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Having just toured Europe and Australia, Maroon 5 are out on the U.S. college circuit. This summer, they will be out with John Mayer on a co-headlining shed tour. Mix spoke with front-of-house engineer Brian Boyt about the band's current tour.
“On this leg, we're just carrying a mic package with assorted DIs, [Shure] SM98s, KSM 32s, 81s. Our general requests consist of a Midas Heritage 3000, three SPX-990s, an Eventide H3000 and a TC [Electronic] 2290,” Boyt says. “For P.A., we usually ask for V-DOSC or VerTec, but sometimes we have to use whatever we get. In terms of the overall mix, the band loves bottom and vocals on top. The tricky thing is finding a place for the keys so they don't get lost in the shuffle. Using the house graph in these event centers/basketball arenas is probably your best friend in this situation.” For vocalist Adam Levine, Boyt relies on a Shure U4D wireless with a Beta 58 capsule, as Levine has a really strong voice. Other mics packed in Boyt's mobile closet are Audix models for keyboardist Jessie Carmichael and drummer Ryan Duskic “for the rejection factor.”
“We use 30 inputs: 10 for drums, two for bass, seven for guitar, seven on keys and four for vocals,” Boyt says. “My rack rider consists of six dbx 160 comps, two BSS 404 comps, one BSS 901 dynamic frequency comp, six Drawmer 201 gates and one nice tube compresser — Summit, Avalon or Manley — for lead vocal. For house EQ, I use a BSS 960.
“One interesting aspect of this run is trying to get everything the band needs while remaining within the college's budget. For most shows, we were booked before the band had a Number One single, so it makes for some interesting days. But working with this band is a great experience; they're a pleasure to mix.”
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