TULSA, OK — Neon Trees’ engineers, including Mike Bangs, monitor engineer (left) and Neal Duffy, FOH engineer (right) are using Allen & Heath’s iLive-T112 consoles on tour and, for fly dates, they’ve been relying on the company’s iDR-32 MixRacks.
More details from Allen & Heath (www.allen-heath.com):
With the release of their second album, Picture Show, Neon Trees is a band in demand. In addition to a steady diet of touring, the group also does a significant number of one-off fly dates. And their Allen & Heath iLive-T system is with them every step of the way.
According to front of monitor engineer Mike Bangs and front of house engineer Neal Duffy, the secret lies in the iLive’s architecture, which puts the functional soul of a console – inputs, outputs and digital processing – in its iDR MixRack. “To all intents and purposes, the MixRack is the console,” explains Bangs. “It really doesn’t care if you have the physical control surface or and iPad. So when we’re flying, that’s all we need and it’s all we bring.”
Even better, Bangs and Duffy have their iDR-32s in Pelican road cases that weigh just under 50 pounds, which means they fly as luggage with no extra baggage charge. “That’s really the key,” says Bangs. “It means we can have our full iLive consoles with all our normal settings and functions, no matter where we go. I also bring our rack of in-ears, my mics and our XLRs, so we really have our full set-up. It’s a real confidence boost for both the band and for us as engineers.”
To mix these fly dates, both Bangs and Duffy use a dual-band wireless Wi-Fi router and mix with both a laptop computer and an iPad. Bangs also adds a PL-6 wired remote, which gives him eight physical faders to go along with the virtual ones on his computer devices.
Both Duffy and Bangs have been mixing on the iLive-T112 for over a year now, and remain impressed with both its sound quality and ease of use. “I love the design of the console,” says Neal Duffy. “I come from an analog background, so I really appreciate the sound of the preamps and the accuracy of the EQ, so I can get that analog sound I want. And I love the fact that it’s so user-friendly. Everything you might want for a channel is right in front of you – EQs, compression, gates, trim, even a de-esser. It takes a little to get used to, but basically anyone who’s familiar with analog can jump right in and work on an iLive.”
In 2012, Neon Trees will be doing a headline tour in support of their second album, Picture Show, which was released April 17. “We’ll be doing some House Of Blues clubs, some theaters, performing arts centers, and some college shows,” reports Mike Bangs. “Plus, of course, some radio festivals including Edgefest, Riverfest and SXSW. It’s good to know that we’ll have our iLive consoles with us every step of the way.”
