The yearlong tour of Green Day, which began in Spain this spring, is deploying a d&b audiotechnik GSL PA system to capture the rock group’s raw punk sound in stadium-scale venues.
The Saviors Tour is dubbed as a celebration of classic punk rock. FOH Engineer Kevin Lemoine has been working with Green Day since 2000, noting how the band’s live shows have grown bigger while managing to remain intimate in spirit for die-hard punk fans. Lemoine is working with audio rental partner Eighth Day Sound to put together the technology for the shows.
One key piece of equipment for this band’s signature sound is the chosen PA system, a d&b audiotechnik GSL designed to tackle some substantial audiences – up to 90,000 at the recent Italian shows. The system deployment is simple: mains, sides, ground subs with fills, and a set of small delays.
Most often, a Rupert Neve Designs 5088 is Lemoine’s console of choice, and if it’s a fly gig, a Trident 88 or an Avid S6L desk steps in. Meanwhile, to project the recognisable and melodic tones of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, Lemoine concluded that a DPA 2028 capsule was the right fit.
Amplifying the heady days of small venue punk rock with authenticity while mixing their sound for tens of thousands of people at a time, is no easy feat, according to Lemoine. He said: “I don’t distract the fans from what they are familiar with; everyone knows the words, the instrumentation, all the hooks, balances and emphasis. It’s my job to make the whole thing familiar.”
He added: “The Trident is great, it’s a compact 24-channel analogue console that we have been using since 2021. Right now, both analogue consoles share the same plug-ins and analogue vocal rack, and my favourite plug-ins are the Black Salt Audio Silencer and Soothe Live.”
Clark Thomas, systems engineer, describes the GSL PA system as “punchy and articulate”. He said: “It’s great for punk rock. The GSL does a very good job at keeping everyone feeling very ‘near field’ to the PA while being at a distance.”
The GSL is driven by DirectOut Prodigy.MP at the front end, using the Globcon software with Smaart V9, d&b R1 and d&b ArrayCalc for precision calculations.
There are 12 mixes for the gigs; six musicians on stage, a guest mix, a few tech mixes and a FOH mix from Danny’s Avid S6L 32D console into Wisycom IEMs. “I’m using less than 10 plug-ins and they’re all native to the console,” Thomas explained. “I have a few reverbs, an extra compressor for the kick drum, a multi-band on the lead vocal and a bus compressor for the FOH mix. We have a thumper for the drummer that’s driven by a d&b D80 amp, but there’s no speakers on stage.”
For scanning, RF engineer, Rogerio Bammann uses the OWON HSA1016-TG handheld spectrum analyser and for coordination, the SoundBase app. He said: “It’s fast and reliable. Having the ability to use the pre-amplifier has helped me to find the dips where the mics, instruments and IEMs will work better.”
Clair Global also supplied additional services to this tour; 18 Riedel Bolero wireless intercom packs for full-duplex production comms, 120 Motorola two-way radios, and data services in the form of a new Pelican IT package, and 3 x Production IT racks.
