Front-of-house engineer/production manager Chad Olech and monitor engineer Maxie Williams couldn't ask for a better gig. Alice in Chains are relatively easy to mix: one guitarist (who also sings, Jerry Cantrell), one bassist (Mike Inez), a drummer (Sean Kinney) and new vocalist (who will often sling his own axe, William Duvall) — all done in a straight-up, hard-rockin' fashion. What's more, both engineers are mixing on Yamaha PM5D digital boards, allowing them to rely on onboard effects rather than hauling racks of outboard gear, so it's no wonder that they were all smiles when Mix met with them at San Francisco's Warfield Theater

In the beginning, it wasn't all roses and sunshine. With the passing of longtime band vocalist Layne Staley, Alice in Chains brought in Duvall, who not only had to fill some very big shoes, but also had to win over the crowd — which he's been doing in stride. On the audio end, both engineers came onboard at almost the last minute: Olech (who did a short run for Linkin Park in Japan) arrived just days before a two-week stint of rehearsals. Williams followed him shortly, when he left the current Guns 'N Roses tour (see page 54). Prior to that, Williams was a senior production manager at the new Hard Rock Café in Biloxi, Miss. “It was good until Katrina hit — I lost my job and my house in the same day,” Williams says.

The team chemistry had to be just right, as the band recently switched to in-ears. “At first,” Williams says, “they went through three monitor guys when they were coming off of the wedges. The wedges are off — but they're still onstage as the band wants to see them — and the sidefills [two Clair Bros. R4s and two Clair ML18s] are practically non-existent; it's just kick and snare.” There are also two ML18s for drum subs and four Clair 12AMs as emergency backups: two for Williams and two for the band in case the ears go.

All the bandmembers are on Ultimate Ears UE7s. “I changed Jerry to the Ambient 5s because he's a bit claustrophobic and was having just a little ‘hole closing down,’” Williams says. “He didn't like it and went back to the UE7s, which is fine because his guitar sounds a bit fatter in his ears”

As for mixes, Williams gives everybody a left and right stereo, “and then I have a spare guest mix, and it's also a backup if I have any frequency problems,” Williams adds. “Jerry is straight up the middle with his mix and then he has William's guitar out to his right ear. Same way with Mike: He's got Jerry off to his left ear and William off to his right ear. A little bit of panning on the toms, but nothing silly or complicated. Run audience mics to the guys in-between songs when they talk; Jerry pretty much stays on that.”

The only outboard gear Williams is running for in-ears are Sennheiser G2s and a “high-powered, 50-watt Clair amplifier with a Helicon collapsible antenna,” Williams adds. Olech also carries little in the way of outboard: an Alan Smart C2 compressor on the stereo mix. Why no racks? “It's not needed,” Olech answers. “This is a straight-ahead rock band. If you listen to their records, there is literally only two effects cues that are crucial. I have two reverbs, two delays and one distortion effect. Put the vocals a little on top and guitars a little up because everyone wants to hear Jerry. I mix the guitars a hair louder than I normally would, but that's about it.”

Perhaps as heavily spotlighted as Cantrell's playing and singing is Duvall, who must remain a powerful force during a grueling two-hour show, which includes an acoustic set. “He's been doing really well,” Olech says of Duvall. “He's easy to work with in the sense that he's consistent: When he's playing guitar, he sings a lot quieter and when he's not playing guitar, he sings a lot louder. As for all the fan reaction, they're saying he's a great choice.”

This tour is a Showco/Clair Bros. account for monitors and board groups, but Olech must contend with local racks and stacks. “I prefer Prism,” Olech says, “but you're not going to get that on a local racks and stacks tour, so we usually go with V-DOSC or VerTec.” Because he's coming into a new venue and a new P.A. at every gig, Olech tunes the system with Clair iOs. “More of it is by ear,” Olech says. I'll throw on an iPod and give it a listen, and get it to where I like it. This is my sixth or seventh time at the Warfield and I've never had any significant issues here.”

Augmenting the Clair Bros. gear list is a separate rack that Olech uses to record each show to Nuendo for archival purposes. “From the Yamaha we go ADAT Lightpipe to Nuendo, which accepts the Lightpipe in without extra converters or steps. I have to re-label all the files so that Toby Wright, who is doing the archiving, will be able to have Pro Tools see [the AIFF files] and understand them. Each show has 26 tracks, but it's actually more than that because we do an acoustic set in the middle. Basically, I'm recording two shows a night.

“The original thought was to do a ‘next-day on the Internet sale’ thing,” he continues. “The band knows what they want and I can't do a proper job just taking an hour or two to remix it. You need to edit it; it needs to be done professionally. This can be done, but it all takes time. I'm wearing a couple of different hats on this tour and I would need six or eight hours to get a product that the band would be happy with.”

Also adding an extra “hat” to his mixing duties is Williams, who is doing his own tech'ing — the first time in six or eight years. “I'm not complaining,” Williams says with a smile. “I'm rockin' and rollin'. It's streamlined now and I don't think anything about it.”

Alice in Chains likes to invite their musician friends onstage to do a couple of tunes if they happen to be playing in the same city. The Denver show saw Primus; other guests include Corey Taylor from Stone Sour, Doug Pinnick from King's X, Dave Navarro, Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, Staind's Aaron Lewis at the Houston gig and Metallica's James Hetfield at the Warfield. “You have a spare mix that is already set up,” Williams explains. “A lot of the time, we don't hear about the guests until 10 or 15 minutes before showtime,” Olech adds. “But it doesn't affect us nearly as much as it affects the backline guys.”

“It's been a fun tour,” Williams says. “This is definitely in the top two fun bands I've worked with in my life.” Olech agrees: “Things have been consistent for [Alice in Chains] and that's what they've been striving for. We finally have a team in place and it seems to be working. And it has finally reflected back to the band to where they are not asking for much.”