Maroon 5 go digital with Yamaha

News

Andy Wood Apr 1 2008, 9:30am

World tour utilises dual PM5D consoles supplied by Clair/Showco

Maroon 5 is currently on a worldwide tour in support of their latest “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” CD, with audio mix controlled by a pair of Yamaha PM5D consoles.

Clair/Showco is providing complete production and crew for the tour with audio equipment including two Yamaha PM5D digital audio consoles, one for house and one for monitors.

“The first time I used the 5D was on Motley Crue,” states Kirk Shreiner, front of house engineer for the tour. “I was using another digital console and just never liked the way it sounded, nor could I trust it. So while the tour took a break I switched to the PM5D. I liked it a lot better; it feels like I’m mixing on a console and not a computer.”

Prior to joining the Maroon 5 tour, Shreiner used a PM5D to mix Fiction Plane, the opening act on the Police Reunion Tour. “When I found out I was going to mix Fiction Plane, the PM5D was my first choice,” Shreiner says. “The one thing I really like about the console is that you can patch your split in the back of the console, not requiring a rack to go with it in order to get your inputs into the console. I like the overall feel, how it sounds, and the lay out of the PM5D,” he continues. “It's always my first pick.”

During last year’s leg of the tour, P.A. consisted of a Clair/Showco Prism PA, eight wide by four deep per side. Shreiner used 14 - S4 subs across the front with four - FF2s for front fill, all powered by Crown 3600 amps. His drive rack consisted of six Lake IO units with custom Clair/Showco crossovers for each kind of cabinet. For the second leg of the tour an I4 or I3 rig may be used. Microphone arsenal consists of Shure SM57 and 58s, Audio-Technica 4050s, OPUS 88s, AKG 460 and 414s, and a bunch of DIs.

Monitor engineer Bill Chrysler uses a Yamaha PM5D digital console for monitors and his set up consists of SRMs for floor monitors. For side fills he flies three Prism blues per side with four Prism subs on the deck, two per side – one up stage and one down stage. The drummer and keyboard player use ML-18s and a butt shaker for low end. The band also uses in-ear monitors driven by a Shure 700.

“I've probably used PM5Ds and PM1Ds since they on about several hundred shows,” states Chrylser. “I have been using the Yamaha PM5D on the Maroon 5 for about six months now and just traveling with a PCMCIA card with my show program on it that I can plug into the 5Ds used at each show. A huge part of the creative and artistic part of our jobs is on these cards. We are preparing all the equipment for the next leg of the tour in Japan and Europe, and having the console settings on this card will save an incredible amount of time.”

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Maroon 5 Crew Photo Caption: (Image by Julia)
Front row, leaning on console L to R: Bill Chysler - ME, Kelli Frazier- Production Coordinator, Kirk Shreiner (EEK)- FOH Engineer.
Back row left to right: The late Joe Lannane - Production Manager (Joe passed away Dec.18), Donny Gordon - Stage Manager and named 2008 production manager, Dustin Lewis - Sound Tech, Kevin Gilpatric - Sound Crew Chief/System Engineer, and Geoffrey Browning- Monitor Tech.