Scottish alt-rockers Snow Patrol performed a stellar set in support of the band’s extended edition of The Forest Is The Path, their eighth studio album. They captivated the crowd with selections from S.P.’s catalog, which includes classic hits like Chasing Cars, Run, Chocolate and Called Out In The Dark — among others. With some audience-participated singalongs, the band’s Gary Lightbody [vocals & guitar] did a great job interacting with the crowd for a great night of music. We caught up with the band’s engineers — Marc Carolan and Jamie Hickey — to talk about the show audio.
At FOH…
Snow Patrol’s FOH engineer is Marc Carolan, mixing the tour on the Avid S6L, where he has 56 primary inputs, (excluding all the talkbacks, etc.), with 16 of these live on Neve 1073O PX’s. “In-console, I use a lot of the Avid Pro plug-ins for “housekeeping” duties. I also love the McDSP plug-ins, especially the AE600 and lately the SA2.” For de-essing Carolan uses the Sonnox Oxford SuprEsser. “I also use Soothe Live, which I helped beta test back in the day!”
Carolan has a palette of things he always likes to use when it comes to his mix. “I like to have matching color across my mix, so I don’t tend to have too many different types/brands of EQ or compression. I have Midas XL42s on my drums, bass and vocals. I’ve used the dbx 160a for a very long time on my kick and snare, as I have the Tube-Tech LCA2B’s on bass and guitars. Vocals have Empirical Labs Distressors. I’m also loving the beautiful Maag Audio EQ4m on my overheads. Effects-wise, I still love to use hardware outboard for a lot of stuff — Bricasti M7, Eventide H3000 on vocals and the trusty old SPX2000 on snare. These units just have “a sound,” but also a wide enough palette should I want to replicate specific vibes from the studio record.”
For the U.S. theater leg of the tour, Carolan is using house P.A. systems. “Most of the P.A.’s nowadays are great wherever we go in all the various venues we play, but there are still enough wild cards out there in some venues to keep us on our toes (I’m looking at you Montreal!). There’s also some variance in how well spec’d “on paper” systems are actually deployed. For our European leg where we are playing arenas, we use a d&b audiotechnik SL Series — d&b GSL8 / GSL12 for main hangs, d&b GSL8/GSL12 for side hangs, d&b KSL8/12 for 270’s, then SL G Subs in an arc on the ground. The SL series is incredibly musical, but also extremely precise and efficient with its energy.” The band has a very clean stage, with no amp setups onstage, and Carolan notes they only really sound checked during the tour when the band wanted to work on arrangements — “never really to amend their mixes.”
Carolan spent many years mixing in clubs before he got anywhere near an arena, he notes. “I used to try to bring something ‘extra,’ anything — to make my show sound different. There’s no rule saying you can’t use high-end outboard in a club! Even one piece can really make a difference. With Snow Patrol, it’s definitely about the feeling. They are such engaging performers, and Gary’s songwriting means I can really use my dynamic approach. Of course, there’s also a precision element to some songs, but it’s also about letting things breathe around that.”
Carolan says he’s very lucky to have Eddie O’Brien by his side for the last 13 years. “Eddie has incredible ears, and is a very talented system tech. I just get out of his way until he tells me he’s done. I’ll then play some tracks, more so to accustom myself to the room. I don’t tend to over-EQ empty rooms, maybe one or two very resonant points. I’m a big believer in less is more. I don’t like to drag out line checks. If it’s good, it’s good. It’s been a few years since I’ve done a theater run, but I really enjoyed getting to meet many of the house techs. It’s always good to hear other perspectives.”
Monitor World
The band’s monitor engineer, Jamie Hickey, has been with the band since 2018. He was introduced to the band by their drum tech Graeme Hunter. “Actually, we were working together on another band and when Snow Patrol started back up again with the album Wildness. Graeme said to the band, ‘you gotta get this guy’ and the rest is kind of history.”
Hickey says he didn’t really choose to mix monitors, mixing monitors chose him. “I found that it was something I could get fully on board with, and the delivery of great sound to the artist is something that really gets me excited. Seeing that interaction between what I do and what they do, and then what that does to the performance, is something that is really important to me. I think that monitors is sometimes underrated as a role. People talk about mic choices, sources, placement and so on. If you talk ultimately about source, the source is the artist. If the artist is having a good time, then the delivery of that show is going to be the best it can be.”
Hickey says the relationship between monitor engineer and artist is sometimes tricky, or emotional, or even hilarious, and that bit allows him to push the boundaries of what they can do as a team. “You have to be fully involved, keeping everything focused all of the time, because that’s what the artist is doing.”
Hickey has been using DiGiCo consoles since 2013 and says he absolutely loves them. “I particularly love the Quantum 5 that I’m using with its layout being very ergonomic, and with top-notch customer support if ever needed. I use a lot of the onboard effects. I’m really enjoying the refinement that has happened in upgrading to Mustard, with gates and compressors.” Hickey is a massive fan of Nodal processing on the Q5. “I must be using 40 to 50 channels of Nodal processing to be able to deliver variations on a theme without duplicating the channels up 100 times. It was an absolute game changer for me when nodal processing came in.”
For Snow Patrol, Hickey uses Waves Super Rack with a combination of SSL plug-ins and some of the reverbs and dynamic stuff. “I’m a huge fan of Vitamin and the C2500 compressor. I really love the F6 dynamic EQ, that is an absolute belter from Waves! I don’t use any outboard, or any external preamps. I’m just in the box, with a few sprinkles. The Waves stuff is a lovely addition to the dynamics of the mix, it’s the fairy dust on top.”
In terms of IEMs, “we’re using JH Audio Roxannes and have been since I started working with the guys back in 2017. They sound great with a rich, detailed full sound, that ‘sparkles.’ They’re very durable, we’ve had the same sets since 2018. Guitarist Nathan Connolly has the most rock ‘n’ roll IEM mix of all the bandmembers — full on in your face, heavy and bold. The complete opposite is true for Gary [Lightbody], whose mix is very subtle and delicate. I have six ambient mics on the stage that I’m riding in and out constantly. Gary has a lovely reverb on his vocal and it’s a vocal-heavy mix, but it’s supported by a ‘smattering’ of instruments and flavors.” Shure PSM1000s are used for in-ear monitor transmission.
“I send guitarist/piano player Johnny McDaid 32 lines of MADI and I have some mixes within the MADI streams, so this is where the nodal processing comes in, and I’m able to adjust the sources to suit him. He basically submits his monitor stems back to me, and then we send them out wirelessly. That’s a very simple way of describing what is a technically complicated and very customized interface and delivery mechanism for it.”
McDaid has created a system that nobody else has, built out of Max for Live and OSC, using proprietary off-the-shelf gear and then just diving into the software so everything is automated. Everything is controllable, scalable. “It’s amazing, and my job is to basically balance the sends to him and tonally shape it all. It’s very much a team effort on that one unique situation.”
Gary Lightbody’s vocal mic is the DPA d:facto. “It’s one of the best vocal mics made; I think it perfectly fits Gary. The rest of the band are on Sennheiser 935s for backing vocals. In keeping the stage as clean as possible we’re all on Kempers. The only stage noise is the drum kit. We don’t even have a bass amp.”
Drum mics are a Shure Beta 91A and AKG D12 VR on the kick, a classic SM57 on the top with a KMS105 underneath, a DPA 2011 on the high hats, Austrian audio OC7s on the toms, DPA 2011s for under-heads and an AKG C451 for the ride.
“I’m using Roland triggers to sidechain-key the gates for the kick and the toms,” Hickey continues. “We’ve also got a Porter and Davis BC 2 Butt-Kicker for the drummer to give him the psychoacoustic of the sub. We’re using six ambient mics. I have two Sennheiser MKH 416s and two AKG 414s, and then two DPA 2017s on the downstage. It gives me a really wide spectrum for capturing all the ambience and riding in the different flavors.”
The tour is a well-oiled, team effort, according to Hickey. “I love working with this band. The members are really cool people. It’s an incredible crew who respect each other and that really permeates throughout the whole camp. When it’s time to work, we work, and when we need to play, then we play. The combination of the two make for a really good team. It’s a great thing to be part of and I’m really proud of it.”
AUDIO CREW
- Sound Company: Skan / Clair Global
- FOH Engineer: Marc Carolan
- Monitor Engineer: Jamie Hickey
- Systems Engineer: Eddie O’Brien
- Tour Manager: Neil Mather
- Production Manager: Robin Scott
- MIDI Tech: Ali Stanton
- Guitar Techs: Dave White, David Coates
- Drum Tech: Graeme Hunter
FOH GEAR
- FOH Console: Avid S6L
- In-Console Effects: Avid Pro plug-ins, McDSP plug-in, AE600, SA2, Sonnox Oxford SuprEsser, Soothe Live
- Outboard Rack Effects: 8200 Parametric Equalizer Series II, DirectOut Andiamo, (2) Midas XL42, (2) dbx 160A, SPL Transient Designer, Rupert Neve 5059 Satellite, Tube-Tech SMC-2B, Tube-Tech LCA-2B, Eventide H3000-D/SE Harmonizer, Yamaha SPX2000, (2) Empirical Labs EL8 Distressors, Maag Audio, Wave Distro UBK EL78, Fatso Stereo Compressor
MON GEAR
- Monitor Console: DiGiCo Quantum 5
- Effects/Plug-ins: Waves, SSL plug-ins, Reverbs, Vitamin / C2500 compressor, F6 dynamic EQ, Mustard, Gates, Compressors, Nodal processing
- Microphones: DPA d:facto, Sennheiser 935s, Shure beta 91A, AKG D12 VR, SM57, KMS105, DPA 2011, OC7, DPA 2011s, AKG C451
- IEMs: JH Audio Roxannes; Shure PSM1000s
