Toby Francis has also done mixing for Jane?s Addiction, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, and KISS.
Here's part of an interview with Francis from 2004 about a tour he did with Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken -
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:Tt9uPP-uf8IJ:www.redhottopic.com/forums/index.php%3Fshowtopic%3D27048+%22Toby+Francis%22+sound&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=23Pop Sound for Pop Idols
If Sidi has recently worked with more mature names, sound engineer Toby Francis? client list is definitely on the heavier side, including Jane?s Addiction, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, and KISS. This gig is definitely a change from the world of metal. ?When my mother found out who I was working for,? he recalls, laughing, ?she said, ?Those kids have a lot of talent. That must make a nice change for you..??
But if Clarkson and Aiken are stars a mother can love, they still pose challenges, largely because their experience is almost totally in television and not in live arena performance. ?Both artists need a condenser, because they?re both off the mic a lot,? Francis says. "At times, Clay is up to 2? off his mic. Sometimes, while standing on the thrust stage, he?s in front of the PA. It?s hard to keep his voice on top of the mix. We used Audio Technica?s new wireless system, which has been great. It?s really helped give the voices the sound we?re looking for.? The key, he says, is ?they wanted a vocal-heavy mix, but still with a lot of dynamics when required.?
Overall, says Francis, ?It?s a powerful sound, but we?re trying not to be offensive to people who aren?t concert-friendly. There are kids in the front row. I?ve not seen that before. A lot of the people in the audience have not been to concerts. You see whole families there. The first show, on the way to the console, I walked by the front set of the stage, and there were people in wheelchairs, handicapped people. I thought, My god, they?re right in front of the subs!?
Francis? work was complicated by the fact that the tour was originally scheduled for theatres, then, due to ticket sales, was move to arenas. ?Originally,? he says, ?the PA chosen before I was hired was a Clair Bros. 14 line array, about eight cabinets deep with some subs on the floor. I questioned it from the beginning; I kept asking, how far around is the seating going to be? The said 180 degrees, but I?ve never done a tour, especially one that was move up because of demand, where the seating was 180 degrees. The side seats always get used, so we added stuff to cover that. There?s a line-array column, with the top four spots for long-throw 2.5 degree cabinets; the vertical dispersions is 2.5 degrees. Under that are 5 degree cabinets and four 10 degree cabinets on the bottom that provides coverage right up the barricade at the front of the stage. After hearing the band, which has a lot of subharmonics ? Kelly?s set has a lot of synthesized bass tracks, a lot of information in the lower range ? we added more to the low end. We have an I4B, which is basically a column of low-end cabinets hanging offstage of the line array; it makes a huge difference in that kind of room.? Gear was provided by Showco.
In addition, he says, ?The drive system is on a wireless network. I use a tablet with a touch screen to manage the PA system. (He is referring to the Lake Countour, from Lake Technology.) Both artists are up on the thrust and we?ve got speakers on the ground that fill in for the audience. EQ-wise, we?ve made it so they can walk out there and it will not feed back, but we won?t lose any of the coverage up front either. The majority of the sound comes from above, so as not to overwhelm the younger concert goers in the front of the stage. The neat thing about the tablet is, when I tune the PA, it?s got a solo mode; I can touch on the screen the icon for whatever part of the PA I?m standing in front of. Touch another icon and the rest of the PA comes on. In a short time, you can walk the room and make whatever changes you need. Billy Gibbon from ZZ Top called it the electronic Etch-a-Sketch.?
For mics, Francis says, ?Everybody uses Audio Technica 5400 capsules, their new wireless systems, their new top of the line thing. It?s basically eight systems and a combiner. The combiner hooks up to a laptop and does frequency scans so you can control everything you do with the mics from the laptop. You can update information to the mics from the computer. It?s saved us twice because there?s so much press on the tour. In Raleigh, NC, Clay?s home town, there was a slew of journalists with wireless systems they didn?t turn on until just before the performance. The laptop showed that all this activity threatened our channels. We had to deal with it ? the vocals are so loud that if you get any interference, you hear it.? The Audio Technica system is also useful for Aikens? entrance from the back of the arena, Francis adds ?The first show, he went behind the stage, took an elevator to the back of the arena, and came back in that way. He was like 700-800? away. I wanted to give them a spare mic just in case. I was afraid we?d get him in the back and the mic would cut out and that would be embarrassing. But, it didn?t drop out.?
When Clarkson comes down front to the forestage, to do numbers like ?Stuff Like That There,? Francis says ?She has an old Shure 55 mic, reissued. She?s right down front with a 60-year-old technology. But she loves the way it works. Also, she only has on in-ear mic. Clay wears both in-ears. The background singers have both in-ears. But Kelly wants one and has one mix in the side fills, which is not what I would have wanted. She?s very adamant about doing it that way. The KISS guys were like that, too.?
Echoing Sidi in a way, Francis says, ?The front of the house is very straightforward - a couple of compressors, a couple of gates, two reverbs; it?s the simplest system I?ve ever had. The systems engineer says usually there ?s five times the stuff out here. There?s some ProTools stuff running, but it?s mostly percussion. I thought the music would be more track-based but they wanted it to be all live. Except for some of Kelly?s songs, that?s the way it is. They wanted a wall of sound behind their voices.?
For control, Francis uses the Midas XL4 console from his mixing position; onstage he has the Yamaha PM4000? with every input and output used.? He adds, ?I?ve used the XL4 for ten years, but, to this day, I?ve never had a problem with it. I?ve tried some of the other digital boards, but I don?t like the way they sound. The XL4 is analog but is automated, which I use because the level changes are pretty intense.?
Overall, Francis finds the tour to be a ?pleasant change. It?s more challenging. It?s different working with people who have a lot of talent, but not a lot of experience; it?s generally been the other way around for me. Kelly was really nervous. When she sings her best, she has her eyes closed. That?s a good indication of how overwhelming it must be. But it?s amazing how much they have changed in a short time.?
He adds, ?The new trend in the last five or six years has been electronically enhanced vocals ? usually because the artist can?t sing so you have to camouflage it. [With Kelly and Clay] I don?t need effects. I have four effects and I use two ? one of them if it?s a very ambient room. Otherwise, it?s not necessary. With these kids, the talent carries it. It?s almost has gone back to the way it was when I started. The first three or four years I mixed, all you had were spring reverbs or tape echoes.? Speaking of the final duet, he says, ?There are times when I get goose-bumps at the end of the show.?
Then, laughing, he says, ?This is payback for Limp Bizkit. Hopefully, this will straighten out my karma.?
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