Brooklyn-based indie pop duo Ray Bull recently completed their North American Please Stop Laughing tour, hitting major cities in the USA and Canada.
Working behind the scenes on the tour was front of house engineer John Michael Young, who met the band while working at a venue in Atlanta. “I got to see Ray Bull performing at a local music festival,” recounted Young. “I really liked their music and started a conversation.” About a year later, Young mixed a show for them and got the band’s attention.
“They didn’t have their own in-ear monitor rig, so I was mixing their ears that night from my front of house console,” said Young. “They mentioned it was one of the better monitor mixes they had on tour, so I helped them put together a monitor rig to get that consistent experience every night.”
After weighing options, Young recommended the band go with Allen & Heath’s recently released SQ-Rack console – which provides the same 48-channel 96k core of the SQ series in a faderless rackmount form factor. “I wanted them to avoid analog splits and have a very simple setup and teardown at each show with a limited crew,” he explained. “SQ-Rack really appealed to me because I had worked with the ecosystem and I knew Allen & Heath products are very stable and reliable.”
Since Young also brought along his own SQ-5 for front of house mixing, integration was seamless with the new monitor console on tour. “I was able to connect everything over SLink and set up tie lines to easily split the audio digitally over a CAT cable,” he explained. “The overall routing flexibility, preamp clarity, and low latency are unmatched at the SQ’s price point.” The SQ-Rack’s 16 local inputs also means it can act as the duo’s stagebox – taking input from their playback system to feed the main mix.
After upgrading their setup, the band was able to enjoy consistent monitoring at every tour stop. “Previously, they were having issues and constantly making changes throughout the show,” explained Young. “Now they have things pretty much dialed in, and there are little-to-no changes during their performances. It really makes a difference and lets the band focus on putting on a good show.”
If the band does need to make adjustments to their mixes during a performance, they can conveniently control the mixer wirelessly using the free SQ MixPad app. “The drummer has a tablet next to him, and I also have one at front of house to remotely operate the monitor console,” explained Young. “I also have the various monitor mixes from the SQ-Rack routed to my front of house console, so I can solo any of their mixes and hear them in my own ears to listen for issues.”
The SQ Series also offers some advanced channel processing that Young leverages in his mix. “I use the multiband compression on my main mix to help level things out,” he explained. “I also use the Dynamic EQ on guitar with a low shelf to help control those frequencies during patch changes.”
Overall, Young says the duo’s performances have been elevated with the new setup. “What I like about Allen & Heath is how you can really get creative with routing and workflow,” he said. “I can move faders and functions around, and I’m not restricted the way I sometimes am with other consoles.”
