Andrew Nissley was a live sound engineer for six years before he went to school in Los Angeles to learn more about the craft he had acquired on the job.

During his year in LA, his brother Patrick sought him out for technical advice for the new band  and just 24 hours after arriving home Andrew was mixing Innerpartysystem’s fourth show at a local club. He then mixed two tracks for the band’s first album, The Download EP, and from then on, became the fifth band member.

Nissley is also a key part of the band’s creative engine. As well as mixing the act on stage, he can be found singing harmonies, dropping loops, effects and taking care of the group’s renowned lighting show, for which he fashioned his own gear:

“While the band recorded the album, I went into my Dad’s workshop and built LED light towers out of home depot materials and par can retrofit kits, wired up everything up and sat in our practice space  inhaling stage fog for a week and programming moving light cues and LED wall patterns.

"I guess what makes my job most interesting is that I’m ‘in the band, but in the back’, as [drummer] Jared once put it. When I’m close enough to the stage I’ll either sing all the harmonies or double what Patrick is singing to make the vocals thicker. I think playing huge festivals is cool, but the delay from stage to front of house basically makes it impossible for me to sing backup vocals, which bums me out a little. I think if we played a large tour, I’d ask for a pair of whatever PA cabinets they were using for the house system and just mix onstage. I’d probably wind up looking a lot like a DJ, but with a console in front of me instead of turntables.

"Most people who come see us say that the live show has more energy than the album. I think a lot of it stems from having live drums all the time, whereas the majority of the album is sequenced. We do use backing tracks live from a laptop too, like a lot of bands though. I spend a lot of time with our practice PA and studio monitors mixing them in Ableton, so when it comes to show time I just turn them up and they sound like I want them to, which is a huge bonus about being the ‘fifth band member’.

"We still split the tracks up as it gives you a lot more options when you mix in a different room every day, especially for the low end. Due to the heavy dance nature of some of the songs, I’m consistently trying to find ways to get more and more bass from wherever I can, to make the shows feel more like being in a club, but sometimes the drum samples make everything way too ‘boomy’, so it’s better to use more of the live drums and less of the tracks. Since it’s not all lumped into one stereo track, I can dump the low end and not lose the bass sounds.

"We use many electronic instruments, so almost everything on stage is run direct. If I could put a DI box on a snare drum, I probably would. We used to separate all the keyboards, but listening to Jesse’s synths in the studio made me realise that one stereo feed of three tracks was better than a mono feed of each one. Mixing with them in stereo for the first time made it sound like a whole new band. I have a bit less control over specific volumes at FOH, but overall it benefits the sound of the whole band to do it that way.  

"The one thing I can’t control at the moment is the console, as we have to use whatever is present at the venue. This show was the first time I’ve ever used the Digidesign Venue console. The eq section is upside-down from the smaller Yamaha digital boards that are much more common in the size of venues we play in and I kept grabbing the wrong knobs.  

"I don’t really mind switching consoles day to day though. While there are certainly people who listen very carefully and then go on forums on the internet and bitch about how 180hz was three dB too loud in the kick drum, most people want to have a drink, hear the songs and have a great time. Not all consoles are ideal, but I owe it to the people who are there to do the best I can with what I get, because without them, I’d probably be in a cubicle somewhere testing software.  

"As for my favourites, Midas Heritage if it’s analog, and of the digital boards, I actually like the little Yamaha LS9 a lot. The Soundcraft VI6 rules, it’s got a great interface, but I don’t know if I’d tour with it – it’s enormous and I like the fact that something as tiny as the LS9 does everything I really need. Plus it has a great spot for my Korg Kaoss Pad 3.

"Where processing is concerned, I normally only use eq for drums and vocals. Most of the effects I use are on vocals too, primarily reverb and stereo pitch shift to make them a little wider. The Kaoss Pad is constantly doing something to them; ping pong delay most of the time and looping sung phrases at other times. Between vocals I often make synth sounds with it.

"When I don’t have a digital board I use the FMR Audio RNLA (Really Nice Levelling Amp) on Patrick’s vocals. It works really well with his voice. Vocals are definitely the hardest thing to get sounding exactly right; they’re the anchor to the songs, since despite all the synths and circuit bent noises we use, the songs are still more or less pop songs and the vocals need to be intelligible.  

"Thankfully no glitches have ruined any of the shows, even though so many things have broken – our guitar processor blew up, our laptop soundcard died (carrying a spare around for a year wasn’t a mistake after all) and even my Kaoss Pad got fried. We think one of our UK to US power converters was bad, but fortunately we were able to use Middle Class Rut’s guitar gear and still play all the shows.

"The Milton Keynes Bowl show was probably my favourite date on the tour for both the venue and the sound system; which is a nod to Britannia Row, because every time I’ve mixed on one of their systems in England it’s sounded amazing.

"There’s definitely a line I have to draw, knowing that not every show can be as perfect as this, but I think living up to the bar I set for myself is the hardest part. Most people would probably call this masochistic; if there’s any one person who’s going to be pissed about that 180hz in the kick drum it’s going to be me and if it’s one of those days I’ll probably leave front of house cursing and saying it sounded bad even though no one else thought so."