Returning to the world’s stages after a seven-year break from both recording and touring, with a new line-up and an eighth studio album From Zero, Linkin Park are on a stadium-filling rampage with audio design, reinforcement and global production support from Sound Image.
Following the loss of frontman Chester Bennington, members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Joe Hahn and Dave ‘Phoenix’ Farrell, have been joined by drummer Colin Brittain and co-vocalist Emily Armstrong to continuing the legacy that has won the band millions of fans and seen them perform their biggest concerts to date.
‘The most important aspect of this production is the quality of their audio, and that’s why we chose our vendor,’ says Linkin Park Production Manager, Joe Skarzynski, who is now part of a new production leadership team comprising Linkin Park’s long-time collaborators, Assistant Tour Director, Fiona Booth and Production Coordinator, Tori Merrick.
‘Our number one priority is establishing a sound that can be replicated in every city and in every stadium for fans across the world,’ explains Tour Director, Jim Digby. ‘Furthermore, we need professional crew who are as excited as us to be working on this tour, which is such a special project. We need competency, consistency, and customer value, and Sound Image and Clair Global understand those needs with total professionalism.
‘Our artist wants to ensure that the essence of Linkin Park’s songwriting skills, the music that is embedded within them, is accurately represented through the PA sound and through the energy of their live shows,’ Skarzynski continues. ‘Our engineers are doing a great job. We have people across our whole audio team who help to steer the ship in the right direction, and work well in every situation.’
FOH engineer Jim Ebdon operates a Quantum 852 carrying more than 100 inputs, sharing SD-Racks across an Optocore loop in conjunction with the Quantum 338 console in monitor world. Primary inputs are split into Neve RMP-D8 Dante mic preamps and delivered to both consoles via Dante with a Prodigy.MX for sample rate and format conversion for broadcast.
Ebdon has dual Fourier Audio transform.engines in a main and backup workflow connected via a second Prodigy.MX that handles changeover between the Quantum 852’s dual engines & Fourier. The same Prodigy.MX also manages the 128 channels at 96kHz into Pro Tools for nightly archival and virtual soundchecks.
‘Mike Shinoda, being the band’s producer, engineer, writer and singer, listens to the board tape every night,’ Ebdon says. ‘He has really interesting comments for me, and he’s making me a better mixer every day. And Bill Chase, our Systems Engineer, knows exactly how the PA should sound.’
Of his introduction to rap-infused, electronic-led nu metal, Ebdon recalls: ‘I listened to them for two months in preparation, and when we started rehearsing and I heard Emily sing live for the first time, I thought “this is going to be amazing!” – the hairs on my arm are standing up even talking about it now.
The band’s vocalists use DPA d:facto microphones. ‘It really suits them both; this capsule doesn’t colour the sound in any way, and that’s perfect as we have very strong singers,’ Ebdon says. ‘For the older songs, there was a lot of vocal effects that Mike sent me the plug-ins for, but my outboard is the same as I’ve used for a long time – a Tube Tech CL-1B and a Teletronix LA-2A compressor on my vocal chain that go into a mono bus then into another vocal bus. I have a couple of analogue compressors on drums and bass guitar, a couple of reverbs, but mainly, everything is in the Quantum 852.’
The audio system has been built with independent redundancy by FOH, Systems & Network Engineer, Ricki Cook. ‘I toured with the band from ’07 to ’09, and was delighted to be asked to head up the early system design stages,’ he says. ‘I’ve really enjoyed introducing some new technology into the system as I’m very comfortable with it, especially given the amount of networking on this show. I like to do everything over IP but still have a large amount of Madi and other legacy audio interfaces to accommodate – my job is easier with the use of the DirectOut Prodigy series. The band run the MPs on stage too and have taken advice and input on the design of their playback and backline systems. As a result, we’ve built a backline and audio package that gels together really well between artist and crew.’
Audio Systems Engineer Bill Chase is managing a substantial Adamson PA system – more than 300 VGt large-format line array elements (including delays), VG subs and CS10 intelligent loudspeakers are driven via Milan on a separate network also managed by Cook and driven via Adamson network gateways and yet another Prodigy.MP loaded with AVB and Dante interfaces. Flown end-fire subs and large cardioid ground sub arrays help achieve the desired impact. ‘The low-mid punch is very impressive,’ Chase notes. ‘We want the same impact everywhere in the venue, while not losing the little details within the music, and bringing out the full experience the fans expect of the band. That’s something that this Adamson rig does really well.
‘For stadiums, we have a standard large-format design,’ he continues. ‘There is a 24-box main hang paired with the flown end-fire sub arrays, and an equally large side hang. These cover most of the stadium floor and side seating, while four 16-box delay towers and a 270° hang of eight more VGt boxes help cover what the main and side cannot reach. The end-fire arrays place 12 VGs in front of another 12 VGs spaced 66-inches apart and angled outward. Using Adamson’s EF66 preset we can get all forward energy with very little to the rear and on stage. This really helps us get the low impact to the farthest seats without crushing the front row.’
A Sound Devices Nexus measurement system serves a computer running Smaart T&M software for precise PA tuning. The Sound Devices and computers all interface with the Prodigy.MP via Dante.
‘Nothing is ever cookie cutter with Sound Image, this rig in particular is probably one of the most intricate I’ve worked with as far as how we interface with backline and between monitors, front of house and the PA,’ Chase says. ‘It’s networked perfectly with a lot of control available to the artists and the techs. This kind of outcome is only possible when you build something very specific.’
The PA team is completed by PA Techs Tania Lopez Martinez and Robin Blanchard who joined the tour for the US shows this year, and for the EU stadium shows the team was joined by PA Techs Joseph Walton and Marc Zedda, Delay PA Techs, Harry Thatcher, Jack Madden and Rowan Cahill.
Managing six mixes for the band, monitor engineer Pasi Hara has a further two guest mixes, and eight crew mixes fed into dedicated combiners and antennas. All IEM systems are Wisycom with MPR-50 packs. Headphones are JH audio with the new JH Pearl system for all band and select crew members.
‘I have a couple of hardwired mixes for stationary crew also but I’m trying to keep things organic, so whatever the band gives me, I clean it a little and give it back to them without over processing it,’ says Pasi. ‘By simply using some special vocal effects and distortion they’ve become accustomed to when making the new album, it allows their in-ear mixes to feel familiar when performing the newer songs live.’
The band are very open to suggestions and has a clear vision what they’re doing: ‘So much so that they ask us, the crew, what they can do to make the show better for us. With the dedication that has gone into this project, I don’t think I’ve ever worked in a touring environment that’s been as satisfactory.’
Manning a Quantum 338 console with Pulse upgrade, Pasi adds: ‘Besides the main Optocore loop, I have a secondary loop for my local immersive Klang:konductor IEM monitor mixing system with Optocore cards fitted within.’
Waves plug-ins is mostly used for effects, and also as inserts on selected inputs such as drums, bass and vocals. Pasi records to Reaper through a pair of DiGiGrid MGBs, running 128 channels at 96kHz. The same computer also hosts Wavetool for audio and RF monitoring. ‘I start mixing with no automation, and my cue notes I learn by hand. Then, I automate certain things that need to move; I leave my drums and most of the vocals alone, but we do run levels on guitars, the DJ, keys and for playback.’
The complexity of the rig took some integral pre-production time, as Pasi says: ‘During our prep at Sound Image’s San Diego shop, we were treated very well. Even when we were working under a secret name, you get the same service if you’re a big act or unknown. They’re a very good company to work with.’
Pasi works closely with RF tech and comms expert Katlyn Mountain, who oversees the band’s RF while also looking after Pas, Comms Techs Jess Hammersley and Robin Blanchard, and Stage Tech Amy Truong.
This team are using a package of Wisycom MTK982 dual-channel IEM transmitters and Shure Axient Digital receivers with RF over fibre. ‘Almost everyone across the crew is on the Bolero standalone comms system, or Wisycom MPR50 IEMs with the new JH Pearl modification,’ Mountain says. ‘We are using around 90 radios [Motorola XPR3500e] which we also have tied into the Riedel Communications standalone system and over 50 packs.’
Mountain loves working on these larger, longer tours. ‘It has given me an opportunity for growth, and a chance to learn from others around me. I’m fortunate when it comes to this tour; it allows me to have the opportunity to see and be around many different RF environments, and I always strive to face them as a positive challenge. Having an amazing crew also helps keep the positivity! Touring with them has truly been a gift – this team is the closest thing you could feel to being with family.’
In closing, Ebdon agrees: ‘This business is all about relationships and it seems to me, certainly in my career, that Clair Global, and its brands, really looks after you. As a vendor, their brands have your best interests at heart. We are a family because they’re very attentive to the small needs, and that means I never have to worry - I can do what the band wants me to do, which is to concentrate on mixing them in this new, exciting era.’
Linkin Park’s From Zero world tour is currently in South America and is set to end in Switzerland at the end of June 2026 – a long time away from home made possible by ‘a real road family’.
More: www.sound-image.com