R.E.M. have garnished so much trade press since Planet Earth awakened to the band’s infectious sound over two decades ago, many in the entertainment industry (and beyond) feel they grew up with this band and their unique body of work - the band somehow has managed to catalog the entire range of human emotion and existence. Not too shabby for the first outfit to ever be termed ‘indie’.

Their musical immortality is secure, but much to the delight of R.E.M. fans worldwide, the band continues to produce music ... and tour. Fans were treated to an artistic evening of memorable material, and a show that left a little bit of room for attendee interpretation.
The group that put Athens on the map recently wrapped a two-month North American tour following their stint on the politically charged ‘Vote For Change’ shows. With a new release (Around The Sun) under their belts, the band is prepping for a world tour in 2005 which no doubt will expose them toeven greater hordes of shiny, happy R.E.M. fans.

PRODUCTION

While rather modest in scale, this production looked larger-than-life, much in thanks to the lighting and stage design work of Susanne Sasic, who had to fill the unusually large shoes of Willie Williams, who has created much of the band’s celebrated touring imagery. The R.E.M. management team opted not to use video on the North American leg, but it will be a significant production element on the upcoming world tour.

Heading up the production pack are Tour Manager Bob Whittaker and PM Dick Adams, each veterans of the R.E.M. touring family. Unfortunately for our readership, both were completely enveloped in preparation for the upcoming 2005 shows, and unable to sit for interviews regarding advancing shows already in the rear-view mirror.

The four truck theatre tour used Upstaging for gear transpo and Florida Coach for crew. While catering on the N.A. shows was provided locally, most of the crew we spoke with (when pressed) said they looked forward to carrying catering on the next leg. While vegetarianism (with this band) would seem to prevail, TP US insisted we get down to the meat and potatoes of this tour, meaning the sound and lighting constituents.

AUDIO
The sound reinforcement elements for the North American tour were provided by Rat Sound (monitors) and Carlson Audio (FOH), respectively. R.E.M. house engineer Brett Eliason tapped Carlson (www.carlson-audio.com) while monitor engineer George Squiers felt most at home through his long association with Rat (www.ratsound.com).

To get the skinny on R.E.M.’s live sound, TP US spoke with George as well as Carlson’s senior engineer Allan Bagley, system engineer for the main PA rig. According to Bagley, Carlson’s part of the gig came through their association on Pearl Jam’s last tour. “We’re not known as a national touring company; we’re very much a regional PA company that specializes in entertainment, but we also do quite a bit of work in the church and corporate install markets. Pearl Jam approached us prior to their last tour and asked if we’d be interested in providing services – on the strength of our local relationship with them. “We hadn’t done a national tour since 1995, and had all but given up trying to bid against the major players in the nationwide market – but that tour was successful on all levels, and the R.E.M. gig happened because the FOH engineer and road manager were hired by REM, so we were asked to bid on the PA portion.” For the tour, FOH engineer Eliason spec’d an EAW KF760 Line Array system consisting of 24 KF760 long/medium throw modules, eight KF761 near field modules and 16 EAW SB1000 subwoofers. Four KF750 and four KF755 full range boxes provide additional support, along with six EAW JFX260s.

Allan says although Brett had specific systems that he preferred to work with – and a graduated list of what was acceptable – Carlson were one of the few vendors who could provide what he preferred to work with – the EAW rig. “One of the things he particularly likes about the EAW system is that it offers very good pattern control in the lower mid-range and upper low end. Being a fully horn loaded system, it tends to be tight in an area that can get messy vocally – and we felt like some of the other line array choices tended to be much less controllable down in that region. Plus it goes up and comes down quickly, and it’s been easy to hang and configure.”

Allan says that while they started out with eight subs a side, a maximum of six per side would cover the largest spaces R.E.M. played on this leg. “For the type of mix that Brett was doing for this band, the most we needed – even for the larger venues – was six per side, which also made for a smaller footprint on the ground each day.”

The subs are ground stacked for good old-fashioned acoustic coupling. “We’ve never flown the subs,” he admits. “We’ve thought about it, but haven’t gotten around to it. They have rigging hardware, but there’s no bumper as such, plus we want to preserve a little bit of that sense of impact that people come to expect in the forward quarter of the venue.

“What the audience seems to expect is a lot of Michael Stipe’s voice and a somewhat well-controlled band mix,” he continues. “It’s a very articulate front-of-house mix that’s quite vocal-oriented.”

The standard configuration per side is twelve 760’s with four 761’s underneath.

According to the engineer, this audio rig is supplemented in many venues with either an additional line array on the outside, or two KF750s and two KF755’s per side, “to fill the last 30 or 40 degrees in the venues that require it”.

EAW JF260s fill the front seats, although Allan comments “we curved the PA hang daily in such a way that we were getting very close to the barricade, and so in most cases the fills were not being used heavily; the coverage down front to the center was quite good.”

The EAW system is powered by QSC amplification - Powerlight 6.0’s and 4.0’s. “We have lots of them,” says Bagley. “It’s almost the only amplifier brand we own, or perhaps I should say that the amps we own that are not QSC’s are currently for sale!”

“I hate to even bring it up,” he continues, “because there’s such a stigma attached to this, but we almost always run at 2 ohms, and never have we felt that it’s a problem in any way. A lot of people are against that – I’m not, because I started doing it 20 years ago – and you can run these amps at 2 ohms and they do just fine.”
System I/O is handled by a trio of BSS Audio FDS-366 Omnidrives. Smaart Live is used for room tweaking before handing the hall over to the engineer. “We spent a fair amount of time with Smaart early on in the tour,” he says, “and once the system is up and running, Brett EQ’s the room - essentially with a particular ‘grungy rock’ CD that he’s been using for years. It’s not a good sounding CD, but it’s effective for what he feels he needs to get out of the system.

During the show Eliason runs a Klark-Teknik DN3600s, which Allan says “basically helps him confirm what he’s thinking”, as augmentation for a good set of FOH ears. Brett mixes on a Midas XL4 console. “It is by far his favorite desk to use – the preamp and channel strips, etc. are so good,” he enthuses. “We’re using every input on the console – it’s a 48 frame desk, and we’ve got seven stereo inputs going to free up additional mono inputs. The overheads are run into a stereo input, and there’s also two electronic percussion devices that are run into stereo inputs. Essentially we did that so we could have two guest inputs – as we often have a guest guitar player onstage – and you just never know …”

With the Midas’ sweet pre-amps, there’s no need for outboard mic-pre’s. “If we were multitracking, he would be running everything through a rack of mic pre’s, but we’re just recording to digital two-track nightly. But there are some tube devices in the rack, as well as a lot of non-tube devices,” he explains. “We have a pair of Manley Variable-Mu stereo compressors, and two channels of Summit Audio DCL200’s – the Summit is used on Peter Buck’s mandolin and on one of the acoustic guitars.”

While there is no traditional compression on the master bus, Allan says Brett does employ an Aphex Dominator that he essentially ‘tickles’ when necessary. “He likes to have that control on the vocal threshold – it’s as much a safety valve as anything else.”
Conversely, he says most channel inputs do receive some amount of compression-love, including nine channels of Empirical Labs Distressors, four BSS DPR-404’s, and an Allan Smart compressor. “Everything gets a little bit, and the vocals and bass are getting a lot with the Distressors.”

Delay and time-based effects include a TC Electronics 2290 and a Roland SDE 3000, an Eventide H3000DSE Harmonizer, a TC Electronics M2000, and Lexicon PCM60 and PCM90.

Allan comments the primary vocal reverb is the M2000, while the 2290 and SDE3000 are the workhorse vocal delays. He adds, “The SDE3000 has a plug and play foot pedal that you can stomp out rhythms on, and you can tap them out on the 2290 - they’re basically each used as a straight echo.” As a rule, onstage musicians provide their own effects, especially in guitar and bass world. “Peter Buck coaxes some very unusual sounds out of his guitar at times,” adds Allan.

With the large number of acoustic and eclectic instrumentation, TP US asked the Carlson senior engineer about the show’s decibel range and sweet spots. “We range from 94 to around 100 db, and maybe 102 at the end,” he says, “but it’s not a loud show. We have a very attentive crowd that pays attention, knows the material and sings along.”

He feels the R.E.M. stereo field is fairly wide with ample room for Michael Stipe’s vocals in the middle. “Peter’s guitar rig has three different cabinets and sounds, and there’s some stereo keyboard stuff going on, but there’s not a lot of panning and signals bouncing around. However, it does take a while to figure out how to fit the guitar and keyboard sounds around the vocal.”

On the subject of time aligning PA systems, Bagley doesn’t suffer from any lack of opinion. “Time aligning? Generally I’d almost say we don’t. I feel that a lot of the painstaking work that people put in doing that is only relevant and effective in a very small place. If you’ve got speakers hanging in the air and subs on the ground, delaying them to arrive at the same time is only valid for a particular location. As you move forward and back, or even side to side in the room – if they’re not vertically aligned as well, everything changes with each step you take – so what’s right? It’s not something that I spend a lot of time on, and I think that making your sounds all sound the same – at the relatively proper levels - is far more important.”

In closing, Allan credits Brett with the skills and experience that result in a stellar FOH mix. “He’s spent a lot of time in the studio, and done a lot of mixes, and it shows in his work.”

To get firsthand monitoring and stage mic perspective, TP US asked R.E.M. monitor engineer George Squiers about his gig, and particularly his recent shift to the digital console domain. George’s touring credits include the last two Red Hot Chili Peppers outings, and The Offspring since the mid-1990’s.

“I came up through the ranks with Rat Sound,” he says, “and knowing how they do things and being involved with them for so long, I am very comfortable with their equipment – it’s my preferred system. I love the company; at this point I’m independent, but hire Rat Sound wherever I go.”

George mixes monitors on a spanking new Yamaha PM5D. “I’d never used a digital console,” he says. “I’ve been an analog guy for a long time, but for this tour, I decided it was time to make the jump. One of the reasons I picked the 5D was its compact size – there’s not as many in’s and out’s as the 1D, but for its size and power, it’s perfect for me.

“It was also a necessity with this band, because the musicians swap positions onstage all the time – every other song there’s a different musician playing a different instrument in a new mix position. This is a band that would be really difficult to mix on an analog desk. I can change a patch internally – which I do on certain songs. It’s amazing, and makes my job so much easier.” Wireless in-ear systems are Sennheiser EW300 G2’s, while the in-ear monitors worn by Michael Stipe, Bill Reiflin and Mike Mills are Futuresonics. “I happen to like them; they sound really good,” says George.

An integral part of the onstage audio control success story comes from using Rat Sound’s proprietary Micro Wedges – “they’re great sounding boxes,” George affirms.

Drums are on-ears with a wedge; Mills uses his left earpiece plus wedges, while Stipe uses his own system for vocal monitoring. “Michael only listens to his vocal, and loves to pull one ear - or both ears out on different songs - plus he has a wedge mix, so he effectively mixes himself. It’s a bit different, but I’ve gotten used to it, and know what he’s going for.”

Stipe sings through an Audix OM7, which George says works great for his dynamic vocal style. Mike Mills employs a Neumann 105. Most acoustic instruments – mandolin, 12 string, 6 string, etc. are run through Avalon DI’s, and other than that, the engineer uses the full range of the 5D’s built-in processing. “I’m using the compression, gates, reverbs and EQ’s on the 5D. Every output on the desk has an eight-band parametric output. There are twelve insertable graphic equalizers, and I don’t even touch them.”

Bass is run direct and mic’d with an M88 and an Avalon DI. Buck’s electric guitar rig uses three mic’s - a Sennheiser 609, a Shure 57 and an Audix D3, blended for monitor world and FOH. Kick drum is handled via a Shure 91 and an Audix D6, which George says is really a effective kick drum mic. “The combination is very good,” he adds. “The D6 has a lot of low end, but the 91 has a lot of hi-mid snap and punch – that’s how it works for me on stage, although I’ve heard a lot of people say the exact opposite. We put the 91 inside the drum, and the D6 is at the port of the head - so you get a lot of the air and the push with that mic – that’s my approach.”

Snare is treated with a Shure SM57 on top, and a SM81 on the snare bottom, which the engineer says adds a ‘gnarly’ tone that sounds spot-on. Toms are mic’d with Beta 98s, overheads with AT 4060’s, and hi-hat with a 451. “I’ve always felt the 451 was great sounding mic with a sweet high-end,” he says. “It’s placed up and a little bit away from the snare to pick up a tambourine that sits on top of the hi-hat.”

Drums are selectively gated and compressed, but George says he’s not a huge fan of compressing vocals in a monitor scenario. “I think some singers can hear compression and it bothers them,” he says. “When they hit a microphone they like it to actually flutter their ears - and I don’t want to give them a false idea of what they’re hearing. R.E.M. is a rock band – they’re up there rockin’! Plus, I’m not making a record, I’m up there letting them feel their own energy.”

LIGHTING

For the last four years, lighting designer Susanne Sasic has served as R.E.M.’s lighting director for the group’s longtime brilliant LD, Willie Williams. On this tour, she got the opportunity to create the lighting and set design on her own. In the past, she’s designed for Nirvana, Beck, White Stripes and many others, so she was more than comfortable taking the reins, although she admittedly greatly enjoys working with Williams. Lighting vendor was once again Bandit Lites (www.banditlites.com), who helped Susanne realize her spectacular vision for the band’s performance space. Joining Susanne on tour were Bandit’s Lighting Crew Chief Jimmy Hatton and lighting technicians Will Anglin, Jason Workman and Bobby Dominguez.

The basic gear package consisted of 50+ Color Kinetics iColor Accent fixtures (in 8’ and 4’ sections), 72 two foot by six foot CPI Pentaglas Insulated Translucent Daylighting plastic panels, 45 High End Systems Studio Colors, 13 ETC Source Four 19° lekos, eight Vari*Lite VL3000 Washlights, two Lycian M2 truss spots, two Martin MAC 2000 Profiles, eight Martin Atomic strobes (half w/ colors), 48 PAR cans, a dozen 5K Fresnels with scrollers, 16 ETC Source Four PARs (12 with Wybron Scrollers, 250 Star strobes, and 61 two-lite Moles, all controlled via a Flying Pig Systems WholeHog II and Wing.

According to Sasic, her fundamental design revolved around the desires to have multi-layers of transparent surfaces on stage, and to utilize the latest in LED lighting technology. She says she also wished to provide an “extravagant, exciting show that lived up to the band’s expectations”.

Initially, her inspiration was sparked through the discovery of a university lecture hall with a design that allowed ambient light to pass through green translucent panels - to the LD this triggered the indelible image of the stereotypical greenhouse with corrugated acrylic panels. But when she unveiled this idea to R.E.M. vocalist Michael Stipe, he invited the LD to his house to check out another option. “Michael wanted something a little more sleek, updated, and sophisticated, and he mentioned that he had plastic panels covering part of his back yard patio, and invited me to come look at them. We found our way from his contractor to the manufacturer, and those corrugated panels became our backdrop.”
The honeycomb filtering quality of the corrugated drops provided the translucent quality Sasic was after, and the material turned out to be durable enough for touring.

Another key design influence came through Sasic’s encounter with a design magazine that featured a photograph of incandescent fixtures hung in concentric rings, a great idea that Stipe loved, but that ultimately was impractical if not impossible for a touring scenario. Luckily, the solution fell in line with her desire to use LED technology in her design. By hanging the 4’ and 8’ Color Kinetics fixtures in staggered layers, she was able to achieve the same quality of light emanating from the concentric ring.

Although essentially architectural luminaires, the Color Accents were modified by Bandit with custom connectors, power supplies, and hanging hardware for use on tour.

The LD credits Bandit’s Dizzy Gosnell, Rick Berry and Gene Brian for their contribution to the Color Kinetics elements of her show.

Like most designers, Susanne had to tackle the inherent differences between additive and subtractive color-mixing mentalities. “I’d never used anything like that before, and didn’t have much idea what it was going to entail. Fortunately the people at Bandit did an amazing job; they not only wrote a fixture library for the Hog, they customized the units to make them roadworthy. While the fixtures themselves are almost unbreakable, the connectors and hardware left a bit to be desired.”

Another challenge of the LED-based revolution is the sheer number of DMX channels a touring system can munch. This is where the control scenario becomes vital to programming and effective operation. “They do eat up a lot of DMX channels,” she laughs, “and I think on this show we were easily over 400. I didn’t use the full capacity of the instrument’ DMX channels, mainly because I was worried about memory.

Occasionally I would get an ‘out of memory’ message – mainly because I use the Hog’s effects engine so much; most of the chases and color patterns the LED fixtures are performing are generated by the effects engine.

Though R.E.M. certainly doesn’t come off as a ‘white light’ band, any designer whose career precedes the popularization of automated technology would naturally be concerned with color saturation, color temperature, and the quality of light available in an LED fixture. Sasic comments: “The only color that you can’t achieve with LEDs is a really pure white – you get a wide range of colors on these instruments, and I’ve been happy with the way they look. But the white has somewhat of a pink tinge ... I would like to have a bright ‘yellowy’ white, a nice warm white, and a nice cold white.”

Another signature Sasic look comes from 30 American DJ Strobe Rope Strings – which function as egg strobes – and are placed behind the patio-inspired drops. “They make a wonderful effect on the panels,” says Susanne. “The panels refract any light that comes from behind, so when we fire them up, they give off this incredible television static look. People ask all the time ‘what is that?’ They think it’s a pattern being projected on the front of the panel!”

The LD also picked eight of Vari-Lite’s 3000® fixtures, which she says are spectacular. “I love the VL3000 – it’s super bright and has beautiful colors,” she adds. “I use them as an effect on the backdrop on some songs, and they look fabulous!” All of the VL’s are on the floor - four are downstage - two on each side as shinbusters and washing the stage; the remaining four are placed upstage.

Other movers include a whack of 45 HES Studio Colors and two Martin MAC 2k’s – the Studio Colors live in the trusses just overhead on the front truss – giving Susanne her front wash, and also serve as an integral player in the truss system upstage of the panels, among other duties providing cool refraction effects through the drops. The MAC 2K Profiles are oriented on the front truss and are used as specials. While many other instruments in the rig will perform adequate rock n’ roll strobing/shuttering functions, Sasic says “there’s nothing like a really good blasting white strobe”, thus the Martin

Atomics have their home in her design. “I have four Atomic Strobes downstage and four more upstage – they definitely punch nicely and do their own thing,” she says.

Smoke and/or haze are non-existent in the R.E.M. picture, a fact that doesn’t spook Sasic in the least. “Yes, there is no smoke,” she confirms, “but most of my shows are not very beamy, so I’ve done years of designing around the lack of interference. In the past, I’ve either used minimal smoke or none at all - I did bring it out at one point on this tour, and it just made things look messy. The 5 K beams just looked horrible – I want to see the color from those instruments, not the beams. It’s really more about a field of color or an effect on the backdrop than what is happening in front of that.”

Spotlights are limited to one house spot and two Lycian M2’s used as truss spots. “I use the M2’s on Michael Stipe and Mike Mills,” she explains. “Peter Buck totally rejects all followspots, and the two truss spots is an idea that I took from Willie ... the angle works well for Michael Stipe, who is distracted by spots in his eyes. I use a very steep angle – and we usually augment that with one house follow spot – used when Michael runs far over to a corner of the stage where one of the truss spots won’t hit him.” While other LD’s have played with LEDs as illumination tools, Susanne’s use is unique. “I use LEDs on this tour more as a decorative element. They’re not really lighting the stage in any way – they’re filling in an empty space above the band, so they’re acting like a color field that fills space on the stage.”

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