Reunion Tour Gear

[wstagner]

I found the following info posted here: http://www.audioprointernational.com/ne ... ff-Richard

Thought you all might find this informative.

Yamaha returns to the road with Cliff Richard

News
cliff richard and the shadows tour, yamaha pm5dYamaha returns to the road with Cliff Richard

Andrew Low Nov 3 2009, 11:30am

Joint tour with The Shadows uses PM5D consoles

Cliff Richard and The Shadows have embarked on a tour of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa with two Yamaha PM5Ds handling FOH and monitors.

Although Cliff will continue to tour as a solo artist, the tour represents the last time he will tour with The Shadows. John ‘JJ’ James and Mike ‘Bunny’ Warren are long-term members of the touring crews for both Cliff and The Shadows and chose the PM5Ds for the final joint outing.
The tour started in the UK and Ireland, taking in 22 arena dates, most of which were sold out including three at London’s O2 and two more at Wembley Arena.

The tour is a modified down version of Richard’s solo tours, as it is a stripped-down rock and roll set up. “This year’s tour is simplified in terms of the production, although we’re using more-or-less the same front of house rig as last year - a PM5D, L-Acoustics PA and an Avalon compressor on Cliff's vocal.” said Bunny.

“I’m using a dbx162 compressor/limiter on Hank (Marvin)’ s and Bruce (Welch)’s vocal, but apart from that all the processing is onboard the PM5D. I don't see any reason to use anything else because it’s great. All the reverbs, gates, compressors, expanders are fine and it does everything I want it to do. As far as I’m concerned if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

JJ James is also doing all the necessary processing for monitors on the console. He explains: “The PM5D’s processing is way more than adequate for monitors. I know some people say there are differences, but I think there's a lot of 'emperor’s new clothes' when it comes to equipment. The onboard processing is absolutely fine for my purposes.”

He continued, “Normally with a Cliff tour we have hardly any wedges and the stage is really quiet because everyone's on in-ears or cans.”

“On this tour Hank, Bruce and bass player Mark Griffiths are using wedges, with everyone else on in-ears. I do five main monitor mixes - for them and stereo IEM for Cliff, plus another for drummer Brian Bennett, while the rest of the band are using Aviom personal mixers. We also have a pair of in-fills which give Hank and Bruce a lead vocal reference.”

While many of the punters attending the shows may be used to the vintage sound of Richard’s old recordings, high audio quality is now a requirement for the tour. “Live audiences have very different expectations now, compared to what live sound was like back then, so we’re trying to provide a 1960s-style sound, but with modern quality,” said Bunny.

“Ironically, the liveness of the stage from using wedges brings back some of that bygone age and the band seem to really vibe off it. The guitar amps are accurate handmade copies of the original Vox AC30s. They sound stunning and provide a really original feature. And, although it’s a modern drum kit, I only use a gate on the kick to stop it going off into unknown territory.”

With five vocal mics, two guitars, two keyboards, bass, drums and percussion, Bunny has 46 inputs, plus the effects returns. “I separate the snare and hats, kicks, bass, keys, guitars, Cliff’s vocals, backing vocals and have them all on a DCA that goes across everything except the vocals,” he says.

“Then, if I think the vocals seem a bit quiet, I can pull the whole band down and leave the vocals at the same level.” At the monitor position, James is also making use of the PM5D’s DCAs, while both he and Bunny use scenes throughout the show.

“Pretty much everything at front of house is on a scene,” says Bunny. “Primarily it’s to remind me to turn things off - for example there are lots of guitar changes, so I know if I do each one on a scene that the acoustic guitar will be off if it was on for the song before.

“It means I haven't got to worry about pops and bangs, plus I know the effects are going to come on for a certain song if they're programmed in.” “I have a different scene for every song and there are a lot of safe parameters implemented ,” adds JJ. “Some are totally safe, some are just fader and mute safe. You know if Brian wants something changed, it has to change for the whole show, but if Cliff wants something changed it's probably just for that song. The safe screens are very good for all that.

“I call the cues for the entire show to Cliff and Brian’s IEMs. The Shadows take their lead from Cliff and from Brian on the few songs they play on their own during the show.”

The UK and Irish dates ended in London on 23rd October, the tour then heads off to mainland Europe and then to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in early 2010.

“One great thing about the PM5D is that it is so widely used,” says Bunny. “You can get them virtually anywhere in the world. I can take my card, put it in and I know that, wherever I am, I’ll have exactly what I have here. So using the onboard processing makes life really easy.”

And making life easy seems to be the watchword for this most professional of camps, both those on the stage and off it - with the Yamaha PM5Ds, of course, an integral part of it all.

“Cliff and The Shadows have seen it all and had it all, they know how bad it can be and hopefully it's not quite as bad when I'm doing it,” smiles JJ. “They're all lovely people and very easy to work with. There's no temperaments to deal with at all.

“On a Cliff solo show, I worry about him and everyone else is happy to sort themselves out, whereas here there are four stars, so they all need to be looked after. It made the first few gigs a bit fraught, but now it's all automated on the PM5D scenes, I can concentrate on Cliff again now. It's turning out to be simpler than I thought and the show has settled down nicely. It all works really well.”

“They band are specific about what they want, but also more accepting of any comments you give them,” adds Bunny. “And I'm very happy with the PM5D. Every night I turn it off and I don't want anything else.”

[David Martin]

Excellent posting... many thanks for all this fascinating information.

[rogera]

A fascinating insight into the more technical aspects of the tour.

[wstagner]

I agree....couldn't agree more.
It's not just the playin/singin they make look EZ.

For me, the best part of the DVD was the 16 minute behind the scenes...I'd have liked another hour of that.

[Bojan]

I agree....couldn't agree more.
It's not just the playin/singin they make look EZ.

For me, the best part of the DVD was the 16 minute behind the scenes...I'd have liked another hour of that.

Absolutely agree!! I was so sorry that part was so "short" ... I could have watched it all night. Too bad they did not include a special video about the instruments themselves, all the guitars that were used on the concert Hank, Bruce, and Mark used, Brian's drum kit, and of course the keyboards and other fascinating instruments that were used on the concert.

Thanks for the great info wstagner!!

[AlanMcKillop]

Great stuff.

[Twang46]

And I thought it was all done with some mirrors & a bit of smoke mixed with snake oil

Dick.

[wstagner]

Thanks for the kind words, boys&girls...
I found that info Yamaha PURELY by accident.
I was actually Googling "hank marvin ez trem" and that link came up.

I'd actually like to learn more about how the DVD came about, meaning who decided to use 2Entertain, etc. and why no audio CD. As I said in another post I'm spoiled by the 2004 DVD/CD quality.

Please don't misunderstand, I'm glad to have the DVD. The filming, the performance, etc. were truly outstanding. I just think that it could have been improved....perhaps if they'd have taken a little more production time? It's me, I know. It's always me.

[wstagner]

Nice 1, Phil!