HOUSTON —Morris Light & Sound VP John Mills, who joined the Kenny Chesney/Tim McGraw Brothers of the Sun tour as systems engineer/audio crew chief, credited the wireless and PM setup for helping the production avoid costly glitches.
“For a stadium tour like this, there are literally millions of dollars on the line every day, so we took a real hard look at Kenny’s equipment package before hitting the road this year,” Mills noted. “That’s how we ended up with Shure Axient for his wireless microphone system and the Shure PSM 1000 for his in-ear monitoring.”
Monitor engineer Phill “Sidephill” Robinson, who is in his 12th year working for Chesney, is also a big fan of both systems. He handles Kenny’s mix working alongside Bryan Baxley, who mixes the rest of the band’s monitors.
“The Axient system is just amazing,” said Robinson. “We use it in full automatic mode on Kenny, so it can jump to a backup frequency if we run into interference. We’re totally comfortable with it, and there hasn’t been so much as a glitch from the start of rehearsals in Nashville. And the PSM 1000 is the best-sounding system I’ve heard.”
One of the biggest technical challenges is at the show’s opening, with Chesney starting the concert on a second stage out in the audience, roughly 200 feet in front of the PA. After the first song, he’s transported to the main stage on a flying chair that’s outfitted with an HD video camera, which is transmitting wirelessly to the video system.
“That chair is basically a Faraday cage, plus you’ve got the camera transmitting video at about five or six watts,” said Mills. “It’s just about the worst situation you can have for a wireless mic system, but in high power mode, Axient cuts right through it. Same thing with the PSM 1000 and the two antennas on the bodypack. Kenny hasn’t taken an RF hit once, which is just unheard of on that chair.”
Oddly, it was at a video shoot for the Chesney single, “Rock Star,” where Mills and Robinson became convinced that the PSM 1000, with its diversity reception, was the right system for the tour.
“One of the biggest things that messes up RF is lighting ballasts,” Mills noted. “Part of the video included a field of Vari-Lites on the ground… dozens of them. That would be certain death for a regular in-ear system.
“As an experiment, I took the PSM 1000 bodypack, plugged in my ears, and walked around in the middle of all that during pre-production,” Mills continued. “It barely wavered the whole time, even on the low power setting.”
Shure wireless is not the only weapon in the Morris Light & Sound bag of tricks. “One of the biggest problems with Kenny is finding a microphone that sounds consistent in any situation,” said Mills. “We needed a mic capsule that could be cupped, that could have a thumb put over it, and still have the rejection needed to deal with screaming fans, especially when Kenny’s out in the audience. We talked to Shure about it, and they said they’d been working on something we might be interested in. It’s a new prototype version of the KSM9.”
Dubbed the KSM9/HS, this modified capsule is designed to remain true to the character of the KSM9, regardless of the user’s mic technique. “You can cup it, then take your hand away, and the sound barely changes. It still sounds like a KSM9. And there’s also way less crowd noise coming in through the PA than there has ever been,” said Mills.
“Kenny used it at the CMT Awards, and when he walked off the stage, everyone in the broadcast truck was immediately on the comm, asking ‘What was that microphone?’” Robinson added. “I don’t know what magic smoke Shure put into this thing, but it is pretty amazing.”
All of the wireless audio for the tour is coordinated through Shure Wireless Workbench software. “We love about having the ability to coordinate every wireless system we’ve got, no matter what brand,” Robinson said. “That includes all the mics, the in-ear systems, guitar systems, even the comm systems, for Kenny, for Tim McGraw, the co-headliner, plus the opening acts.”
In addition to Chesney’s vocal mic and spare, Morris Light & Sound elected to have two spare channels of Axient, which are used for vocals on both opening acts, Jake Owen and Grace Potter. They join Kenny for specials and also for the ending number, where all artists come out together.
For more information, please visit www.shure.com.
