AMERICAS – After a sold-out North American run in 2024, BEAT is heading to South America in the spring of 2025. FOH Frank Trzaskowski has been using Waves plugin processing with Waves’ SoundGrid Rack for Venue and the Waves Titan SoundGrid Server along with his Avid S6L console.
More details from Waves (www.waves.com):
The current BEAT tour features former King Crimson members Adrian Belew and Tony Levin, who have joined forces with Steve Vai and Tool drummer Danny Carey. Together, they have formed “BEAT,” a creative reinterpretation of three iconic 80s King Crimson albums: Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair. After a massive sold-out North American run, the tour is heading to South America in the spring of 2025.
Front-of-house engineer Frank Trzaskowski, renowned for his work with acts like Extreme, Generation Axe (featuring Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abasi), Celebrating David Bowie (Adrian Belew & Todd Rundgren), Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, Ritchie Blackmore, Ted Nugent and more, has selected Waves plugin processing using Waves’ SoundGrid Rack for VENUE and the Waves Titan SoundGrid Server to boost his Avid S6L for the 2024-25 BEAT World Tour. This setup delivers unprecedented DSP power, enabling real-time plugin processing.
By choosing the Waves SoundGrid Rack for VENUE and the powerful Waves Titan SoundGrid Server for a tour, live engineers can supercharge their mixes with low-latency processing of hundreds of Waves plugins. With 30% more plugin processing power than the Waves Extreme SoundGrid server, Titan enables you to take your mixes to the next level and run larger sessions than ever. The unit also comes with built-in rack ears for quick installation straight out of the box.
Trzaskowski comments, “On the current BEAT tour I use the Avid VENUE | S6L-24C console. All parameters are accessible directly from the console and any settings can be stored within the console file. Since I employ several Waves plugins, the Titan SoundGrid Server is the perfect companion, ensuring I never max out. I also appreciate the mechanical aspect of the unit; it’s robust and stays cool. It has not let me down once on 65 shows and weeks of rehearsals.”
Waves plugins are a key component of Trzaskowski’s workflow: “I tend to categorize plugins by essentials, problem solvers, character plugins and FX. Since I do a lot of side chaining, the F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ is one of these essentials, specifically as I can target selected frequency ranges with the sidechain signal making it easier to manage vocal headroom. For instance, my dedicated vocal master can carve out space on my instrument master, ensuring clarity and balance.”
“A crucial problem solver is the Waves PSE (Primary Source Expander) plugin, which I use on vocals together with a pressure-activated mic ducking system, the LILY P4D®. This setup achieves the cleanest vocals I have ever attained in a lively rock mix environment, even with Adrian Belew and Tony Levin’s vocal mics only a few feet away from Danny Carey’s drum kit.”
He continues, “As for character, I love the Abbey Road REDD Consoles on my main drum bus and an Abbey Road RS56 EQ on my tom bus. I use an SSL G-Master Buss Compressor on each of my subgroups. It’s set to barely compress, but it provides me a certain console cohesiveness that I really like. On top of that, the Abbey Road J37 Tape and TG Mastering Chain plugins consistently add tons of great character to my master busses.”
“For the song ‘Dig Me’ (about a 50s car rotting in a junkyard), Adrian Belew wanted a robotic voice in the verses. I was able to combine Waves’ Morphoder, Vocal Bender and Doubler to create the wanted FX right in the console. Obviously, another must-have plugin is the Waves H-Delay Hybrid Delay. It is a mandatory plugin for vocals FX.”
He concludes, “With the Waves’ SoundGrid Rack for VENUE and the addition of the Waves Titan SoundGrid Server, using Waves plugins on the BEAT tour has not only allowed me to continuously fine-tune my mixes over a long period but it has also kept me inspired.”
