Aug 1, 2003 12:00 PM

Dave Rat

Founder of Rat Sound, Dave Rat mixes FOH and supplies systems for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, whose By the Way tour began in April of last year.

What are some challenges in working with the RHCP?

The band soundchecks about once every six months. But the main challenge is maintaining a consistent sound, whether we're in Costa Rica, Japan or the U.S. Carrying the same consoles, electronics and drive gear hedges that in our favor.

What's in your toy box on this tour?

I have an Eventide H3500 dedicated to Anthony's [Kiedis] vocals, which I switch to using as a guitar effect at the end of the set. I run him into my Lexicon PCM60 and that's shared as a tom reverb. Other than a Klark Teknik DN-780 on snare and a Roland SD3000 on one song, that's it.

We've been using Audix OM7s on vocals. I use [Shure] SM98s on drums, except kick, which is an SM91 combined with an Audix D6. Bass has a clean DI, a dirty DI and an SM98. Guitar is 57 on the left rig, and a 57 and 88 on the right rig.

Do you have any “must-have” gear?

My Sound Technology RTA4000 to either agree or disagree with my ears. Between that, listening to the house and my Sony MDR-CD3000 headphones, I'm set.

What do you do when you're off-duty?

Snowboarding, skydiving, scuba, mountain biking, anything dangerous!