FORT COLLINS,
COLORADO: String Cheese Incident are on the road
once again, taking their Almost Winter 2003 Tour
to the West Coast of the U.S.
and Canada, followed by three consecutive dates
in Chicago leading up to New Year's Eve. For the
second consecutive tour, an InnovaSON digital console,
supplied by the band's sound provider, Shaped Music
of Colorado, is being used on monitors, this time
in conjunction with an eight-channel True Systems
Precision 8 analog microphone preamplifier.
"We've gotten the band to expect a very high
level of comfort on stage and a very high level
of production competency," explains Jason Brodsky,
monitor engineer for String Cheese Incident. "My
goal, as the monitor engineer, is to deliver the
band a great deal of continuity on a night by night,
show per show basis. So the ability of a digital
desk to save and recall comes in handy."
The compact, lightweight InnovaSON Sy40 console
can be easily shipped anywhere in the world, ensuring
that the five band members receive consistent in-ear
mixes at every gig. Rich Werdes of Shaped Music
chimes in, "Since it's a wireless monitoring
system, and initially takes some time to setup,
they wanted something small that could potentially
travel to festival dates where they could interface
with another sound company. Today between the InnovaSON
Sy40 and wireless monitors, setup is a snap."
With its onboard dynamics, he notes, the InnovaSON
package is much more compact than the band's previous
all-analog monitor console setup.
The band, which consists of Bill Nershi - acoustic/electric
guitars, Keith Mosely - bass, electric mandolin/fiddle,
Kyle Hollingsworth - keyboards, Michael Travis -
drummer/percussionist and Michael Kang - mandolin/fiddle,
use Sennheiser's Evolution Wireless EW300 IEM wireless
monitors with Future Sonics custom Ear Monitors(r).
The exception is Michael Travis who is hardwired
from the desk into a custom Future Sonics headphone
amp. All five members additionally contribute vocals,
making use of five Neumann KMS 105-S wired vocal
mics.
"I must give a little plug to our good friends
at Future Sonics," says Brodsky. "[Owner]
Marty [Garcia] is a dear friend. I also need to
plug Peter George, our systems tech. He was very
instrumental and supportive in making sure we got
this system. "And I wouldn't be able to do
any of it without our great stage techs: David Burbank
(keyboards), Judd Klienmann (drums and bass), Brook
"Boogie" Parlow (guitars), and of course,
FOH mixer Jon O'Leary. This crew is unbelievable
and the show would not happen at all without them."
The changeover from an analog to digital mixing
console occurred overnight, Brodsky relates. "I
went to Shaped Music with multi-tracks of a recent
show and spent two days building mixes, which we
debuted for the band when they stepped onto the
stage for the first time at the Telluride Bluegrass
Festival. They hadn't heard the desk. It was as
close to perfect as it could be, given the circumstances."
The True Systems Precision 8 mic preamps are inserted
into the monitor chain to provide several of the
players with the sonic signature to which they had
become accustomed. "It was not so much that
we didn't love the InnovaSON preamp sound, as it
was that we went from a full analog system to literally
changing overnight to this console," explains
Brodsky. "There was a perception that it wasn't
analog enough, so there was a little bit of an adjustment
with certain lead instruments. It's very much a
guitar/mandolin/vocal-driven band."
He continues, "We love the TRUE Systems mic
preamp. It sounds great and definitely has proven
itself to be incredibly roadworthy. It was mis-loaded
into a rack and survived - with minor cosmetic blemish
- a four-foot drop onto concrete. And it works perfectly."
There are plans to increase the channel count of
TRUE preamps, according to Brodsky. "A lot
of our stuff is stereo. For example, I have it on
the guitar, mandolin and the vocals; but the guitar
and the mandolin for two guys is four channels right
off the bat."
"I would like to have them on everything,"
he concludes. "Since I have been using the
TRUE preamps, the band has been smiling at me -
and when they're happy, I'm happy!"
Based in France, Innova SON manufactures an innovative
line of digital products for live touring, radio
and television, world-class performing art centers,
and general sound reinforcement applications.
Neumann's award winning line of microphones has
set the standard in the industry since 1928. In
1999, Neumann received the prestigious Technical
Grammy(r) for their 70 years of innovation in microphone
design and contribution to the music industry. A
continuing commitment to provide innovative, technically
refined products and engineering solutions of proven
quality ensures that Neumann's stature will remain
unassailable.
www.innovason.com
www.sennheiserusa.com
www.neumannusa.com
