FOH Peter Keppler Chooses Waves Tools for David Byrne American Utopia Tour

Top FOH engineer Pete Keppler has mixed tours for music's biggest icons, from David Bowie to ZZ Top. Keppler talks about his unconventional setup, and using Waves tools for legendary ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne's American Utopia Tour and live show at Coachella 2018.

Commenting on his setup, Keppler says, "It's quite different from what I would normally do when I'm behind the console for other artists, like Bonnie Raitt or Katy Perry. From initial prep back in August 2017 all the way through production rehearsals in February of this year, the entire American Utopia Tour required a lot of rethinking from my end. The stage setup is completely open -- no audio monitors, amps, or other gear, just a blank floor surrounded on three sides by a 30'-tall aluminum chain curtain. There are twelve musicians -- six of them drummers. There's a bassist, a guitarist, a keyboard player, and David playing guitar on some songs. All of the non-drummers sing, and there are also two dedicated backing vocalists, all using headset mics. Everyone is completely wireless, including all their various instrument mics and transmitters, their IEMs, and even a BlackTrax lighting transmitter on every performer. The six drummers are wearing something akin to marching-band harnesses with quick-release systems, so they can swap out different drums and percussion for various songs. All the main drums have dedicated mics and transmitters attached to them to facilitate quick changes, and we've also installed mics on the harnesses to cover things like hand percussion and small instruments. The show is very choreography-intensive...It's a live performance concept completely different from any other rock show you've seen."

Keppler adds, "I have a DiGiCo SD10 console out front, and I share head amps with John Chadwick, our monitor engineer, who's using an SD5. We're running roughly 48 inputs of wireless, another twenty or so wired inputs (from keyboard interfaces, guitar amp modelers, etc.) and then John runs 16 outputs of RF in-ears. It's an RF challenge for sure, but we're using Shure's new Axient Digital system for the input side, and fortunately it reduces the need for bandwidth substantially. For outboard processing, I run Waves plugins via MultiRack, a Mac mini, a 20" touch screen, and a SoundGrid Extreme Server."

About reducing stage noise, feedback, and proximity issues, Keppler says, "All those issues are being amazingly well handled by the Waves F6 Dynamic EQ plugin. I'm using the six bands of the F6 to really make the most of all the gain I have available on the vocals. I'm not always a fan of permanent EQ on my sound sources, particularly vocals. On this tour I've developed what I call a 'free gain' approach to EQing. I have F6 plugin inserted via MultiRack on all the vocals. In addition to using the plugin as a more standard dynamic EQ, I set one of the bands to act as a mid- and high-frequency gate, in order to control spill from the drums and percussion into the vocal mics. Basically, I use this band of the F6 to turn down all the frequencies above 500Hz - 600Hz quite significantly when the vocalist isn't singing. I use a second channel on the SD10 to send a very filtered version of the same vocal to the external key of this band on F6, thereby opening those frequencies only when the vocalist is singing. The 'free gain' term (which I'm sure I've 'borrowed' from someone else!) really applies more to the effects I use on some songs, but F6 really allows me to retain and use the gain that was originally present at the mic in the first place...It only turns down the frequencies I want it to when I want it to, with the added benefit of being able to really effectively control spill, thanks to the ability to externally sidechain each band."

About recreating the sounds and effects heard on David Byrne's classic studio songs, Keppler comments, "I left a lot of the sounds up to our amazing band! Karl Mansfield, our keyboardist and musical director, has done a truly amazing job of fabricating sounds and even pulling some samples off old masters for this show. But when it comes to effects, I don't tend to go in for replicating everything from the original recorded version of a song, as live shows tend to have their own personality and may want their own treatment. However, there are some effects that I did really want to retain from the original. Waves reverbs, delays, and modulation plugins are so versatile and high-quality... They're extremely helpful in helping me recreate that. One plugin I've used with several artists over the last few years is the Waves/Abbey Road Reel ADT. On some songs I use it quite heavily to replicate the vocal stacking techniques used by Brian Eno on the original studio recordings by Talking Heads. On songs like 'Burning Down the House,' I use a lot of Reel ADT live to recreate the double-tracked vocal sound. I definitely also need to give credit to our two backline techs, Jerry Johnson, who works his magic turning very small, light drums into something that sounds much larger, and Patrick Lachman, who looks after all the guitar and keyboard rigs. They do an amazing job for two techs looking after twelve people!"

With a career spanning over 35 years working front-of-house and touring with some of music's biggest icons, Keppler offers advice to live sound engineers just getting their career started: "Take any gig you possibly can, regardless of its status. Even if you feel you're only partially qualified, get in there. There will be mistakes, but you will learn a lot. I've been doing this for 38 years, and the day that I stop learning something new, I'll find something else to do."