Sound Company
ACIR Professional, with house-supplied P.A. systems
Venue
Various (Tour)
Crew
- FOH Engineer/Tour Manager: Tommy Joy
- Monitor Engineer/Production Manager: Hunter Hileman
- Guitar Tech: Dustin Sears
Gear
FOH
- Console: Midas PRO2
- Speakers: House-provided P.A. systems
- In Console Effects/Plug-ins: Basic Midas PRO2 delay for slap effect and tap delay; Klark Teknik DN780 reverb for snare reverb.
- Outboard Effects/Plug-ins: ESKO-100 Multi-Effects Processor & Delay Machine.
MON
- Console: Midas PRO2
- Vocal Mics: Telefunken M80, SM58
Tour Details
FRONT of HOUSE caught up with FOH engineer Tommy Joy on Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s current tour, which is using house P.A. systems along with audio support from ACIR Professional. Joy has been working with this artist for a little over a year now.
“It’s been pretty steady, about 120 shows since 2022. We tour with Midas PRO2’s at both FOH and Monitor world. I don’t use a ton of effects, and what they send me from the stage is top quality gear. Kenny’s guitar rig is as good as it gets in the world of blues and rock. The Dumble amps paired with a Neural DSP Quad Cortex and his vintage guitar collection makes my job at the FOH a lot easier. The PRO2 does a good job of handling the 40 channels we use. I don’t use a lot of effects, again because of what they’re sending me from the stage. Basic slapback for the 2 vocals, minimal snare reverb and sometimes a little for the vocals when the room doesn’t cover it.”
Joy says tuning the room and system every night is key as they are not rolling with their own rig. “There is one thing I do which I’d like to think all FOH engineers do and that is something I call massaging the mix. Throughout the show I’m constantly working with volumes, EQ, and even compression. Even if something is placed well in the mix like the bass guitar for example, I will turn it up just slightly for a few bars of a random song just to remind the crowd that it’s there and then put it back to it’s place in the mix. I do this throughout the show with almost everything. I believe the brain is experiencing a sensory overload, and eventually has a hard time processing what you’re watching and hearing, and doing this is like a reminder of everything that’s going on… like alerting your senses. I love a good plugin like everyone else, and still use older effects, like some I picked up in Ukraine. But only when the gig calls for it. There’s no reason to play with your toys when a band sounds this good right off the stage.”
Since 2016, Joy has been living off and on in Kyiv, Ukraine between tours. When the Russian invasion started in late February, 2022, he immediately flew out there because his wife was stuck in Kharkiv and living in a bomb shelter surrounded by constant shelling and military movements. “I could only get as close as the Polish border but after nine days I was able to get her out of there and to the safety of Prague (along with her mother, son and dog). Unfortunately it cost me a tour I had started advancing for with The Dandy Warhols, because there was no way for me to concentrate on anything else during that period.”
Joy has made seven trips to Ukraine since the invasion began, bringing everything from medical supplies, clothing, laptops, food and money with him. “When I have enough downtime between gigs, I stay there and volunteer my time.” Talking to Joy (who will return to Ukraine yet again) we hear and learn of another caring and supportive person (this time a working audio engineer) who is dedicated to doing whatever he can to help Ukraine and the people there.
