MELBOURNE, Australia – Known as The Crowdies to its fans, the rock band Crowded House is touring Europe and the U.S. this year to support the band's forthcoming Intriguer, to be released in June. All 28 of the mics for the tour are from Earthworks.
Angus Davidson, a 30-year veteran with Supertramp among the bands on his touring resume, is the FOH engineer for Crowded House. He also heads up the live sales efforts for Avid's Venue Series consoles in Australia and New Zealand.
"I first met Earthworks company representatives back in 2008 when I purchased the PM40 PianoMic system as well as the DK25/L drum kit microphones," Davidson said. "I first used these mics for an Avid Venue road show throughout Australia and New Zealand and have been using them ever since. If you count the PM40, which is presently out on an orchestral project in Australia, we have a total of 29 Earthworks mics currently in use."
For the Crowded House tour, Davidson is using Earthworks' DK25/L drum kit microphones (a three-microphone package optimized for drum set miking) in conjunction with two DP25/C High Definition snare microphones and four DP30/C High Definition tom microphones, plus an SR30 High Definition microphone for the hi-hats and two SR40 High Definition mics for drum overheads.
"I use the new 40 kHz SR40's in a classic X-Y pattern for the drum overheads and they deliver extraordinary depth of field and stereo imaging," Davidson said. "The super-fast rise time of the diaphragms results in stunning transient response and clarity."
Davidson also spoke favorably of the Earthworks DP25/C and DP30/C microphones. "These new DP25/30 drum mics are spot on when it comes to massive headroom and an uncanny ‘openness' that belies their proximity to the drums," he said. "With every show being recorded through my Venue Profile console to Pro Tools HD, we have a pristine signal that we can do anything with later in the mixdown process."
In addition to an extensive drum kit microphone setup, Davidson also deploys Earthworks SR30 microphones in a wide range of applications, including miking guitar cabinets and the Leslie tone cabinet for the organ. He also uses an Earthworks M50 when taking acoustic sound measurements, and has six Earthworks 40 kHz SR40HC High Definition Microphones with custom-designed windscreens for vocal use.
"The new SR40HCs are the best, flattest and ‘tightest' sounding vocal mics ever," Davidson said. "No hype in the high mids means you can make them sound however you want. Off-axis response is superb, and they have bucket loads of headroom. I developed the idea of a conventional windscreen and the guys at Earthworks had a prototype made for me to try out in less than a week. I've never heard such definition and punch in any other vocal mic I've previously used.
"It's not often that the FOH and Monitor guys agree 100 percent on the choice of microphones," Davidson added. "To be able to select one brand to do every job on stage is unheard of. It is a testament to the quality of these Earthworks mics that we can't find one chink in the armor. Are we happy with their performance? We're way beyond happy!"
For more information, please visit www.earthworksaudio.com.
