerra concentrated on band balances. “We record to 48-track every night, so all of the direct outputs and all of the group outlets that aren’t being used for effects are feeding record outputs,” explained Scerra.
“I’m carrying a lot of vocal processing, since each guy has a uniquely different voice,” noted Mulligan. “We’re doing some dynamic processing on each member to take out some of the sibilance or edge. We’re using the Neumann KMS 150 for vocal mics, then we have a tube compressor on each guy, as well. It’s been a challenge, but they work hard; they do a soundcheck every day diligently, and that makes it much easier.”
