Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure 2011 tour.
Nick Warren is one of those methodical sound engineers; he looks at the task, notes all the details, and then maps out how he will assemble the sound. For the Roxy Music tour he was presented with some old markers, “there’s a strong drive from the band to be authentic to the original recordings, instruments included,” and some contemporary tools with which to harness them, “I have a d&b audiotechnik J-Series for PA. It’s the system everyone is spec’ing at the moment and I love it.”
Though he managed to dissuade them from bringing an old Mellotron into the equation, “I suggested they use samples instead, somewhere sense has to prevail,” the rest is pretty much authentic to the task, “and it sounds great. The band was on top form. Besides the original members there were another seven musicians on stage including BVs; as regards the mix it’s more about what you turn down to make it work. You don’t want them all fighting for the mid frequencies, especially on a system that can render them as sweetly as the J-Series.” Although Warren’s system was supplied by Wigwam, it was ML Executives who held the contract and provided control, monitors and crew, “it is a very gentlemanly arrangement,” said Warren, “ML has serviced their tours for years and the band has stuck with them.”
Warren used a Digidesign Venue, and enjoyed the built in dynamics and effects, “I don’t see the point of ignoring the desk functionality, I’m either going digital or I’m not,” though he still holds certain reservations on the digital domain, “I still come out the board analog, via the XTA 448s to the d&b D12 amplifiers. I just don’t have faith in digital snakes.” And with that last link, from amplifier to loudspeaker still resolutely locked in the analog world, and destined to be that way in all systems for the foreseeable future, why not?“ The band cues themselves, so although I have detailed notes on a cue sheet in my laptop I don’t use a lot of scenes in the desk. The mix is busy, there’s a lot of open mics to ride, but I like it that way; the performance of the J system, it’s natural smoothness right across the full frequency range allows me to be a lot more flexible.” Warren’s methodical response brings Roxy Music for your pleasure.
