“Chris Shiflett, the guitarist, particularly commented on how they sounded wonderful throughout manufacturing rehearsals, even to the purpose of claiming he would by no means return to what we had been utilizing earlier than.”
The Foo Fighters’ Monitor Engineer Ian Beveridge (R) & RF Technician Eiran Simpson (L)
Aspen, CO (October 11, 2023) — The Foo Fighters are unquestionably the largest band in fashionable rock, making them the largest gig in fashionable rock for engineers and technicians. All of this strain presents no fears to observe engineer Ian Beveridge and RF technician Eiran Simpson, who maintain the band’s ears pleased with programs constructed across the Lectrosonics M2 Duet system, particularly M2T twin stereo transmitters, M2Ra belt-pack receivers, and an M2C energetic antenna combiner.
Given the dimensions of the venues the Foo Fighters play, vary is a paramount concern, or fairly would be if the M2 system wasn’t so tenacious. “With simply the one antenna and M2C coupler overlaying the band, we did a pre-production present at Shoreline Amphitheatre in California,” says Ian Beveridge. “The transmitters ran on simply ten milliwatts [output power]. Eiran might stroll to the very again fence of the venue, and the system nonetheless labored completely. I favor this as a result of programs that depend on extreme output energy have a tendency to lift the noise ground.”
Simpson provides that because of the full-spectrum functionality supplied by the digital nature of the M2 system, he has one much less headache: “As a result of they’re wideband, the transmitters and receivers are particularly suited to high-RF environments and in depth touring. They cowl the total authorized vary of potential frequencies all over the world, which is necessary as demand for wi-fi vary will increase whereas out there spectrum decreases.”
Since Lectrosonics is mainly recognized for dialogue work in movie and TV manufacturing, Beveridge and Simpson addressed the model’s audio high quality for mixing heavy rock music, particularly the dense combine the Foo Fighters dish out. “The Lectros sound higher than anything, and I’m not simply speaking about frequency response,” explains Beveridge. “The massive factor about mixing a band with three distorted guitars is, it’s essential place them spatially. If I pan two in the course of any combine, except they’re tonally utterly completely different, it’s going to sound like one huge guitar. The M2 system offers a wider stereo image to work inside than every other wi-fi I’ve ever used. In contrast to different IEMs, there’s additionally no residual sound within the reverse earpiece if you’ve panned one thing arduous to at least one facet or the opposite. It additionally signifies that if you add a little bit of reverb or harmonizer to a vocal, it sounds huge. That could be a godsend for a mixing engineer.”
“The Foo Fighters do a minimum of a two-hour present each night time,” provides Simpson. “And if you put on in-ears for that lengthy, after taking them out you often want a while to re-adjust to pure sounds. However with the Lectro packs, there’s simply no fatigue like that. You’ll be able to take them out and instantly have a dialog. There’s simply no sonic aggression there in any respect. I additionally agree with Ian in regards to the stereo imaging. We now have a busy in-ear combine so it’s good to have such a giant field to work inside.”
The band appears to agree with their engineers’ evaluation. “Chris Shiflett, the guitarist, particularly commented on how they sounded wonderful throughout manufacturing rehearsals,” notes Simpson. “Even to the purpose of claiming he would by no means return to what we had been utilizing earlier than.”
About Lectrosonics
Properly revered inside the movie, broadcast, and theatre technical communities since 1971, Lectrosonics wi-fi microphone programs and audio processing merchandise are used each day in mission-critical purposes by audio engineers conversant in the corporate’s dedication to high quality, customer support, and innovation. Lectrosonics acquired an Academy Scientific and Technical Award for its Digital Hybrid Wi-fi® know-how and is a US producer based mostly in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Go to the corporate on-line at www.lectrosonics.com.
