Fronted by lead singer Gary Cherone, and featuring guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, Extreme decided to tour again following the launch of a new album in 2008 entitled Saudades de Rock. For the band’s recently-concluded European tour, the crew used two Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing systems to manage FOH and monitor sound. Monitor engineer and Extreme production manager Jay Phebus had used iLive for the band’s previous dates in America, and he has also specified the iLive digital systems on all the band’s future dates.
“I first used iLive when I toured with blues guitar giant, Joe Bonamassa. Once I saw the system it was obvious that a lot of thought had gone into creating a digital product that was truly user-friendly,” said Phebus.
FOH engineer, Joe Brown, was familiar with other digital desks but had not used iLive.
“Jay put me in front of iLive in rehearsals and I figured it out in no time. To demonstrate just how powerful a tool it is, Jay asked me for my input list and before I’d finished a sound check, everything was in the desk and ready to go. I was dumbfounded and it was obvious I had to go the same route and have my own iLive permanently at FOH.”
The band toured with two systems for the European production. The FOH system comprised an iDR10 MixRack on stage connected over CAT5 to an iLive-112 surface at FOH position, with a digital split to a second iDR10 MixRack and iLive-80 Control Surface to manage monitors.
Phebus saved the show files from the American tour and loaded the iLive systems with all the mix settings, effects and dynamics, ready for the first gig. For the on stage monitor console, 16 channels of the inputs were used to provide the monitor mixes, with full access to all the 25 inputs at FOH, if needed.
“It doesn’t get any easier than this,” said Phebus. “With iLive, I’m already mixing when other engineers on other desks would still be scrambling around. That means I get more time to work on fine-tuning and it’s very relaxed. Any analog engineer can walk up to this desk and make it happen very quickly. If you can’t, you’re in the wrong profession.”
Brown added: “I find it really easy to tune a system with the iLive’s graphic EQ display both during the set-up and on-the-fly during the show. There’s no bending over or turning to a rack of outboard — it’s all right there at your fingertips.”
Following the European leg, Extreme traveled to Asia for shows in Japan, Korea and Indonesia before returning to the U.S. It was the first time the band had played in Korea, and the MelonAX Hall in Seoul provided two iDR10 MixRacks on stage, with an iLive-80 Control Surface at monitor position and an iLive-144 at FOH.
“We don’t need to take iLive systems with us on worldwide dates — we just need a USB stick! Once I’ve loaded all the data, it becomes the same system I was using in London, Los Angeles, or Kuala Lumpur,” said Brown.
For more information, please visit www.ilive-digital.com.
