LAS VEGAS —Limp Bizkit is back on the road, with their Unicorns N’ Rainbows world tour including shows in 20 countries, including the U.S. The band, which has reunited the original lineup from its 2000 release, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, is making use of Sennheiser wired and wireless microphones across the stage. “All the mics used on tour are Sennheiser,” said FOH engineer Bryan Worthen, who has also worked with the Foo Fighters and, previously, blink-182. Worthen has brought some of his Sennheiser microphone model and mounting choices from his work with the Foo Fighters to the Limp Bizkit stage. “I’m pretty particular about what works where,” he said.
Fred Durst is the only onstage performer of the band using Sennheiser wireless equipment, according to Worthen, who maintains four channels for the frontman. “I have Fred’s main vocal plus three spare channels, all with 500 Series 935s.”
Drummer John Otto’s twin kick drums are each miked with an e 901 inside and an e 902 outside. The snare drum features the same mic combination that Worthen uses on Taylor Hawkins’ kit with the Foo Fighters — an e 905 on the top head and an e 614 condenser on the bottom.
Often associated with string and woodwind instruments, the e 614 might at first seem an unusual choice for snare drum, Worthen admitted, “but it’s great. You get tons of snap out of it.” The super-cardioid pickup pattern also offers good rejection, which can really help with the mix. “Monitor engineer George Squiers was skeptical about the e 614 on the snare bottom, but now he likes it,” Worthen added.
Five more e 614s occupy the two hi-hat and three overhead positions. Three Octobans, two rack toms and two floor toms are covered by e 904 dynamic cardioids. The e 904s are all mounted inside the toms — but only on the drum kit located in the U.K.
Although Squiers had little previous experience with mics mounted inside the toms, a technique that was popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is also favored by the Foo Fighters, he was soon won over by the superior separation and control that it brought to his mixes, according to Worthen. “But the kit that’s over here in the U.S. has no mics in it and he’s bummed. Now he can’t live without them.”
Positioning the mics inside the drums makes his job easier, too, Worthen said. “With digital consoles it’s a little more work than an analog console, but the work is worth it. You don’t have to clamp your gates down as hard. And John’s drum fill is so loud, I can only imagine what external mics are going to be like on U.S. shows. I’m going to be chasing gates the entire show, I’m sure.”
The clean guitar is covered by an e 935 while the distorted guitar features a combination of Sennheiser MD 421 and an e 935. The choice of the e 935 dynamic mic, which is more typically associated with vocals, was driven by Worthen’s experience with the Foo Fighters, and more specifically, Dave Grohl’s guitar. “The 935s threw George for a loop,” Worthen laughed. “He said, ‘That’s a vocal mic!’ I said, ‘trust me.’” Although not designed specifically for a guitar cabinet, the 935 can easily handle the high SPL, said Worthen, adding, “That’s a tough mic.”
Limp Bizkit are getting set to record the band’s first new studio album in nine years with the original lineup. The band’s Unicorns N’ Rainbows tour continues through the summer with more shows scheduled in Europe as well as Japan.
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