In this video interview from Sweetwater, we talk to Neil McDonald the FOH audio engineer for US rock band Rival Sons. Neil talks about the console he uses, his outboard gear, Ipad control and using the Universal Audio Apollo Twin.
Video text:
hi I’m Mitch Gallagher from Sweetwater
we are coming to you from the Clyde
theater here in Fort Wayne Indiana
there’s a concert tonight featuring
Rival Sons Neil McDonald is here with us
front of house for the band it’s great
to have you here well cheers great happy
yeah you’re over to Sweetwater yesterday
we were it was quite an impressive
building I really enjoyed myself that
was good to go there and Tink around
with all the stuff yeah a few toys to
check out right Auditors exactly can you
back away from them yeah we’ll talk
about that in a second there your new
rig but so tell us a little bit about
what what goes on tell us about a day in
the life you guys are traveling with
your own consoles how does the whole
thing kind of work out well we come in
we get in at 10 load in at 11 and then
we bring all the gear in they bring my
console out here we tip it and then we
proceed to wire and then we go through
and do a line check pretty much and then
we do sound check right that’s it easy
right easy always today a little bit
difficult yeah I had a few uh technical
difficulties today is 50 and a CAT5
issue but we fixed it yeah well let’s
see you’re the master right you figure
all that stuff out I try to be yeah
that’s that’s awesome that’s awesome so
it has to be an advantage to be able to
travel with your own console 100 it
makes your life easier just to be able
to have something to work with uh on a
daily basis so you can build it and then
do your virtual sound check and it’s
it’s it’s definitely an advantage to be
traveling with your own console right
right so you’ve got guitar based drums
lead vocal with the band Yes how many uh
how many lines are you bringing and
keyboards yeah sorry 48 48 lines yes
from the stage yes yeah 48. and how do
you manage all that
well you know it’s uh you know you go
through sections I just go through
sections so vocals uh background vocals
bass guitars Keys drums and then the
effects okay that’s how I sort of manage
it so it’s sections right that’s it
right right 48 seems like a lot Until
you realize there’s two guitar cabinets
each with two mics and you’ve got uh yes
coming in and all the drum mics our
surface is full we’re running 56
channels so all the all the back of all
the returns all the effects and certain
different inserts we have to include
there’s there’s ambient mics there’s
six channels of Ambience and uh
a couple other things we have effects
returns intro returns loops and stuff
like that sure for intros right all adds
up to a lot of channels it does add up
to a channel yeah yeah right right so I
see a couple of pieces of rack gear
behind you there what uh what are you
using the the rack gear for uh this is
Jay’s vocal channel so I have a dynamic
EQ for his input and then I have a
distressor for his output it just helps
smoothen it out without having to do too
much drastic eqa vocal depending to
where his range is I can have it still
sounding nice and fat and full right
nice everything else pretty much taking
place in the console yeah pretty much
yeah everything in the console is uh you
know here so all your facts
everything
and then there’s another
Dynamic EQ that’s a digital one for a j
spare vocal just because of rack’s time
I don’t have enough space to carry
multiple rack pieces right right that’s
it makes for a compact rig so most of
the places you go into the PA is pretty
much all set up it’s all ready to go
racks and stacks are always supplied we
try to get a CAT5 cable to multiple Cat5
cables brought so we don’t have to run
them and that’s it so we we bring just
control and everything else is provided
for us nice nice lets you travel much
lighter much much lighter it’s a busting
trailer it’s not a truck so you want to
try to be as compact as possible and
this is even bigger than normally
normally I’d only have a pro 2C but this
is a Pro 2 so I have the extra eight
faders nice it’s a little confusing
[Laughter]
just only comes up with the drums I
still don’t fill it out see I’m always
like left hand is input right hand is
output for me oh there you go right I
noticed you wandering around with the
not wandering around you or purposefully
yeah with your with your iPad as well
yeah I love the iPad because this has
this stuff called mix extender I think
it’s called and I use this just to
control my Center fills because I have
multiple uh I got front fills I have
guitar fills because we have a ISO boxes
on stage I try to try to keep the same
sensation as like an old school concert
where the guitar is ripping people’s
heads off in the front but I try to
control it so that’s what I really
mainly use this for is just to check the
zones so I can walk up and attenuate it
to where I think is comfortable right
yeah yeah how’d you get started uh same
problem stories most guys a band and
nobody knew how to figure out uh the
sound system and then once I started
figuring out this sound system I sort of
like that more than I did playing drums
in the band so uh then I just went from
there from there to there and next you
know I’m here at the Clyde here at the
Clyde yeah exactly so how long have you
been with Rival Sons
12 years now okay
around the world a few times yeah yeah
kind of few places with the band I had
to yeah I’m sure people wonder how do
you get that job how do you end up the
front of house for for Rival Sons do you
submit a resume
most people it’s Word of Mouth yeah it
was myself and the drummer uh went back
we were working with an Atlantic artist
named Joe firstman and that’s where I
started with Miley and really it was uh
I was coming through in one venue and a
Miley saw me and he said he’d been
trying to get a hold of me for a long
time and I guess you know phone numbers
changed blah blah blah blah and then we
ran into each other and it was what oh
you’re here I’ve been trying to get a
hold of you and then I mixed their first
show at the House of Blues on Sunset in
Hollywood and then I just finished doing
a a
singer-songwriter for five years so it
was a welcoming thing to be able to turn
volume up because it was singer
songwriter for five years and it was
like you know sensitive so it was nice
it did it was correct
then ever since then we’ve it’s been a
love affair right right that’s awesome
that’s awesome I mean you get to know
the band they get to know you you guys
get kind of a workflow for how you do
things that’s got to make it easier it
is yeah we’re like brothers we’ve been
in this for 12 years Molly and I it’s
even longer than that so imagine almost
20 years Miley and I’ve been working
with each other right yeah that’s great
yeah so you mentioned it when we were
just getting started but you’ve added a
new wrinkle into the rig here you picked
up an Apollo twin yes universal audio so
what is the idea with adding that into
what you’re doing well this is going to
be mainly used for post we have two two
approaches to this I have
this little zoom camera thing and uh I
take two tracks off my console and then
two tracks off the microphone and then
that’s gonna be coming back like a
session here and that’s something that
we potentially might be doing with
merchandise where we’re gonna quickly
mix it and then potentially with a QR
code or something along those lines sell
it to the audience sure so whatever and
then the other one is we multi-track
and then I take the multi-track bring it
into the Luna and then I can send stems
for the uh artists mainly Jay and Scott
where they can review and pre uh uh
Overlook the performance from the night
before to see what’s going on I’m gonna
review the way the show went exactly if
there’s something that they want to
tweak and that’s the stems of the basics
of vocals drum space blah blah blah and
then I then on the other stuff I will
track 48 tracks and we have a library so
that we do have a show that we feel is
beyond epic or something that we can
review back or come back to and maybe
make a record so that’s what it is right
now and then the Luna is the platform
that we’re using now for post okay and
then this thing is amazing yeah the twin
the twin yeah yeah it’s the twin quad
and I think we’ll eventually get a
satellite with that and then it’s
unbelievable like how you can literally
finish this show so I can finish this
then I can go back to the bus with my
cans and listen to it and do any tweaks
and then present it to the band right
away and if there’s something that we
have to tweak boom and every one of
these guys have a Luna so we can send
files back and forth to each other oh
great really cool yeah that’s awesome it
is awesome I guess you could also do a
virtual sound check you could route
tracks back and forth that way as well
yes so yeah yeah that adds a lot of
capability into the rig isn’t it it does
you know it’s if there’s something if I
had a problem or if there’s something
wasn’t sitting right and I want to go
back I just come out here with my
headphones without disturbing anybody
and I can review and boom boom Going
Back and tweak it it’s usually symbols
and something you know just standing out
that you don’t want to stand out and I
come back and I could just tweak it a
little bit without bugging everybody but
having a PA blast you know right right
well that’s awesome well congratulations
on adding that into the rig oh no I’m
super stoked to really use that to this
potential I’m really excited about that
that’s all awesome yeah man thanks so
much for giving us a tour of the the rig
and telling us how things work pleasure
to meet you pleasure to meet you and I’m
looking forward to the show it’s going
to be fun it’s gonna be an awesome show
right on Cheers and thank you for
joining us at the Clyde theater in Fort
Wayne I’m Mitch Gallagher from
Sweetwater
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