FOH engineer Mike Fanuele and monitor engineer Kevin “Tater” McCarthy share their setup and live plugin choices for Linkin Park leader Mike Shinoda’s 2019 solo world tour.
Front-of-house engineer Mike Fanuele (The Chainsmokers, Garbage, Meghan Trainor) and monitor engineer Kevin “Tater” McCarthy (Stone Temple Pilots, Prophets of Rage, Linkin Park) have chosen Waves plugins for Mike Shinoda’s 2019 world tour, supporting his debut solo album Post Traumatic.
Front-of-House Setup and Plugins
Fanuele describes his setup: “We use a DiGiCo SD10 v987 with a Waves Extreme Server and L-Acoustics P1 processors. I record via MADI and a DiGiGrid MGB MADI-to-SoundGrid audio interface to a Mac Mini for virtual playback. Tater and I share preamps from a single SD Rack with 32-bit input and output cards. I distribute to the PA through the P1 processors via AES, and then to an L-Acoustics K2 rig with KS28 subs.”
Vocals
“I use the Waves C6 Multiband Compressor on every vocal I mix,” Fanuele says about his vocal chain. “I’ll usually take the upper mids very slightly, as well as the low end. Having the C6 at my side to help me level out Mike Shinoda’s vocal frequencies definitely helps the overall production of the show. I really like the vocals of a live show to sound very natural to the audience. Sometimes, you need a bit of the top end in there to help cut through the mix. It’s nice to lean on the C6 to help keep that clarity, without letting the vocal become too aggressive. Also, the Waves Doubler is my vocal harmonizer plugin for every band I work with, with standard settings of > -10/+10 cents, 24/33 ms delay, detune modulating.”
Drums
“The EMI TG 12345 Channel Strip is my new favorite drum bus plugin. The drummer, Dan Mayo, is an extremely versatile and very dynamic player. Having a tool like the TG12345 is a fantastic way to keep his drums gelled, without overly affecting his dynamic playing. I’ll set it to “dyn>EQ>pres,” set the dynamics to compressor, and hit it pretty hard. Then, I’ll blend that in only about 10%. It sounds absolutely fantastic on a drum kit.
“On the kick, I use InPhase, sending the Kick In to the left side and Kick Out to the right side. I can take a sample at any point, and align the drums perfectly via the waveform, or slightly off if I like the sound slightly out of phase better.”
“Sometimes I’ll spread the kit width a bit as well; I will use the API 2500 VERY lightly on both my drum and guitar buses—I absolutely love how it tightens them up.”
Electric Guitars
“Scheps 73 is my go-to electric guitar EQ tool. Depending on the guitar sound from the stage, I may also use the C6 Multiband Compressor on an electric guitar to just touch up some mids when they’re too strong.”
Monitor Setup and Plugins
Monitor engineer Kevin “Tater” McCarthy details his setup: “We use a DiGiCo SD11i v.929 with Waves and Optics installed. One SD Rack (which is shared with FOH), 56x40 all 32-bit Stadius input and output cards; one Klang Fabrik; one Waves Extreme server; three Shure PSM 1000 IEM systems; two Shure Axient Digital wireless microphone systems; one Shure PA821a antenna combiner; one Shure AXT 600 spectrum manager, and one Shure AXT 900 rechargeable battery system. The only live microphones on stage are the vocal and drum microphones, which are a mixture of mainly DPA on the drums, 4099s and 2011s and 4018s on vocals. The only speakers on stage are a pair of D.A.S. Event 121-A subs, one per side.”
“I mainly use a combination of the SSL G-Master Buss Compressor, the C6 Multiband Compressor, and the L2 Ultramaximizer as a limiter on all my IEM mix outputs. I use this chain on every artist I mix—I’ve been using this combination for years now. It gives me a polished, punchy, natural sound, while also adding some protection just in case.”
“I also use the Waves CLA-3A Compressor/Limiter on all the vocals, to keep them consistent. Mike goes from his singing to rapping parts quite frequently, and that compressor helps me keep that in check.”
“Mike Shinoda is a very savvy engineer and knows exactly what’s going on. Mike, Dan Mayo the drummer and Matt Harris the multi-instrumentalist (vocals, keys, guitar, bass) are also high-quality, consistent players. The gentle use of limiting and compression on the mix bus helps with that consistency from night to night. They hit the stage with confidence, knowing the mix is there, and that enables them to concentrate on what they do best. When mixing monitors, consistency is always key, and Waves plugins are my tools to help me achieve that.”
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