Silk Sonic – FOH | Front of House Magazine (2023)

Mixing the Las Vegas Residency

On August 19, R&B superduoSilk Sonic — comprised ofBruno MarsandAnderson .Paak — wrapped up the third leg of their sold-out, 34-date “An Evening with Silk Sonic” residency at the 5,200-seat Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas. The show’s name plays on the title of the group’s wildly successful An Evening with Silk Sonic album, with its mega-hitsingle “Leave The Door Open” that won four2022 Grammy Awards, includingRecord of the Year,Song of the Year,Best R&B PerformanceandBest R&B song.

Bruno Mars has performed Las Vegas residencies going back to 2013, so these shows were on familiar home turf. The Park MGM venue opened in 2017 with an L-Acoustics K2-based immersive system and was expanded for full Dolby Atmos capability last year, yet to enhance the classic vintage R&B vibe of “An Evening with Silk Sonic,” all performances were mixed in conventional L/R stereo. The residency is a “phone-free” show, and while attendees can bring their phones into the venue, they are required to secure their devices in YONDR (overyondr.com) pouches.

We caught up with Silk Sonic’s FOH engineer Chris Rabold and monitor engineer Ramon Morales to talk about the experience.

The FOH View

Many of today’s sound engineers got started by playing in bands, but not so in Rabold’s case. “I am one of a rare breed that always knew — maybe foolishly so — I wanted to do live sound,” he explains. “In my teens, there was nothing better than going to concerts. It was like a sort of religious experience, depending on whom I was going to see. And as I marveled at the experience in the room, I was wrapped with this curiosity as to why it sounded the way it did — and other times not so great. Now, looking back on that, I realize I’m seeing shows in National Guard armories and concrete boxes and places where music has no business being. So God bless whoever was trying to mix in those places. So that was it. It really wasn’t a decision. I literally felt ‘I want this.’ I wanted to know how this works and I wanted to do this.”

Rabold has one of the industry’s most enviable client lists, ranging from Widespread Panic to Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Kenny Chesney, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and now Silk Sonic. “With Widespread Panic, we toured healthily and heartily and proudly,” says Rabold of the band he worked with for 11 years. “I was good there and next thing you know, acts of another caliber were calling. I transitioned over into pop music or larger scale music by working with both Beyoncé and Lady Gaga around 2010. I’m grateful for all of those opportunities. I look back when I was mixing monitors in clubs and bars in Nashville. I took that on, and at the time that became as big of a deal to me as doing Bruno Mars or Beyoncé or anything like that.”

Rabold has worked with Bruno Mars for six years, including Mars’ previous residency shows at the Dolby Live in 2016, when it was known as the Park Theater at the Monte Carlo casino, then the Park Theater at the Park MGM. He’s also worked with other artist residencies at the same venue, so Rabold is well acquainted with the venue.

“We were the first people to play the room six years ago and know it better than anyone,” says Rabold. “It has a giant L-Acoustics K2 rig and a fantastic house staff, and L-Acoustics is always great about sending one of my best friends, Chris Sullivan, out here to help make sure everything’s as it should be. So rather than bringing in a rig, we use what’s here, and what’s here is what I would want anyway.”

There’s also consistency in the crew, according to Rabold. “With Bruno, we never really stop. Even though our last actual tour ended in 2018, our gear never gets torn apart or goes away. It just goes into storage. Because we do corporates, private events — you name it. Even when he’s in the studio, once every month or once every six weeks, we’ll be out playing. So the core crew is pretty much the same faces since I first got here, which is really cool. Our monitor engineer Ramon Morales and myself have worked together for over 10 years. And we’re in a good spot with the core crew, meaning the backline crew, production manager, stage manager — that sort of thing. We’ve been together for a while, which makes it easier.”

Something Different

One thing that’s different this time around is Rabold’s switch to Solid State Logic’s new flagship Live L650 console, which features next-gen Optimal Core Processing (OCP) technology, advanced AoIP and is the most powerful model in SSL’s Live console line.

“I’ve used SSL’s L500 and L550 consoles on other tours in the past,” Rabold notes. “But we essentially had not used an SSL desk with Bruno. So we made that shift, which just happened as the L650 came about. So it was the logical choice.” Of course, new is nice, but on a high-profile project, performance is everything. “I’m not entirely sure what the behind-the-scenes math is with this desk, but sonically, it’s the best option available on the live sound front — and that’s without having to engage any special features. It just sounds better than the rest. It’s the only digital desk I can honestly say that reminds me of an analog console.”

With expectations of more upcoming Silk Sonic and Bruno Mars dates, Rabold simplified the input list. “Bruno used to be at 120. I whittled Silk Sonic down to 80 and with Bruno shows, it’s a touch more,” Rabold says. Essentially, there are holes in the patch that show up on one show and go away on another. It allows us to be flexible so we can do the Silk Sonic residency or Silk Sonic promo or whatever it might be, and then turn around and do Bruno. Now, it’s right about 100, and by reloading files and changing a few things, like cabling and patching, it’s built to do both.”

Mics — Usual and Unusual

Mic selections were mostly “the usual” — such as Shure Beta 58A capsules on all the Shure Axient wireless vocal mics, with DPA 4099 miniatures on the horns. Mics on the two drum kits combined a Shure Beta91A and E-V RE20 on the kicks; Telefunken M80s on snare tops with AKG-C414B-ULS underneath; Sennheiser 441 on hats; and Audio-Technica ATM-25s on toms. The “unusual” part came with drum overheads — a large-diaphragm Telefunken AR70 stereo tube condenser in an X-Y pattern over Eric Hernandez’ kit and a mono Telefunken AR51 tube mic over Anderson .Paak’s set, along with an Electro-Voice RE-15 “trash” mic set off to the side.

Rabold offered this explanation: “The record was captured with essentially four mics placed around the kit, and none of them were in a standard place that anyone of the current era would think to put a mic. They’re in all these crazy places, which sonically creates this sound. As much as I’d love to be adventurous live, ultimately we’re relying primarily on close-miking sources, so the approach is inherently different. Getting that dry 70’s drum sound was the big challenge, but I love what we’ve come up with.”

Using a tube mike — much less a stereo tube mike — on a tour is hardly standard practice. “That one was a weird one,” Rabold explains, adding, “This room can be a difficult room, as there’s a more or less full-range wave that returns to the stage, and you hear it in vocal mics and overheads. The overhead needed to be a gigantic part of the sound, but it would also be picking up so much trash coming back at it.”

Rabold typically uses spaced-pair overheads on live shows, but took a different approach this time. “We have Anderson on a single mono [Telefunken AR51] overhead, and it works great and is phase-coherent, yet with a spaced-pair, equidistant from the snare, you have to make sure your phase relationship is as solid as you can get. So on the other kit, I used my [X-Y stereo] Telefunken AR70; it blew everybody away because suddenly the snare was so loud and so cracking in there, with overheads like they’d never heard before because it was phase-coherent.”

Signal Processing

Rabold has plenty of digital tools at his disposal, yet has well-stocked outboard racks on this project. “I’ve done in-the-box-only tours and will again and again, because it’s the way the work is done now, particularly when you’re doing things quickly or with a last-minute thing or a one-off with an artist you’re just meeting. I’ve done those and I’ve had success with them. But, I came up on the cusp of analog and digital. It was like learning to cut tape as Sound Tools was coming out, you know, and I like the tactile sensation of closing my eyes, turning a knob and getting a result — it’s part of my workflow.”

Occasionally, Rabold goes way outside the box. “Sometimes I patch pieces into one another to become chains. For example, I always have a clean bass DI channel on a Distressor. Then I can copy the clean DI channel, put a SansAmp RBI on it for distortion and blend the two for taste. I also have an EarthQuaker Westwood overdrive pedal, which is kind of like a Tube Screamer, and I’ve also been using that on bass.”

Even mics can get a bit of overdrive. “I run that wonderfully old E-V RE-15 ‘trash’ mic on Anderson’s kit through the SansAmp to break it up — a technique from engineer Tchad Blake. We just tuck it up under what Anderson’s doing on that kit, and it just creates this kind of breakbeat, hip-hop, kinda crusty drum sound that glues it all together.”

Monitor World

Monitor engineer Ramon Morales studied recording technology at the Art Institute of Houston, interned at Sugar Hill Studios and soon found himself doing paid sessions and weekend live sound gigs. In the late-90’s, he worked in the studio with Destiny’s Child. He later wound up mixing FOH and occasionally monitors for the group and eventually specialized in monitor mixing. In addition to Destiny’s Child, some of Morales’ other clients have included Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Ricky Martin — and now, for nearly seven years, Bruno Mars.

Morales is kept busy running 18 mixes — band and techs —all on Shure PSM1000s. “Everyone is on JH Audio JH16 or JH16-V2 in-ears. Bruno tried some different ones, but likes using the JH16’s,” he explains. “There are no stage wedges, but we do have a pair of flown sidefills, mostly as a bit of ambience and as a backup in case someone loses a frequency.” It’s a big production with a lot of wireless, but Morales doesn’t have to deal with RF coordination; that task is handled by crew chief Paul Tobey. “It’s a hell of a job with all the in-ears and mics and instrument wireless,” Morales says, adding that the chore is easier because “all the wireless are Shure Axient, which are very bulletproof, work every day and do what they need to do.”

Morales began mixing on a Solid State Logic L650 when it first began shipping in March of 2022, after earlier using an L550 for a brief run. “I really like the design of it,” he says. “I’m using all the inputs of the desk, and I have a sidecar over there, where I leave my outputs. At first I wasn’t too sure about the touchscreen, but it kind of grew on me. Routing-wise, it’s pretty easy. I was a little worried that maybe the workflow was going to take a little longer for me to get used to, but I fell into it pretty quick and it’s a great sounding desk and everyone is really happy with it.”

After years of touring, Morales definitely appreciates the residency approach. “Show-wise, it’s kind of the same,” he notes, “but the main difference is we’re in the same room the whole time. So the aspect of reflections coming back at the stage into the in-ears through mics changes, because we’re all used to this room already. That makes things a little easier, as opposed to changing [to a new room] every day or every other day, and compensating for those reflections, and all that. But the beauty is, we get to walk away every night. Just turn it off, come back the next day and turn it on.”

Crew

• Sound Company: Clair Global
• FOH Engineer: Chris Rabold
• Monitor Engineer: Ramon Morales
• Systems Engineer: Julian Gates
• Stage Patch/Monitor Techs:Scotty Megrath, Shannon Fitzpatrick
• RF/Crew Chief: Paul Tobey
• Recording Engineer: Charles Moniz
• L-Acoustics Support: Chris “Sully” Sullivan
• Dolby Live Theater Audio: Kevin Valind, Luis Leiva