The debut tour of Liam Gallagher’s new band, Beady Eye, has seen the band play small rock and roll venues before hitting clubs across Europe and back to the UK for some academy dates in April.
Throughout the tour, engineer Dan Lewis has used a dual Midas Pro6 system for FOH and monitors provided by Britannia Row Productions. Midas has long been a favourite in the Oasis camp, with Lewis mixing the last few months of the band’s final tour on an XL4 and previously using an XL8 for Noel Gallagher’s Teenage Cancer Trust performance. Along with Josh Lloyd on monitors, he had no hesitation in spec’ing a pair of Pro6s for this tour.
‘This was the perfect opportunity to give the Pro6 a try,’ he says. ‘I’ve deliberately gone for a very simple setup as they’re not a complicated band, I’m only running 28 channels so it all fits in with ease. In the first week I managed to find a good formula which works for them. There’s very little going on in the way of channel EQ, it’s all been about correct mic placement and the right desk. Now I can’t tell the difference between a well set up XL4 and the Pro6 – both have that warm analogue sound that helps smooth over some of the more nasty bits. Its a sound that you want for a rock band.
‘The POPulation Groups are great, bringing everything to you. As far as the onboard processing goes, I’m using a few high-pass filters, some EQ on vocal channels, a couple of onboard reverbs and delays and delays for some spot FX on Liam’s vocals, but they don’t want a huge reverb-y sound, it’s all quite dry, as suits the mood they’re after.’
On monitors, Josh Lloyd is also using a Midas Pro6, sharing a DL431 mic splitter with Lewis at FOH. ‘I chose the desk because I know the Pro6 pretty much inside out,’ says Lloyd, who’s gained much experience on the Pro6 working as system tech for Britannia Row. ‘It’s a quick surface to get around compared to others, and things like the POPulation Groups are a big help.’
Lloyd’s Pro6 is pretty much full: ‘I don’t have a massive input channel count, but quite a lot of things are split for different people, and I’m using aux sends to send individual mixes, and VCAs to access things easily,’ he says. ‘I’m using lots of the onboard effects: the compressor on some of the vocals, plus some delays and some drum and guitar reverbs. I’m also using the onboard multiband compressors because Liam’s got quite a lot of sibilance on his voice so it’s the easiest way to deal with it.’
‘The band have been playing really really well, they’re a proper rock and roll band, and as far as audio quality through the Pro6 is concerned, it all sounds really good,’ adds Lewis.
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